Dear Calvin,

 

Thanks for your call. No, there is no business aspects associated with the garage/shop/office. It was for my cars and vehicles, a shop for my on-going building operations, and a place to maintain records etc for my farm and Ag activities on the back 3 acres. A 5 acre property with animals etc requires substantial administration.

 

The garage was connected via breezeway to the carport which in turn is connected via breezeway to the residence itself. On the other side, the pool is connected via screened top and fence to the main residence. The cottage was quite small until I added a 16x24 room with porch so we left it as an outbuilding. The new addition was finished in mid-august and we planned on putting a solid roof on the pool and then creating a breezeway to the cottage thus tying everything together as part of the main structure. This made the County happy and the insurance agent said if we didn’t connect the buildings, then we would be limited to a total of 10% of the main structure as coverage value for them but if connected would come under the main dwelling. Ergo, we connected the garage so we could walk from the garage to the house without being subjected to the elements.

 

If we divide the two claims into the Hurricane Frances Damages and the Fire Damages, a new claim number for the Fire must be issued. Of course such a claim will be subject ONLY to the $1,000 deductible since it is not hurricane related. Of course, the Fire Claim will not be subject to the deadlines etc of the Commissioner either.

 

Assuming the above, I see things more or less as follows at this point :

 

Hurricane:

 

Main Dwelling (Roof, interior ceilings, floors, walls etc, plumbing, food, furniture etc etc)       -           $  30,000

Outbuilding Damages (Barn, fences, cottage, gate etc)                                                     -           $  20,000

    Less Deductible of 2%                                                                                                            - $ 5,000

    Less Standard deductible of $1,000                                                                                         - $ 1,000

 

            Sub-Total                                                                                                                      $  44,000

 

I may have left some stuff out which I am sure you will pick up but that’s at least close I think.

 

Fire Damage:

 

Personal Property                                                                                                                      $  50,000

Building Replacement                                                                                                                 $ 125,000

            Less Standard deductible                                                                                              - $1,000

           

            Sub-Total                                                                                                                     $174,000

 

Grand Total                                                                                                                              $218,000

 

I have a preliminary list of items lost in the fire already up on the website and its about $37,000+ as of today and I haven’t got the Mezzanine stuff. I have the receipts for everything and will have them up there on a PDF file later in the week.

 

My preference is to come up with a number for the whole thing and be done. Virtually everything has been replaced or repaired in the house, the roof etc Some fence still remains to be fixed and the gates need replacing which I will do this week. Almost all the trees are down now so that’s done. The roof final inspection passed on Friday.

 

In short, there is about $100,000 +/- without getting into detail on the structure fire itself which at worst case is an outbuilding so tops out at $27,000. Consequently, an immediate payment of at least 50% would not be unreasonable.

 

Splitting up the claim is OK by me as long as the Personal Property Loss is not held up pending final resolution of the structure fire itself.

 

Let me know,

 

Nick