After Isaias: 47,000 claims. How does it actually work from damage to finished repair

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After Isaias: 47,000 claims. How does it actually work from damage to finished repair

Vladimirs Veiss
Developer · Riga, Latvia | Switzerland | Florida · Member since 2026 · 144 posts · 25 votes

Hi everyone!

After Hurricane Isaias, Florida has about 47,000 insurance claims so far (Florida OIR). I come from renovation work in Switzerland, and we're getting ready to work in Florida, so I'd like to understand how the process really works here. A few questions for anyone who has been through it:

  1. How is the damage assessed, and who does it? Does someone actually come out to the property, and how is the payout calculated? And if hidden damage shows up during the repair, does someone cover the extra, or does the owner just fix it at his own cost?

  2. What if there are two hurricanes in one season? And what decides whether the hurricane deductible is 2% or 10%?

  3. Who checks the repair work? Do you send photos to the bank or the insurance company? Is there a specialized company that confirms the work was done properly?

  4. How fast does approval usually happen? And if the house is completely destroyed and the family has nowhere to live, how does that work?

Thanks in advance, any real experience helps. Have a great Sunday!

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Greg ScottPro Member
Rental Property Investor · SE Michigan · Member since 2014 · 4k+ posts · 6k+ votes
1w

Wow, this is like an entire career's worth of questions in one post.

I'll give you some guidance on the first question. https://adjustingonline.com/what-is-xactimate/

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  • Greg ScottPro Member
    Rental Property Investor · SE Michigan · Member since 2014 · 4k+ posts · 6k+ votes
    1w

    Wow, this is like an entire career's worth of questions in one post.

    I'll give you some guidance on the first question. https://adjustingonline.com/what-is-xactimate/

    1Reply
    • Vladimirs Veiss
      OP
      Developer · Riga, Latvia | Switzerland | Florida · Member since 2026 · 144 posts · 25 votes
      1w

      @Greg Scott thank you again! I narrowed my questions down in my reply in this thread to the main one: who checks the repair after the payout. Would love to hear your view :)

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  • Vladimirs Veiss
    OP
    Developer · Riga, Latvia | Switzerland | Florida · Member since 2026 · 144 posts · 25 votes
    1w

    Hi Greg, thank you, and fair point, that was a lot of questions in one post! The Xactimate link helps, it explains how the damage gets priced.

    Let me narrow it down to the one that matters most to me: who checks the repair after the payout? Once work starts, does anyone confirm each stage was actually done before the next payment, through photos to the lender or insurer, or a company that does this? Or does the owner mostly find out at the end?

    We want one clear logic from the estimate to the finished job, so the owner can simply watch the process instead of chasing it. Have a great week!

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  • Ashish AcharyaBusiness Member
    CPA, CFP®, PFS · Sarasota, FL · Member since 2017 · 5k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    1w

    Vladimirs, the insurance and claims side is probably best answered by a Florida insurance professional or someone who's handled a lot of hurricane restoration work.

    One thing I'd add from the financial side is to keep the insurance claim, payout, and renovation costs completely organized by property and project.

    I'd keep the adjuster's report, insurance proceeds, contractor invoices, permits, and any additional work caused by hidden damage together. If the property is an investment, that documentation can become important later when you're separating repairs from improvements and determining the property's tax basis.

    And if you're managing the renovation yourself, I'd make sure the project accounting clearly shows what was covered by insurance versus what the owner paid out of pocket. It makes the economics of the project much easier to understand and gives your CPA a clean record later. Happy to connect!

    [email protected]941-914-7779
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    • Vladimirs Veiss
      OP
      Developer · Riga, Latvia | Switzerland | Florida · Member since 2026 · 144 posts · 25 votes
      1w

      @Ashish Acharya thank you, Ashish, and sorry for the very late reply! Your point is the one most owners learn the hard way: once insurance money and owner money land in the same pile, it's hard to separate repairs from improvements a year later.

