Commercial property damage claims

The dispute is almost never about whether the storm happened. It is about how much of the building the storm actually touched, what it costs to put right, and how much of that the insurer gets to hold back.

The losses we see most

Replacement cost, actual cash value, and the holdback

Most commercial policies promise replacement cost but pay in two stages: actual cash value now, and the recoverable depreciation once repairs are complete and documented. That structure is legitimate. What is not always legitimate is how the depreciation is calculated.

• Depreciating labour. Contested and, in many contexts, indefensible — labour does not wear out over time in the way shingles do.
• Depreciating code-required upgrades. If the ordinance or law coverage responds, the upgrade is a new obligation triggered by the loss, not a worn asset.
• Refusing to release holdback. Once repairs are done and invoiced, the recoverable depreciation is owed. Delay here is a common statutory bad faith fact pattern.
• Applying a deductible per building rather than per occurrence — or the reverse, depending on which favours the carrier.

Matching, and why it is worth fighting about

When hail destroys the south slope of a roof and the same product is no longer made, is the insurer obliged to replace the whole roof so it matches? Colorado's answer depends on the policy wording and on whether the result would be a “reasonably uniform appearance.” The sums involved are large: the difference between one slope and four is often the difference between a routine claim and a serious one.

Causation: the argument behind the argument

Insurers frequently attribute storm damage to pre-existing wear, installation defects, foot traffic or an older uninsured event. Where a covered peril and an excluded cause combine, Colorado has historically applied an efficient proximate cause analysis — asking which peril set the chain in motion — although many modern forms attempt to override that with anti-concurrent-causation language. Whether that language does what the insurer says it does is itself frequently litigated.

This is why we retain our own engineer or estimator rather than responding to the carrier's. A report prepared to the same standard, addressing the same questions, removes the asymmetry that otherwise decides these files.

Practical steps after a commercial loss

• Make emergency repairs to prevent further damage — and photograph everything before you do.
• Do not discard removed materials. Damaged shingles and pipe sections are evidence.
• Get the insurer's estimate in its native line-item format, not a summary page.
• Watch the suit limitation clause. Two years from date of loss is common in commercial property forms.
• Think carefully before demanding appraisal — it resolves amount, not coverage.