Last weekend during one of the many very violent storms that have been raging though the southeast, a strong thunderstorm with straight line winds toppled a beautiful old white oak tree onto my house. The ground has been so saturated with 3 weeks of rain it didn't take much. We were in the house but not under the area destroyed.
Pics of the damage
The good news is that I am fully insured. The surprising other good news, is so far, my insurance company, State Farm has been exceedingly helpful in getting us relocated. We're about to move into a rental home nearby. Guestimates range from 4-9 months before the repairs are complete and we're back home.
My question is for those that have had to deal with this type of thing before. I want to make sure we don't make any mistakes. Our intent is to get the home repaired so we can move back in, with the repairs 100% perfect. I plan on retiring here, and don't want to deal with issues regarding the reconstruction years from now.
State Farm allows us to pick our own contractor, but if we pick one of theirs, the pay 100% up front, and guarantee the work 5 years.
If I pick my own, they pay a depreciated amount up front, and we have to submit reports, etc regarding the quality of the replacement work to receive the 100% payout. Guess they don't want to pay for 100% of the work and have us skip to vegas and do a shoddy job on the repairs, so I sort of understand the logic here.
I trust my contractor, and don't know anything about the State Farm recommend firms.
Any suggestions? Anyone else have to deal with a situation like this?
I actually feel pretty lucky. We've gotten tons of offers of assistance, but so far State Farm has been there for us, so we've been fine. Compared to those down here in TN, MS, AR and AL who have lost EVERYTHING and suffered dearly, we're actually okay, and hope to be pretty much back to normal next week once we're out of the hotel and in the rental.
Thanks!