MBA1798 Guest Teacher – Vince Perri – How To Prepare For A Natural Disaster To Your Office

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Today'S guest teacher, Vince Perry, is a public adjuster, which means somebody that defends you that is putting in a claim to your insurance. He's going to explain more in his lesson, but he's going to share with you all the things you need to do to make sure that you have a bulletproof case with your insurance company if and when something horrible happens to your office. This is a lesson, obviously that's really important. If you're an area that has hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, monsoons, earthquakes, blizzards, you name it, you could wake up one morning and find that your office, your place of business, your storefront cannot open for business because the roof is ripped off or there's damage to the building that will require you to fix it before you can get back to work. Let's make sure you're prepared no matter what. So I'm going to pass it on to Vince Perry, but I'll be back to wrap up today's episode. But for now, take it away, Vince.

Hey everybody, my name is Vince Perry and I am the Commercial Claims Advocate. I'm a licensed and certified public adjuster. And if you didn't know what a public adjuster is, a public adjuster is a person who represents policyholders, homeowners, business owners, and building owners throughout the entire insurance claims process. So if you suffer a loss to your home, your business, or your building, we represent you, the policyholder, to make sure that the insurance claim is paid according to what is supposed to be paid, that the claim is set up, documentation, evidence, so on and so forth to make sure that you receive the money that you deserve to put your home or building back together again. The Commercial Claims Advocate is on YouTube and all over social media, educating public adjusters all over the country to make sure that they get the information that they need to represent their policyholders the way they're supposed to. Thank you for joining me today, and today I'm going to be teaching you a couple of things how to prepare for a natural disaster to your office or to your building, and how to make sure that you have enough money to put your business back together again as fast as possible. So let's get right to it. So the first thing is, is how to prepare for a natural disaster. I'm going to give you three steps of how to prepare for a natural disaster before a natural disaster or any kind of loss or insurance claim, even occ to your building or to your business. So step number one, have an idea of what your insurance policy covers and doesn't cover. So if you're a building owner, you need to make sure that you have the proper coverages in place to make sure that your building is covered. Is it only covered for exterior? Is it only covered for interior? Is it covered for both? Also, is hurricane or fire covered? Is water damage covered? These are things you need to make sure to know before a loss occurs so that when the loss occurs, you are positive that you've got coverage for it. If you're just a store owner or an office unit owner and you're leasing a space out, you still have ownership of everything that's going inside of this office or store. So make sure that your insurance policy covers not just all of the contents of your store or of your office, but does it cover the tile flooring? Does it cover the wall? Does it cover the paint? Does it cover the fixtures and cabinets and stuff that are inside of this storefront or inside of this office building? Make sure you have an idea of what's covered and what's not covered and put this into a safe place somewhere. Also, in regards to making sure you have your proper coverages, make sure you're covered for any kind of specific law. So talk to your agent. Make sure, I would say look over your policy right now. Call your agent if you know that person or even if you don't, and make sure you've got the proper coverages in place. Step number two is keep good records and update these records, at least on a yearly basis. Now, what records am I talking about? The first thing is you need to keep track of any and all repairs and invoices that you may need to do to your building or to your business. So if there's a roof leak going on and you called somebody out to fix that, well, besides taking a photo of it, I would definitely keep the invoice and documentation of the roofer that came out to repair that. If you've got any kind of little plumbing loss that doesn't require a claim, but requires some kind of fixture. Well, make sure you have a receipt of if it's your handyman that's doing it, who's taking care of it, or your property manager, make sure that they keep any and all receipts and invoices to put into place just in case it's ass. And the reason why we do this is because when a loss does occur, there is tendency for the insurance company to think that, well, that damage is preexisting, it's been happening before, or that damage has been happening for a long time and you've neglected it. And that's the reason why you're filing this policy now or you're filing this insurance claim now. Well, if you show this, if you show these repair estimates and repair receipts, it shows that not only have you been keeping up with your building, which is a requirement by the insurance company, but it also shows that whatever new damage is showing up as a result of this hurricane or fire or water damage, it shows that you that this, all the new damage has nothing to do with whatever was happening before and should therefore be covered. Another thing I would recommend is you take photos of your building or of your office once a year. Keep records of this. Because again, for the same reason that if a loss does occur and the insurance company wants to say that the damage that you are claiming was there before. Well, if you've got photos of your building and your business of how it looked, make sure you get all four sides of the exterior. I would hop on that roof, I'm sure you have access to it. Just take a couple photos of the roof, get inside of your warehouse or get inside of your unit and make sure you take photos of the interior. If everything looks ship shape, get those photos in there. Because if and when a loss occurs, the last thing you want is for the insurance company to deny your claim because they think that the damage was there before or if it's been happening for a long, long time. So take photos. I would say once a year you could hire an adjuster like myself to do something like that. Or honestly, you're better off just doing something like that yourself. It's really not that hard just to take