An offer of $79,612 on a loss that appraised at $523,331.
The loss
A water supply line failed in a second-floor bathroom of a Lake Leelanau home in January 2025. Water leaving a fixture on an upper floor does not damage one room. It damages every floor it passes through on the way down, and most of that is inside the structure where nobody is looking.
The insurance company's offer for replacement cost was $79,612.
The first pass
- An offer of $79,612.
The full claim
- Every floor the water passed through.
- Structure and finishes, measured.
- Appraisal, once the gap proved too wide to negotiate.
- A final replacement cost of $523,331.
What we did
We scanned the property with DocuSketch floor by floor, so the full path of the water was on the record as measurement rather than description.
The two positions were too far apart for negotiation to close, so we invoked appraisal and put the measured scope in front of the panel.
The outcome
The appraisal panel settled the claim on a scope that reflected the whole path of the water rather than the part that was easiest to see and price. It is the largest gap between an offer and a settlement in these five cases, and it came from documentation, not argument.
Identifying details are limited to protect client privacy. Figures are the insurance company's documented position and the final settlement on that claim. Every claim is different, and past results don't predict the outcome of any future claim.
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