Commercial property claims require parallel proof of physical damage and financial consequences. The building, contents, equipment, inventory, tenant improvements, lease obligations, business income, extra expense, mitigation, and period of restoration should be organized from the beginning.
The objective is to preserve an accurate record before water dries, components are discarded, buildings are repaired, financial records become difficult to reconstruct, or the parties take fixed positions without complete information.
Assemble coverage and responsibility documents
Collect every potentially applicable policy, endorsement, schedule, lease, management agreement, service contract, loan requirement, and certificate.
Identify building, contents, tenant improvements, equipment, inventory, income, extra expense, utility, ordinance, and other relevant coverage.
Create a daily operational chronology
Record access, closure, capacity, staffing, utilities, customer effects, tenant impacts, temporary operations, mitigation, and repair activity.
Save the source records behind each entry: emails, work orders, bookings, point-of-sale data, payroll, photographs, and invoices.
Tie financial calculations to restoration facts
Use historical data and documented trends, but align the claimed period and mitigation with actual design, permit, procurement, repair, and reopening milestones.
Explain assumptions and preserve underlying spreadsheets and source data so the calculation can be tested.
Evidence checklist
- Policies, endorsements, schedules, leases, contracts, and insurance requirements
- Before-and-after property, equipment, inventory, and operations records
- Sales, tax returns, payroll, budgets, forecasts, reservations, and occupancy
- Daily closure, capacity, mitigation, relocation, and extra-expense logs
- Construction schedules, permits, estimates, invoices, and payment records
- Carrier reports, requests, examinations, correspondence, and calculations
Read the complete policy and preserve post-loss compliance
Notice, protection of property, inventories, records, inspections, sworn statements, examinations, proof of loss, and other duties vary. Keep requests and responses in writing, document reasonable mitigation, and obtain the complete policy and endorsements before assuming what is or is not covered.
Related claim guide
Commercial Property Losses
Read the full cause-of-loss, scope, evidence, and frequently asked questions page for this property claim.
View the property-claim guide
About the author
Thomas J. Nessler
Thomas is a partner at Nessler & Associates and represents policyholders in residential and commercial first-party property-insurance disputes.