a couple photos. Keep all of your policies in a safe place. So along with this, repair receipts and also in regards to repair receipts, by the way, just to backtrack a little bit. If you've got a handyman or like a maintenance crew that sort of takes care of all the repairs that go on into your building or to your condominium association or Something like that. Make sure you keep records of that stuff, especially if you got like a maintenance crew. Keep records of any and all things that are going on and make sure that the insurance company knows in the event of a claim that you have been keeping up with your property the way you're supposed to do, along with all of these records, especially repair records and stuff like that, and all of the photos that you take once a year. Keep all of your policies in a safe place. Now we're talking mainly about property damage, but also keep track of your liability insurance and your workers comp insurance. Keep everything in one place because if God forbid, something happens where somebody gets injured, you know exactly where your liability policy is and you know exactly the limits you got, which is also another good policy to review, by the way, to make sure you've got the proper coverage and workers comp insurance, you know, you never know when somebody might get injured on the job. You've got your insurance in a safe place where you can get to it and get to it fast so that you don't skip a beat because frankly you just never know when you might need them. And the last thing in regards to keeping good records is, and I'm going to get to this later, make sure that you keep all of the lease agreements of all of your tenants. And if you're a unit owner, if you're a tenant yourself, make sure that you've got your lease agreement and your rental agreement with the owner of the building. So make sure you keep that because there's going to be something that you're going to need if a loss does occur and you're no longer able to conduct your business, or you're no longer capable of having a fully functioning shopping mall, you're no longer capable of having a fully functional apartment building. So make sure that you've got lease agreements of all of your tenants that are going, that are inside of your building. And if you are a tenant, make sure you've got the lease agreement with the building owner because you may need that to show to your insurance company if you're no longer able to collect money from your tenants, or if you're no longer able to open up shop, open your business up and be able to pay your building owner when that monthly rent comes up. And last but not least, step number three, in preparation for an insurance claim, make sure you've got all the policies and procedures prepared for how to act if a disaster strikes. So for example, if you know that a hur, if you live in Florida and You've got a building in Florida and a hurricane is coming, make sure that you've got the proper people in place and the policies and procedures in place to board up. You're going to need to board up all of the windows. You're going to need to evacuate. If you have maybe some kind of restaurant and you've got tables and chairs and stuff that are outside, all that stuff is going to have to go in. So I'm not saying this is something you need to do throughout the year, obviously not if everything is okay. But if you see something like a hurricane coming or if there's wildfires in the air area or something of that sort, make sure you've got the policies and procedures in place so you don't freak out, so you don't panic and you don't know what to do when it happens. Go back to your policies and procedures and you know, we need to board up. We need to take everything that's outside, we need to put it back inside of our store to make sure it doesn't get, it doesn't get damaged or it doesn't fly around anywhere. Also fire exits, make sure you have the proper fire exits up to code and you know where to go if and and when a fire does happen to occur. Hurricane proof windows are fantastic for any and all businesses because they go up to about category four, category five winds. So it's very important to have hurricane proof windows and make sure that you document all of this with photos. This is going to help you actually pay a cheaper insurance rate. So if they know that you've got a policies and procedures in place that actually may lower your insurance rates and better yet, if you've got hurricane proof windows, if you've got proper exits and all the proper things that you need to sort of minimize your risk, risk of actual severe damage to your home, to your building or to your storefront. Show this to your insurance agent and you might actually make save some money on your insurance premium because of the money that you have spent to prepare your building or your business for a loss. So now let's get into how you can get the most money for your insurance claim. If and when an insurance claim does occur, if and when a natural disaster does occur to your business, does occur to your building. This is very important people. It's something that I deal with on a daily basis and I understand that you think that it may not happen to your building, but I will tell you, someone who specializes in commercial claims, I will tell you that it does happen all the time. And it happens often. I do hope and pray it doesn't happen to you, but I will say you still should be prepared. And I'm gonna give you the steps that you need to take to make sure that you keep the insurance company in check to pay you the money that you need to put your business and or your building back together. And we're breaking this down into three steps as well. So step number one, as soon as a loss occurs, or the day after, or a couple days after, make sure you take photos of the damage. Very important, you take as many photos as possible of any and all the damage. Document, document, document, document. The most important thing when it comes to an insurance claim is in fact documentation. And included in that documentation are photos. So as soon as a loss occurs, as sad as you may be, or as severe as it may be, hopefully not that bad. Just make sure that you take as many photos as possible. It's like after you get into a car wreck, what should you do? Not just call 91 1, but take photos, Take photos of the street name, take photos of the damage, take photos of the street and how it is. Especially if you are not at fault. And obviously in regards to a natural disaster, you are not at fault. It's not your fault. But be careful because the insurance company may go in there and tell you that things are not covered or things didn't actually happen. If you can show them