How to Conduct My Own Home Inventory for Insurance?

Conducting an inventory of your home can be helpful if you ever have an insurance claim for your property. By documenting the current state of your home and the contents in it, your licensed public adjuster will have back up to ensure your property claim is not underpaid or denied by the insurance company. You can have a professional perform a home inventory using products like Matterport, or you can conduct a simple home inventory on your own! Here are the steps Firehouse Adjusters recommends…

• Outside Video: Include a view of the front and back of your home, along with patios, landscaping, fencing, and any additional buildings or structures on the property.
• Outside Photos: Take pictures of each outside area along with any structures and other items in detail from several angles.
• Interior Video: Record each room in your home. Mount your video recorder to a tripod so you’ll have a smooth pan of each room. Start by focusing on the upper half of the wall toward the ceiling and pan slowly around as far as you can without moving from where you are standing. Then, move down to the lower half of the room towards the floor. Lastly, pan back to your original starting point.
• Interior Photos: Take a photo of each room in your home. Position the camera in each corner of the room, or where you can achieve the best wide-angle shot of the entire room.
• Detail Photos: Take photos of each item and include the frame number of each photo next to the corresponding item on your spreadsheet. Group similar items together in one shot, but specify what’s in each photo on the spreadsheet.
• Spreadsheet: Organize your spreadsheet by rooms, and record as much information about each item as possible.
• Receipts: Proving ownership and value of your items is crucial, so find all receipts, including appraisal certificates, and attach them to the corresponding page of your report. Use a scanner to store copies of your receipts digitally, eliminating the need to attach the receipt to the report.

Hurricane Helene has been a reminder that we are still in the 2024 hurricane season and preparation is key! Make conducting a home inventory part of your hurricane preparation plan and in the event you  do have damage to your insured property, a licensed public adjuster can be helpful in the process and avoid denied or underpaid claims.