Chubb HO appraisals an up-close risk management tool

Rough Notes, Jul 2001 by Pillsbury, Dennis

Agents benefit from appraisers' visits to clients' high-value homes

"We do an appraisal on pretty much every house we insure with Chubb," says Colleen Signorelli, an agent with Daniel & Henry Co., St. Louis, Missouri. "The appraiser here is terrific and provides a real nice faceto-face with the client. He does such a great job talking to the client and explaining how he arrived at the replacement value for their home and its contents. It's a wonderful service that provides a nice face-to-face with your client."

Signorelli continues that the agency also uses the Chubb appraisal service when one of its clients is undertaking a major renovation. "He provides advice on theft and burglary protection during the renovation, on storage of valuables, on damage prevention and so on. He goes to the site several times during the renovation and talks to the contractor. We actually call him the `foreman's foreman.' "After the renovation is complete, the appraiser will update the appraisal to reflect the new replacement cost and "contacts us about the new values. People see this as a favor and greatly appreciate this service."

The Chubb appraisal department has been around for 20 years and has approximately 200 appraisers worldwide, with about 150 in the United States. "We have people with degrees in historic homes, fine arts and other relevant disciplines," says Mary Ann Avnet, vice president and marketing and customer relations manager with Chubb. "Our focus is on high-value homes, and each one of the people in this department has a specialty that helps us to make certain we provide the right coverage and service to each of our insureds."

Avnet continues that the principal goals of the appraisal department are twofold-"to determine the correct replacement value for the home and to work with the agent to mitigate any risk of loss. That's why we get involved during any renovation and help the insured protect the house and its contents."

Turning to renovation, she cites one example where an historic home on Long Island had been damaged and was going through reconstruction. "Our appraiser worked with the fire department and the contractor to make certain there was adequate fire protection. In this case, we actually had an underground cistern installed during the reconstruction."

She continues that the appraisal helps to identify unique coverage concerns and often provides opportunities for the agent to get together with the insured to discuss those matters. "A home might have terrific antique furniture that might be more appropriately covered as fine art," she says. "There also may be unique window coverings that match the upholstery. This needs to be considered if there's ever a claim. You can't just replace the one window covering. A loss could have a domino effect that involves replacement of several window coverings and upholstery."

She continues that having knowledgeable appraisers really pays off when looking at high-value homes. "People with money put a lot into their homes and really appreciate it when you know and like what they've done. I was out on an appraisal in Denver and the appraiser knew what flooring was on the floor. When he asked the client to make certain, she simply replied: `Of course.' If we hadn't known that, we would have looked foolish in her eyes. In another case, we insured an historic house in New Orleans and the roof was damaged. It was a small roof, but we had insured it based on the replacement cost for that style house. The roof cost $40,000."

Avnet adds that "our appraisers make it possible for us to offer replacement cost coverage on historic homes. Our historic homes specialists know what needs to be done to restore an historic property and help us determine a true value and insure it for the proper amount."

She continues that the appraisers also help clients decide what they want to do with unique pieces. "We had a client that had a chandelier that belonged to Napoleon. The appraiser worked with the client on the various ways of insuring that piece-you can insure it as a one-ofa-kind antique or for the cost of a replacement that would be similar but not the same. Murals and other artwork on the wall also need special consideration, especially if the artist is no longer around. Our specialists know the artisans in the area and can recommend someone who could repair or replace the artwork with something in a similar style. In nearly every case, things can be replaced as long as you have enough money and our goal is to make certain these people have enough money to do so if that's what they want."

Colleen Signorelli says that the Chubb appraisal service is a "wonderful value-added service. Chubb has a great network throughout the country. We've used a number of them and they really are unsung heroes. At one of our clients' homes, the appraiser worked with the local fire department to improve the fire protection by having a hydrant put in by the pool. It's so nice to be able to help our clients protect their homes and valuables from loss."