      That split is much easier to keep when every stage is priced line by line and accepted with photos before any money moves.

      Our family is relocating to Florida and we're coming in as a foreign team, so I'm curious: what's the most common tax mistake you see foreign investors make when they flip or hold there: the structure they pick, the withholding, or simply the records?

      Happy to connect here. Have a great weekend!

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  • Melissa HaworthBusiness Member
    Real Estate Agent · The Panhandle | The Emerald Coast | Panama City Beach | Destin · Member since 2017 · 287 posts · 107 votes
    4d

    Vladimirs, on your main question about who checks the work after the payout: if there's a mortgage, the check usually comes made out to both the owner and the lender, and the lender often holds the money and releases it in draws. They'll typically want photos, invoices, or an inspection before each draw. With no mortgage the owner pretty much is the one checking, so permits and the city's final inspection end up being the real proof the work was done right. On the deductible, it depends on the policy the owner picked. 2% vs 10% is chosen when they buy coverage, not decided after the storm. I'd keep everything documented from day one like Ashish said, it makes every step easier.

    [email protected]469-658-2869
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    • Vladimirs Veiss
      OP
      Developer · Riga, Latvia | Switzerland | Florida · Member since 2026 · 144 posts · 25 votes
      3d

      @Melissa Haworth, thank you, and sorry it took me so long to reply! This is the clearest answer I've had on this.

      So with a mortgage, the lender's draw is the check. With no mortgage, it's on the owner, and the permit and the final inspection are the proof. That second case is exactly where we want to help: every stage priced up front, closed with dated photos, and the owner signs off before the next payment.

      You saw this up close after Hurricane Michael in Bay County. When the whole county was rebuilding at once, how long did a final inspection actually take, and did owners end up paying contractors before it?

      Have a great day!

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  • Anthony Smith
    Real Estate Agent · Detroit, MI · Member since 2016 · 148 posts · 60 votes
    16h

    Vladimirs, I'll answer your core question from the contractor side, because the verification step is the same one that makes or breaks a normal rehab, hurricane or not. The system that works is boring: every stage is priced before work starts, payment for that stage is released only after the finished work is documented — dated photos of the completed line items, not the whole room looking tidy — and the next stage doesn't start until the last one is signed off. Melissa is right that with a mortgage the lender's draw process forces some of this; without a mortgage, the owner has to build that discipline themselves, because nobody else will.

    What that verification actually catches isn't usually fraud — it's drift. The stage gets declared 'done' with three line items quietly skipped, and nobody notices until two stages later, when fixing it means tearing out finished work. Photos at each stage, tied to the specific line items in the estimate, stop that. On your Bay County question: after a storm where a whole county is rebuilding at once, assume owners did pay contractors ahead of final inspections — inspection backlogs stretched for months, and the owners who got hurt worst were the ones who had paid in full against 'substantially complete.' Holding the last payment until the permit closes feels slow in the moment. It's the only leverage an owner actually has.

    1Reply
    • Vladimirs Veiss
      OP
      Developer · Riga, Latvia | Switzerland | Florida · Member since 2026 · 144 posts · 25 votes
      6h

      @Anthony Smith, thank you so much for explaining this! So after a storm it's a huge wave of work all at once. Sorry for the Sunday homework, but I have a few more questions 😄

      1. Can local crews even handle it, or do contractors come in from other states? Or do workers already move to Florida before the season, knowing the work will come?

      2. What happens to prices: do they jump because everyone needs a crew, or drop because so many crews show up?

      3. When the final inspection is months away, how does an owner keep a good contractor waiting for that last payment, while ten other storm jobs are calling him?

      4. An idea I keep thinking about: put a whole area on a map, say 100 houses, and each house lights up with what needs to be done, the price and how it gets paid. Would that help anyone, or does everything go through the insurance company anyway?

      5. How fast does the insurer usually assess the damage, and who actually does it: their own adjuster, or someone the owner hires?

      Thanks again, and have a great Sunday!

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