evidence of a flood inside of your building. And then by the time the insurance company goes out there, there is no evidence of a flood, but you can show them all the photos that you took on the date of loss, when it actually occurred. That's going to help your claim tremendously. Also, now it's time in regards to documentation to go back to step number two, where we put a folder together of all your insurance policies, of all your repair estimates, of all your maintenance records, of all of your photos on a year to year basis. Now you go back to that folder and you're going to present that to the insurance and going to tell them, here's what we've done to prepare for this disaster. Here is what we've done to mitigate our disaster, Here is what we've done to do repairs, and here's all the photos of how the building looked before this natural disaster occurred. We do not want you to come in here and say that this was already here. So now's the time to go back to that folder and make sure that you gather everything and present that to the insurance company to Prove that everything that's going on right now as a result of this disaster is true. Other documentation that you may need, we've got photos and we've got all the pre stuff, all the stuff that you were prepared for. We're already prepared presenting that stuff. If it's a water damage claims where it's like a pipe burst and you need to call a plumber, well, guess what? Keep that invoice of the plumber. Also, if it's a repair to a pipe that needs to be made, I would suggest that you keep the broken piece of the pipe and show that to the insurance company. You need to provide as much physical documentation as possible to the insurance company. If you do this, I promise you it will expedite the process and will give you a much, much better chance of getting paid for your claim and not getting denied for your claim. Also, if something's going on with your roof and you need to make some kind of immediate emergency repair, when you call that roofer, make sure you get a copy of that invoice. I would even take a picture of the roofer up there doing the repair. Or if a tarp needs to go up, make sure you keep an invoice of that tarp and an invoice of the service that the roofer or the mitigation company provided you in order to put that tarp up. So step one is documentation. And that goes from photos to this, to the folder that we prepared before the claim occurred and to any and all invoices and receipts or anything like that in regards to repairs or anything after the storm. Step number two, hire somebody to put together a detailed estimate. I'm not saying you need to hire your own adjuster. I'm just saying you need to get someone to put a detailed estimate together. And what do I mean by detailed estimate? The industry standard is a software called Xactimate. And what does Xactimate does, which is a detailed and line itemized estimate, is it breaks everything down into line items. I'm talking from one coat of paint to two coats of paint, to detaching and resetting baseboards, to removing and replacing baseboards, and it all adds up. And if you can get a professional out there to really put together a detailed line itemized estimate as to what it's going to cost to put your building back together, to put your business back together, that's going to help you tremendously in any and all kinds of negotiations that you need to do with the insurance company. And here's why the insurance company is going to send their own adjuster out who is also a certified and professional estimator as well, who's going to go out there and put together their own estimate as to how much the repairs cost. You may agree, but you may not agree. And most of the times people, I will tell you, you will not agree with the amount that the insurance company wants to pay. The fact of the matter is the insurance company is a business, just like you have your business. And just like you, you're trying to save any which way you can. Well, one of the largest expenses that an insurance company has is claim payments. So they are trying to save money any which way. And I will give you an example. Most insurance companies initially up front will do one coat of paint as opposed to two coats of paint. Well, if you've got a 40,000 square foot building that's going to add up big time. So make sure that you've got two coats of paint, but that's just one example of many. So they may choose to detach and reset things that they don't think is damaged. But you know, in order to put it back together again, it needs to be completely replaced. So make sure you get a, a license and certified estimator out there to give you the proper estimate that you need to present to the insurance company. And one more thing about the estimate that I want to tell you. When the insurance company presents their estimate to you, you do not, I repeat, do not need to take that offer as a final settlement. You do not even have to accept that offer. If it's not to the, if it's not to the value of your liking, if you do not feel that the amount that the insurance company or the estimate that the insurance company has put together is sufficient to put your building or your business back to whole, well, you do not need to accept. And what I will tell you is to get that estimate together from the estimator that you hired and present that to the insurance company. Now there are public adjusters that you could hire to help you negotiate. But you as a business owner and as a building owner, I'm going to assume that you've got your fair share of experience in negotiation. So I will tell you if you've got the proper documentation in hand, if you've got the photos of the loss that occurred and of the damage that has occurred and you presented that to the insurance company and if you've got your line itemized estimate of the repairs and what it's going to cost to put your building back whole Again. Well, I will tell you that I am very confident that you can negotiate it yourself. So take all that evidence and take that estimate, present it to the insurance company. Do not accept the first offer if it's not to your liking, and begin the negotiation process. And I'm very confident that you can get the money that you need to put your building back together again. Now, it sounds like I'm done, but there's one more step, and this is the one that a lot of building owners and a lot of business owners forget. Step number three, do not forget about loss of business income. What is loss of business income? It's like I was telling you, a step three for the preparation. In step three for the preparation, I told you to make sure that you've got all of your lease agreements in one place that you can