Public adjusters in St. Clair Shores, Michigan.
St. Clair Shores sends storm water and sewage through the same pipes, and heavy rain on July 28, 2025 flooded basements around Jefferson and Masonic. Add 14 miles of canals, a lake that set record highs in 2019 and 2020, and homes mostly built before 1960, and where the water came from decides most claims here.
AdjustFair works only for the policyholder, from our Ferndale office, about 12 miles west along I-696. We read the policy, document the full loss, price the repair the way a contractor would have to build it, and put that number in front of the insurance company with the proof behind it.
Where claims here get underpaid.
Three kinds of serious loss fit St. Clair Shores' housing and sewers, and each one has a familiar way of coming in short.
- Sewage through the floor drain. The city's sewers are combined, and separating them would mean work at roughly 26,000 homes, and heavy rain still reaches basements, as it did in August 2024 and again in July 2025. A backup sublimit is often applied without asking whether a cracked or root-blocked line under the house played a part, and that is usually settled by a short plumber's report.
- Canal and lakefront homes. With 14 miles of canals and a lake that broke records in 2019 and 2020, the insurance company may call any water in the house a flood. During high water the storm sewers here have run backward, and water that came up through the plumbing is a different question under most policies than water over a seawall, so the evidence gathered in the first days matters.
- Fire and smoke in post-war houses. Most of the city's subdivisions went up after World War II, and about six in ten homes predate 1960. Smoke settles into attics, ductwork and wall cavities that an estimate treats as untouched, and a kitchen fire gets written as a cabinet swap instead of the tear-out and rebuild it usually is.
The contents were priced as cleanable. Appraisal called them a total loss.
Water backed up into a Sterling Heights home and stood across the lower floor. The first offer treated what it had touched as cleanable. Appraisal disagreed.
Questions we get here.
My St. Clair Shores basement backed up in a storm. Is that covered?
Usually only if the policy carries a sewer and drain backup endorsement, and that coverage has its own limit. Because the city's system is combined, what comes up the drain is rarely clean water. Keep the plumber's invoice, photograph everything before it goes to the curb, and have the policy read before you accept a payment capped at the backup limit.
Is water in a canal or lakefront home always treated as a flood?
No, although the insurance company may start there. Surface water from the lake or a canal is flood and needs a flood policy. Water from a burst pipe, a backed-up drain or a failed sump is a separate question under a homeowners policy, and in a high-water year the line between the two is exactly what has to be proven.
How long does it take to reach St. Clair Shores from your office?
Our Ferndale office is about 12 miles west, a straight run east on I-696, so the Nautical Mile and the neighborhoods along Jefferson are well within reach. Call the number on this page and you will get someone who can tell you what happens next and when an adjuster can come out to the property.
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