Homeowners Guide

Insurance Related Home Maintenance Tips

Different Things to Consider in Terms of Insurance

Consistently Maintain A Hazard Free Home. Your homeowner’s insurance offers more than replacing or repairing your home in the case of an emergency. It also provides personal liability coverage, i.e. Financial protection, if someone is accidentally injured while visiting your home. Common occurrences include a delivery driver slipping on an icy walkway during winter, or a friend tripping over hazards around your pool area. 

Insurance Obligations. It’s important to keep your home in tip-top shape at all times, but especially if you need to make an insurance claim because something went wrong. If the insurance company determines the problem occurred because of neglect or misuse, chances are they’ll deny your claim. 

Keep receipts. Always keep your documentation and receipts for repairs, professional services, and upgrades. Upload your home improvement receipts to DomiDocs, as having documented proof of upgrades and renovations will help to increase your home’s value if you decide to sell in the future.

Take Photos. Having photos of everything home-related is crucial if you ever need to make an insurance claim. Store photos of the exterior, interior, improvements/additions, contents and valuables on DomiDocs online platform. This ensures your home and its contents are well documented in the event of a disaster where paper (filing cabinets) or electronics (like your computer) that you would normally store these documents, are destroyed or stolen and you are left with nothing to back up a claim.

Track Routine Maintenance. Keep a written track of routine maintenance you’ve performed as per your appliance owner’s manual; simply enter notes and tasks into the DomiDocs cloud-based platform.

What Are You Covered For? It’s also important for you as a homeowner to understand exactly what is and what isn’t covered by your homeowner’s insurance policy as it can vary widely between insurers. As a rule of thumb, house insurance policies won’t cover damages brought about by normal wear and tear to either your appliances or home, so it’s vital to maintain them regularly. There may also be an applicable deductible to process your claim; there could also be a maximum dollar replacement value for an item, no matter what your replacement cost will be. Many insurance companies offer customizable insurance coverage so you can pick and choose what you want based on your actual needs – for example, you could include your hot tub and pool, but decided to forgo coverage for household appliances, whatever works for you. If you’ve recently completed upgrades to your home, this increase in value needs to fit within your current homeowner’s policy replacement cost. If it doesn’t, you’ll need to increase your coverage, meaning your insurance premiums will also go up.