go to to present to the insurance company as a building owner. And as a business owner, if you're a tenant, make sure that you have your agreement, your rental agreement with the building owner somewhere in place that you could present to the insurance company. Well, if your building is no longer functioning because of a serious hurricane that hit or a nasty fire that just went through the building, and every single storefront has now has to close down, well, guess what? They can no longer pay you that monthly lease that they've agreed to. So if that's the case, guess who needs to pay you for it? The insurance company. If you're no longer able to afford your building because of the fact that the half of the building is no longer functioning, well, then that's where the loss of business income. You should have coverage in your insurance policy that has a nice large limit of loss of business income. As a storefront owner, it's the same thing. If something happens to your store and you can no longer sell the goods and services that you provide on a daily basis and you are out of business for three months, you must make sure that you have loss of business income inside of your policy so that it will cover you for those three months that you are closed and you are putting your building back together again. And I will tell you, in regards to loss of business income, it covers the time from the date that the loss occurs until the date that you finally restore your property to 100% full and is ready to start business again. So even if the claim has been paid and you are now starting the repair process, you still should be getting paid loss of business income. So if it takes two months to pay the claim and it takes another three months to do the repairs, then you should be getting five months of loss of business income. Just because the insurance company has made a payment on your claim, it does not mean that the claim is closed. It just means that you got the payment that you need to start the work. And once you start the work and once you finish the work, that's when you could finish the loss of business income. So you are entitled, for example, you are entitled for the first two months of the claim payment and then the three months it takes to restore the entire property back whole. So make sure you understand that as well. And after these three steps in regards to the claim process, it's really all about follow up. Make sure that you follow up with the insurance company as often as possible. Public adjusters, we are usually following up with the insurance company on a weekly basis. You, as a building owner, you should be trying to do the same. How much does your business mean to you? If it means a lot to you, you should be following up and staying on top of it on a weekly basis to make sure that you keep putting pressure on the insurance company to review all the documentation that you have presented, to review the estimate that you have presented, and pay you the money that you need to make sure that you put your property back to the place it was before and you could continue with your business activities. So that's pretty much it, guys. That is how you prepare for a natural disaster to your office or to your building. And that's how you make sure that you have enough money from the insurance claim to put your business and your building back together as fast as possible. Thank you guys for listening. My name is Vince Perry. I am the commercial claims advocate, licensed and certified public adjuster. If you want to continue learning about insurance claims, the insurance claims process, or about public adjusting in general, well, you can visit a couple things. For one, you can visit our YouTube channel where we provide weekly content to public adjusters all over the country to give them as much free information as possible. Another one you could do is you could go to commercialclaimsadvocate.com where we provide all kinds of videos and educational material for public adjusters, policyholders and anybody interested in the insurance claims game. So thank you so much for joining me today. It's been a distinct pleasure. And stay safe out there, guys. Back to you, Omar.

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What a jam packed, value packed lesson by Vince Perry. Take on his advice. Make sure you cover all the bases. Have that evidence, take the photos, review your contracts. Then the best part is that you can rest assure you can go to bed like a baby because you know you're covered. You know that you got your ducks in order. So when things out of your control happen, you feel in control. Thanks so much Vince for that amazing lesson. If you want to learn more, go on over to Commercial Claims Advocate.com don't miss a beat. If you don't want to miss another lesson of the 100 MBA show, make sure you hit subscribe so you get the next episode automatically right near the Vibe device, all queued up, ready to go. We're on Spotify, Stitcher Radio, Apple Podcasts, Himalaya, any podcast app that you have on your phone or on your computer, on any device, we are on there. Search the 100 MBA Show. Hit subscribe Before I go, I want to leave you with this. This lesson, today's lesson reminded me of an exercise that we ran in our business about a year ago and it's basically a disaster plan. But it's good to ask yourself what's the worst that can happen in every area of my business? What happens if this happens? What is my plan? What am I going to do? What are the repercussions that will happen? How much am I going to be out of business? How much loss is this going to be? What can I do? This is not to get you depressed or feel all down in the dumps. It's for you to think about what can possibly go wrong and at least give some thought to what are your options. And what we did, we just documented it in a Google Doc, like a playbook. So when something does happen, one of those things that we thought is possible that could happen, we know exactly how to act. We know we're calm. We don't have to think about what we have to do. We don't panic. This makes going through any crisis smoother, calmer, and allows you to get out of the situation as soon as possible. Give it a try, give it a think even. And what I found is that through the exercise you feel a little bit calmer, you feel a little bit more prepared. It's actually not doom and gloom. You actually feel, wow, I know what's going to happen if something bad happens, so I'm not really worried if something bad happens, it's pretty comforting. Thanks so much for listening and I'll check you in tomorrow's episode where we tackle a huge topic. Until then, take care.

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