FLOOD CLAIM -Inspection Completed (Next Steps)
Post-inspection message explaining estimate/report preparation, documentation review, and next steps.
Template use: Replace placeholders such as POLICYHOLDER, claim-specific dates, amounts, Carrier names, and loss details before sending. Keep the adjuster authority disclaimer intact unless a Carrier/IA firm requires alternate wording.
Hello POLICYHOLDER, Thank you for meeting with me for the flood inspection. This email confirms that the on-site inspection has been completed. I am now working on the estimate, photographs, and all NFIP-required supporting documentation for submission to the Carrier. Unless I inform you otherwise, I remain your primary contact for this claim. Please feel free to reach out with any questions. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 📋 WHAT HAPPENS NEXT • I will review all field notes, measurements, photographs, and documentation collected during the inspection. • I will prepare the estimate and supporting documentation in accordance with the Standard Flood Insurance Policy (SFIP). • Once completed, my examiner will review everything for accuracy before discussing next steps with you, including the Proof of Loss process. • Please understand: This stage requires careful documentation and review to ensure all observed flood-related damages are properly evaluated. NFIP-required documentation is robust and complex and often involves multiple levels of review. Thank you in advance for your patience while we work through these federally required steps. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 📌 SFIP POLICYHOLDER REQUIREMENTS (IMPORTANT) The SFIP places certain duties on the policyholder. To help avoid delays or issues with the claim, please keep the following in mind: • Protect the property from further damage and take reasonable steps to reduce additional loss. • Begin cleanup and dry-out as soon as conditions are safe to help prevent additional damage. • Keep records of flood-related expenses and retain any receipts, invoices, and contractor documents. • Do not discard flood-damaged materials or contents until they are documented with clear photos. ⚠️ Mold note: Mold resulting from failure to promptly and reasonably clean, dry, and mitigate after the flood is not covered. Please proceed with cleanup and drying efforts as soon as safely possible. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 📸 IMPORTANT: CONTINUE DOCUMENTING THROUGHOUT CLEANUP & REPAIRS Even though the inspection has been completed, please continue to document and share anything that may support our claim, keeping in mind: • Any additional flood-related damage discovered during cleanup or demolition • Many inspections occur before demolition is fully completed. As materials are removed, additional components may become exposed (insulation, exterior sheathing, pad beneath carpeting, underlayment/subfloor layers, etc.). If NEW damage is discovered or previously not-visible materials exposed, take photos and notify me as soon as possible so it can be properly addressed before the file is finalized. • Clear photos of all flood-damaged building materials showing the flood damage, prior to removal/disposal is essential to document your losses • Any contractor evaluations, invoices, or written reports you receive should be forwarded to me as soon as possible • If you have Contents coverage: photos of each damaged content item showing the flood damage on the item is required for each item claim. It is often easiest to do so as you are compiling your list of damaged contents ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🛋️ IF YOU HAVE CONTENTS COVERAGE – GUIDANCE FOR DOCUMENTING YOUR PERSONAL PROPERTY LOSSES Preparing your contents list early and documenting items during cleanup is often the easiest way to ensure nothing is missed and helps the claim move forward more efficiently. • Photograph each flood-damaged item individually. • Also provide a clear photo showing the flood damage to each item claimed. • Create a list of damaged items including, at a minimum, the following: ▪ a brief description of the item ▪ the room where it was located when damaged by flood ▪ quantity ▪ approximate age ▪ the price to replace the item today • For tools, electronics, and higher-value items, please provide the manufacturer, model number, and serial number if available. • For higher-value items, generally those over $500, please also provide price support for the claimed replacement value. This may include a receipt, invoice, replacement estimate, or a screenshot from an online retailer showing the cost of the same or a similar new item. • Group similar items together when appropriate, such as clothing, kitchen utensils, or books, but still provide clear photos showing the flood impact. • If you have a large number of damaged items, it is often easiest to photograph them as they are removed during cleanup, then build your list from those photos afterward. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 📬 SETTLEMENT CHECK MAILING ADDRESS (IF DIFFERENT THAN THE POLICY) The Carrier will typically mail any settlement check to the mailing address shown on the policy. If you need the check sent to a different address (for example, a temporary mailing address), please notify me immediately so I can advise the correct process and ensure the request is communicated to the Carrier in a timely manner. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 📄 PROOF OF LOSS (SPOL) Once the estimate is finalized, I will provide guidance regarding the Signed Proof of Loss (SPOL). The Carrier requires a signed and sworn Proof of Loss before payment can be issued. I will assist you through that process when we reach that stage. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🏦 IMPORTANT: IF THIS IS A BUILDING CLAIM AND YOU HAVE A MORTGAGE As previously discussed, if you have a mortgage and/or any lienholder or payee is listed on your policy, AND YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY DONE SO: • Contact your lender ASAP to report the flood loss and advise them you have filed a flood loss claim and the adjuster has completed the inspection. • Ask what their process is for endorsing and releasing flood claim funds. Some lenders require sending the check to a dedicated flood loss department; others handle it at a local branch; some require additional paperwork. • I cannot determine or override a lender’s process, so this conversation must occur directly between you and your lender(s). • Doing this well ahead of payment receipt can reduce delays once the settlement check arrives. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Thank you again for your cooperation and thoroughness during the inspection. Proper documentation now, helps prevent delays later. Christopher T. Gutshall Insurance Adjuster NFIP FCN 0070008289 M 330.437.9168 | E gutflood@outlook.com <mailto:gutflood@outlook.com> Authority & Disclaimer: Field adjusters cannot approve/deny coverage or authorize payment. Final claim decisions are made only by the carrier. Confidentiality Notice: This email may contain privileged or confidential information intended only for the recipient. If you received it in error, please delete it and notify me.
FloodPath placement
This template supports FloodPath Guide / Adjuster content and can be adapted into insured guidance, adjuster copy-ready messages, or form workflow instructions.
Coverage / License Disclaimer
FloodPath provides general claim communication and documentation guidance only. Field adjusters cannot approve/deny coverage or authorize payment. Final claim decisions are made only by the Carrier. Unauthorized copying, resale, redistribution, or commercial use is prohibited.
Post-Inspection One-Page Graphic
This one-page graphic summarizes next steps after inspection, policyholder requirements, continued documentation, prior flood loss documentation, contents documentation, settlement check mailing address, Proof of Loss, and mortgagee reminders.
Your Flood Claim: Next Steps & Important Information
Designed as a quick insured-facing visual summary after the on-site inspection has been completed.