Question 6: What Is A Supplement (And Why Should You Care)?
If someone in the home restoration or insurance industries talk with you about a supplement, they’re not recommending vitamins. They’re referring to the act of requesting an addition to your insurance claim.
Very often the insurance claim you receive for damage to your home will be too low. This is normally because of missing items from the necessary scope of work. Items may be missing because of a number of reasons.
One reason is because insurance adjusters are rarely experienced in construction or restoration. That means that they are rarely aware of all the items and details that are necessary to do your restoration project correctly. Another reason may be because they’re unaware of local building codes, so they may not include items required by the current codes. Still another reason is because businesses try to save money. If an insurance company and a homeowner will accept an insurance estimate that was intentionally written too low, they save money. A lot of money.
Lastly, one other reason may be because your policy excludes payments for something called “Ordinance and Law.” That means that if you don’t have Ordinance and Law coverage in your policy, your insurance company doesn’t have to pay for your new roof to meet current building codes. For example, if your house was last roofed, or built before a particular code went into effect, and now your contractor has to install certain materials or do things a certain way to meet code, if you don’t have Ordinance and Law coverage on your policy, you will have to pay for that out of pocket. Most policies do have Ordinance and Law coverage, though, and that’s why a supplement is necessary.