By Stewart Wrighter
Homeowners have a huge responsibility when it comes to the maintenance and care of their houses. For instance, due to the recent storms and flooding in certain areas of the country, garage door repair became an issue. Some of the insurance companies decided that rather than replace the garage door, they would pay to fix it. Many of the homeowners were not happy with insurance company’s decisions, but, aside from legal action they had no recourse but to accept that decision.
To fix or replace is a common dilemma. In most cases, the problem was trying to match the existing finish and pattern. It does not always involve an insurance decision, but it is a matter of economics. You surely do want to maintain the look and integrity of your home, so most of the time you would rather replace instead of just patch.
Returning to the issue of insurance companies and their willingness to pay for patching or replacing, there was an issue in the same area of Tennessee that involved roof replacements. It seems that in the midst of all of the storms, a significant amount of hail had damaged most of the roofs in the neighborhood. It was not long before many “new contractors” arrived in the neighborhood. Some of the pickup trucks had makeshift signs on them while others had no identification at all. Each one proposed to fix the damage roofs, and most wanted a hefty down payment to get started. Insurance companies have representatives in the area because of the huge number of claims that were being filed. The problem was that some of the homeowners felt compelled to give these unknown contractors to check simply to secure a time when there roof could be repaired. Of course, when the insurance adjuster showed up, he indicated that the work had to be done by a licensed contractor. The homeowners in question had not thought to ask for evidence of a contractor’s license or liability insurance.
Unfortunately, even legitimate contractors take advantage of situations were homeowners are in distress. In the case mentioned above, there were several contractors who advised the owner of every house they visited that they should be entitled to a new roof. Some of these claims were legitimate while others were not. In the cases where there was not enough damage to warrant a new roof, the homeowners were confused and tended to find fault with the insurance company rather than the roofing contractor.
Finding and securing a reputable contractor is not all that difficult, but in the face of catastrophic destruction, we sometimes don’t use common sense or exercise patience. The thought process becomes distorted, can we make irrational decisions. Perhaps the best way to deal with issues that involve storms that hit our houses is to think on a short-term basis rather than thinking about how to return our house to normal. It may take some temporary provisions, some of which we may not be too fond of, but in the long run our home and our pocketbook will be in better shape.
About the Author: Stewart Wrighter recently purchased a new Nashville garage door that will be more energy-efficient. He searched the term Nashville garage door repair to find a reputable repairman to help with an emergency.
Source: isnare.com
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