The claim process, start to finish

The nine steps

1. Stop the damage getting worse. Emergency repairs — tarp, board up, dry the structure. Keep every receipt; these are separately recoverable in most policies. Photograph before and after.
2. Document before you touch anything. Photograph and video the damage, room by room, before repairs or clean-up. Keep damaged property — including samples of carpet, drywall and roofing — until the claim is settled. Once it is in a skip, it is gone.
3. Report the claim to your insurer — do this first, and do it now. Your notice window is 1 year from the date of loss (§ 627.70132), and for a hurricane the date of loss is the landfall date, not the day you found the leak. Report by phone or through the carrier's claims portal, and note the date, time and who you spoke to. Do not wait until you have a contractor's estimate — notice and estimate are separate things, and the notice is the one that can be lost.
4. Expect acknowledgment within 7 days. Your insurer must review and acknowledge the claim within 7 calendar days, and the acknowledgment must give you the claim forms, instructions and a phone number (§ 627.70131). If you get nothing, that is already a compliance problem worth documenting.
5. The adjuster visits. The adjuster must give you their name and state licence number in writing or electronically. A physical inspection must happen within 30 days of your proof-of-loss statement, and the insurer's representatives owe you 48 hours' notice before meeting you or inspecting.
6. Proof of loss. A sworn statement of the amount you are claiming. It is a formal document — accuracy matters and overstating is fraud. Many policyholders use a public adjuster or an attorney for this step, but you are not required to. Once the insurer receives it, it must begin the investigation within 7 days.
7. The estimate comes back. The insurer must send you a copy of its adjuster's detailed estimate within 7 days of it being generated. Read it against your own. If the payment offered is less than the insurer's own estimate, they must explain the difference in writing.
8. Payment or denial — 60 days. The insurer must pay or deny within 60 days of notice of the claim, with a written explanation of the basis in the policy. Pay late and the payment carries interest from the day the insurer got notice.
9. If you disagree: mediation, then the alternatives. Free mediation through the Department of Financial Services under § 627.7015 is the cheapest next step and the insurer pays for it. A supplemental claim for later-discovered damage has an 18-month window from the date of loss. After that, appraisal or litigation — and a five-year contract limitations period on a written policy.

Where claims actually go wrong

• Reporting too late because the damage looked minor, or because the first person to visit was a contractor rather than the insurer. That first year is absolute.
• Repairing before documenting. Once the drywall is out and the roof is on, the loss is an argument about memory.
• Signing away the claim. An assignment of benefits transfers your rights to a third party. Read anything described as an "AOB" or a "direction to pay" as if it were the sale of your claim, because it nearly is.
• Never disputing anything. The first offer is an evaluation, not a verdict. Mediation is free and the interest clock is already running in your favour.
• Hiring on the doorstep. The most reliable rule in this market: do not sign anything the same day someone knocks on your door after a storm.

The order to hire people in

Emergency work first (mitigation, so the damage stops spreading), then documentation and the claim itself, then permanent repair once you know what is covered. Hiring the permanent repairer before the claim is settled is how homeowners end up paying out of pocket for work the insurer was about to cover.