House update
I've finally settled with the insurance company after over a month. It's been stressful dealing with the insurance companies and the different contractors. I had 5 contractors look at my house, but only two of them came back with bids. I contacted the non-bidding contractors several times, but they never replied with a bid although they said they would. Eventually I just gave up trying to get bids from them.
After talking to the insurance companies, I learned that I will not have to pay anything out of my own pocket. The insurance of the person who hit my house will be paying my homeowner's insurance deductible ($1700). This was a relief.
Here are the estimates for the damages:
My insurance company (Allstate) : ~$5000.
Driver's insurance company (Statefarm): ~15000
Contractor 1 : ~$19000
Contractor 2-4 : No bids
Contractor 5: ~$19000
Contractor 1 included work to replace ALL the brick with NEW brick, since an adequately matching brick could not be found. My house has brick on three sides (front and 2 sides).
Bid from Contractor 5 was priced to carefully remove and then reuse the existing brick. I had a small amount of spare brick in the back yard which would also be used. The high price was due to the extra labor in carefully removing the old brick.
I decided to go with Contractor 5 since I knew it would be easier negotiating with the insurance company, even though it was the same price as Contractor 1. My only goal was to get my home back to the original condition pre-collision, not to get more. The insurance company negotiated with the contractor and the agreed upon price was ~$15000 (down from ~$19000).
About three weeks ago, the contractor started work on my house. They started by removing the bricks on the side of the house up to the expansion joint. The expansion joing is halfway between the front and back of the house. When I actually saw the demolished wall, I was in shock. It looked like they tore down the wall without actually trying to save the bricks. I called the contractor to find out what happened. He said they tried the best they could, but some of the bricks were damaged in the process.
At this point, I didn't know what I do. The original plan of reusing the brick wasn't going to work since not enough of the existing brick was saved. A possible option was to use the reclaimed brick on the front of the house and then use new brick on the side of the house. The end result of this option is that one half of the side wall would not match the rest of the house.
The contractor went back to the insurance company to see what the possible options were.
The insurance company said they could pay for replacement of the whole side wall. This was better but not great since the whole side wall would be different than the rest of the house. After more negotiations, the insurance company said they would replace the whole front of the house and the damaged side. This is not any better since one side is still different than the rest of the house. I told the insurance company that this was not acceptable. The insurance claims rep then asked his supervisor if the third side could be done. The result was a definitive "NO". Even after more arguing, I couldn't get them to pay for replacement of the third side. Eventually, I gave up on the idea of trying to get the insurance company to pay for the replacement of the third side.
The estimate to replace the front and left side of the house with new brick came back at ~$22000!
I found it interesting that this bid was more than Contractor 1's bid, although this was to replace brick on only 2 sides. At this point, I asked the insurance company if I could take the money and use a different contractor who would rebrick all three sides for that price or lower. They said that was okay.
At this point, I went back to contractor 5 and told him what the situation was. I had other bid(s) that would replace all the brick on my house with a price that was lower than his current estimate. Contractor 5 needed to rebrick the third side for free, or I would take the money and go with one of my other contractors.
After serious arguing, the contractor agreed to rebrick the third side for free. (During the arguments, I was so pissed I almost told the contractor to "go %#ck off"). The contractor would still be getting ~$22000, which is still $3000 more than the bid from contractor 1. I decided it wouldn't be worth the trouble to switch to a lower priced contractor now. I'm still getting what I want (having my home restored to pre-collision condition), without having to pay anything out of my own pocket. Since I'll be rebricking my whole house, I can choose any brick I like...
After talking to the insurance companies, I learned that I will not have to pay anything out of my own pocket. The insurance of the person who hit my house will be paying my homeowner's insurance deductible ($1700). This was a relief.
Here are the estimates for the damages:
My insurance company (Allstate) : ~$5000.
Driver's insurance company (Statefarm): ~15000
Contractor 1 : ~$19000
Contractor 2-4 : No bids
Contractor 5: ~$19000
Contractor 1 included work to replace ALL the brick with NEW brick, since an adequately matching brick could not be found. My house has brick on three sides (front and 2 sides).
Bid from Contractor 5 was priced to carefully remove and then reuse the existing brick. I had a small amount of spare brick in the back yard which would also be used. The high price was due to the extra labor in carefully removing the old brick.
I decided to go with Contractor 5 since I knew it would be easier negotiating with the insurance company, even though it was the same price as Contractor 1. My only goal was to get my home back to the original condition pre-collision, not to get more. The insurance company negotiated with the contractor and the agreed upon price was ~$15000 (down from ~$19000).
About three weeks ago, the contractor started work on my house. They started by removing the bricks on the side of the house up to the expansion joint. The expansion joing is halfway between the front and back of the house. When I actually saw the demolished wall, I was in shock. It looked like they tore down the wall without actually trying to save the bricks. I called the contractor to find out what happened. He said they tried the best they could, but some of the bricks were damaged in the process.
At this point, I didn't know what I do. The original plan of reusing the brick wasn't going to work since not enough of the existing brick was saved. A possible option was to use the reclaimed brick on the front of the house and then use new brick on the side of the house. The end result of this option is that one half of the side wall would not match the rest of the house.
The contractor went back to the insurance company to see what the possible options were.
The insurance company said they could pay for replacement of the whole side wall. This was better but not great since the whole side wall would be different than the rest of the house. After more negotiations, the insurance company said they would replace the whole front of the house and the damaged side. This is not any better since one side is still different than the rest of the house. I told the insurance company that this was not acceptable. The insurance claims rep then asked his supervisor if the third side could be done. The result was a definitive "NO". Even after more arguing, I couldn't get them to pay for replacement of the third side. Eventually, I gave up on the idea of trying to get the insurance company to pay for the replacement of the third side.
The estimate to replace the front and left side of the house with new brick came back at ~$22000!
I found it interesting that this bid was more than Contractor 1's bid, although this was to replace brick on only 2 sides. At this point, I asked the insurance company if I could take the money and use a different contractor who would rebrick all three sides for that price or lower. They said that was okay.
At this point, I went back to contractor 5 and told him what the situation was. I had other bid(s) that would replace all the brick on my house with a price that was lower than his current estimate. Contractor 5 needed to rebrick the third side for free, or I would take the money and go with one of my other contractors.
After serious arguing, the contractor agreed to rebrick the third side for free. (During the arguments, I was so pissed I almost told the contractor to "go %#ck off"). The contractor would still be getting ~$22000, which is still $3000 more than the bid from contractor 1. I decided it wouldn't be worth the trouble to switch to a lower priced contractor now. I'm still getting what I want (having my home restored to pre-collision condition), without having to pay anything out of my own pocket. Since I'll be rebricking my whole house, I can choose any brick I like...
posted by Ray at 11:27 PM
2 comments
