How to File a Homeowners Insurance Claim

Updated September 5, 2026

Most people file one or two homeowners claims in a lifetime, which means almost nobody is good at it. The process is not complicated, but it has several points where an ordinary decision — cleaning up, throwing out something ruined, accepting the first figure — quietly costs money. Here is what actually happens and where the money is won or lost.

Before you call anyone

Make sure everyone is safe and stop the damage getting worse, because most policies require you to take reasonable steps to prevent further loss — tarping a roof, shutting off water. Then, before you move or clean anything, photograph it. Wide shots of each affected room, then close-ups of individual damaged items. This is the single most common irreversible mistake: people tidy up, and the evidence goes in a dumpster.

Reporting the loss

Call your insurer or agent as soon as it is practical. You will get a claim number, which you should write down and use on everything afterwards. Ask two things while you have them: what your deductible is on this type of loss, and whether your policy covers additional living expenses if you cannot stay in the house. The second one surprises people — most policies do, and it means hotels and meals are reimbursable if you keep the receipts.

The contents list is where it gets hard

For anything beyond structural damage, you will be asked to itemise what was damaged or lost. Not a summary — a list, item by item, with descriptions, ages, and what things cost. This is the part people find genuinely distressing, because it means reconstructing the contents of a home from memory, often while displaced and exhausted.

Take it room by room and use anything you have: old photographs with things visible in the background, credit card and bank statements, order histories from online retailers, warranty registrations. Anything that establishes you owned a thing and roughly what it cost. If you documented your home beforehand, this is the step that takes an afternoon instead of two weeks.

What the adjuster is doing

The adjuster inspects the damage, reviews your documentation, and prepares an estimate. They work for the insurer, which does not make them adversarial — most are reasonable — but it does mean their estimate reflects the insurer's view of what is owed. Be present for the inspection if you can, point out anything not obvious, and give them your list rather than waiting to be asked.

Actual cash value, replacement cost, and the gap between them

This distinction determines what you actually receive. Replacement cost is what it takes to buy the item new today. Actual cash value is that figure minus depreciation for age and wear. A ten-year-old sofa might have cost $1,200, cost $1,500 to replace now, and be settled at a few hundred on an actual cash value policy.

Many policies pay actual cash value first and release the remainder once you have actually replaced the item and sent proof. That is called recoverable depreciation, it is money you are owed rather than a bonus, and people leave it unclaimed because they did not know to ask or missed the deadline for doing so.

Depreciation is more negotiable than it looks

There is no universal industry schedule for how fast household goods depreciate. Consumer advocacy groups point out that insurers apply their own internal guidelines, that these vary, and that a blanket percentage applied across an entire claim is worth challenging item by item. Some categories should not be depreciated meaningfully at all — jewellery, antiques, art. If a figure looks wrong, ask how it was calculated, and ask in writing.

Where claims go wrong

• Cleaning up or discarding damaged property before photographing it
• Not keeping receipts for temporary repairs, hotels and meals, which are often reimbursable
• Submitting a vague contents list, which invites a conservative estimate
• Accepting the first offer without asking how the depreciation was worked out
• Missing the deadline to claim recoverable depreciation after replacing something
• Not reading what the policy actually covers until after the loss, especially sub-limits on jewellery and electronics

If you disagree with the offer

Ask for the estimate in writing with the calculations shown, and respond in writing with specifics rather than a general objection — which items, what you believe they are worth, and why. If that does not resolve it, most policies include an appraisal process, and every state has an insurance regulator who takes complaints. Public adjusters work for you rather than the insurer and take a percentage, which can be worth it on a large claim and rarely is on a small one.

The thing that changes everything

Every difficult part above — the itemised list, the ages and values, proving you owned something, arguing a depreciation figure — is easy if you documented your home before the loss and nearly impossible if you did not. That asymmetry is the whole argument for spending an afternoon on it while nothing is wrong.

Stowly is a free home inventory built for exactly this: photograph what you own with values and purchase dates, keep receipts alongside them, and if you ever need to file, send your adjuster a single read-only link or export an insurance-ready PDF with everything itemised. Cataloguing your whole home is free with unlimited items; attaching receipts, and sharing or exporting your inventory, come with Plus.

A note on this guide

This is general information about how the claims process usually works, not legal or insurance advice. Policies differ enormously, state rules differ, and your own policy documents and your agent are the authority on your situation.