Fire and smoke damage claim in the Howth Sutton area.
We received a call from a home owner who had suffered extensive fire damage to his property.
A fault on the electrical circuit at a socket was the cause of the fire,fire soon spread throughout the room and subsequently, spread to the entire property. Fortunately, the home was not occupied at the time of the fire and the damage was limited to the building and contents. The fire was spotted by a neighbour and luckily, they contacted the emergency services. Understandably, the home owner was traumatised and in a state of shock. Following this large loss, the last thing they wanted was to have to deal with a complicated claims process. Not sure how to proceed, a neighbour that we had helped on a previous occasion referred the home owner to us to get advice.
I attended the site within 24 hours and carried out an initial site survey, whilst maintaining the integrity of the fire scene. At this point, the insurance company’s loss adjuster had not yet inspected the site. It is very important to maintain and preserve the scene until the insurers have a chance to carry out their preliminary investigation, this helps to avoid your position being prejudiced.
We found extensive thermal damage to the entire 1st floor of the building, extensive fire and smoke damage to the roof structure and finishes. We carried out specialist testing and found that smoke damage was evident throughout the entire property. The smoke had penetrated many of the elements on the ground floor, impregnating timber, plasters, kitchen units flooring etc.
ICS reported the claim to insurers and subsequently met with both their loss adjuster/engineer and forensic engineer. Given the extent of the damage we entered into protracted negotiations and after many rounds of negotiation, a settlement was eventually reached. ICS negotiated both the buildings and the contents elements of the claim through to settlement.
ICS assisted with the preparation of tender documents, review and selection of contractors and carried out the supervision of reinstatement works. The property was reinstated, with the works specified in accordance with current building regulations.
