A homeowner in Cutler Bay files a claim after a kitchen fire and assumes the hard part is over. Then the adjuster explains three things she has never read on her own policy: the dwelling limit was set when she bought the house and is now well below what it would cost to rebuild, which reduces the payment on the fire itself; her jewelry is capped at a small internal limit she did not know existed; and the policy pays the family’s hotel only up to a set amount that the repair timeline will outlast. Every one of those numbers was printed on the declarations page she received each year and filed away unopened.
Most homeowners look at one number on their policy, the premium. The declarations page that arrives each year holds roughly a dozen figures that decide what happens after a loss, and the premium is the least important of them. Three in particular get checked by almost nobody and account for most of the unpleasant surprises at claim time. Here is how to read the page.
Coverage A: Dwelling
Coverage A insures the structure itself, and it is the number the entire policy is rated on. The question to ask is whether it reflects what it would cost to rebuild the house today, at current construction prices. Not the purchase price, not what the house would sell for and not the online estimate. Those are three different numbers, and only one of them matters after a fire. Construction costs have risen substantially, and a limit set at purchase or carried forward for several renewals is often short now. That matters beyond a total loss, because policies include a provision requiring the home to be insured to a stated percentage of its rebuild cost, and insuring below it reduces payment on partial claims too.
Coverage B: Other Structures
Coverage B insures structures that are not attached to the house, such as fences, sheds, detached garages and, depending on the form, docks. Seawalls are often limited or excluded, so check rather than assume. This limit is almost always a percentage of Coverage A rather than a figure anyone chose. Ten percent of a $400,000 dwelling limit is $40,000, so if you have a detached garage, a long run of fencing and a dock, add up what replacing them would cost and see whether the percentage covers it.
Coverage C: Personal Property
Coverage C insures your belongings, and two details matter most. The first is whether it is written at replacement cost or actual cash value, which is the difference between being paid what a four-year-old sofa costs to replace today and being paid what a four-year-old sofa is worth. The second is the internal sublimits that apply to jewelry, watches, firearms, silverware, art and collectibles regardless of your total limit, with an even lower limit for theft in many cases. A single ring can exceed it. Scheduling those items removes the cap and usually broadens the coverage to include simply losing something, which an unscheduled policy does not cover at all. Our article on insuring art, jewelry and collections in Florida explains how scheduling works.
Coverage D: Loss of Use
Coverage D pays for you to live somewhere else while the home is repaired. Check the amount and whether it is a percentage of the dwelling limit or a stated figure. After a major storm, repairs run for months and rental housing becomes scarce and expensive, so this is the coverage nobody thinks about and the one people are most grateful for when they need it.
Coverage E: Personal Liability
Coverage E is the part almost nobody reviews and the part with no ceiling on what a claim can cost. Most policies carry the minimum limit simply because no one asked for more. A visitor injured on the property, a dog bite, which Florida law makes the owner liable for from the first bite, a pool accident or an incident caused by a family member reaches your savings and your future income, not just your furniture. Raising the limit costs very little, and an umbrella above it costs less than most people expect, as our article on how much umbrella insurance you need in Florida explains.
Coverage F: Medical Payments
Coverage F is a small no-fault amount that pays a guest’s medical bills without anyone having to establish who was at fault. It often resolves a minor injury before it turns into a liability claim.
The Deductibles Section
Most surprises live here, because there is more than one deductible. The all other perils deductible is the flat dollar amount most people think of as their deductible, and it applies to fire, theft and non-weather water damage. The hurricane deductible is a percentage of Coverage A, not a flat amount. Two percent of $500,000 is $10,000, and five percent is $25,000. Convert yours to dollars and write it down, because that is what you fund before the policy pays anything, in the days after a storm when contractors want deposits. Some policies also carry a separate windstorm or hail deductible for wind damage outside a hurricane, and a growing number of Florida policies add a separate roof deductible for roof claims. On homeowners policies, Florida law generally applies the hurricane deductible once per calendar year, so a second storm in the same season falls under the standard deductible instead. Our article on home insurance deductibles in Florida covers each one.
The Forms and Endorsements Schedule
The list of form numbers that looks like codes is where the policy is actually written, and a few items on it matter more than anything on the front page. Roof settlement determines whether roof claims pay replacement cost or actual cash value, which on an older roof is a large difference that appears nowhere else. Cosmetic damage exclusions decline to pay for dents and marring that do not affect how the roof functions. Water damage limitations, which some carriers now apply, cap what is paid for certain water losses. Ordinance or law coverage pays the extra cost of rebuilding to current code, and it is worth checking whether you have all three parts or only the first, because on an older home the demolition and increased construction cost parts are where the money is. Extended replacement cost pays a stated percentage above Coverage A if the rebuild costs more. If you do not recognize a form number, ask what it does, because carriers add and remove endorsements at renewal and the cover letter rarely explains what changed. Owners of higher-value homes should also read our article on HO-5 versus HO-3 forms.
What Is Not on the Page at All
Two things never show up on the declarations page. Flood is excluded from every homeowners policy and requires a separate policy, as our flood insurance page explains. And anything you never told the carrier about, such as a renovation, a pool, a short-term rental arrangement, a business run from the house or a new dog, is not reflected either, because the policy describes the property as it was described to the carrier.
The Three Most People Have Never Checked
If you only look at three things, make them these. First, the dwelling limit compared with current rebuild cost, the most important number on the page and the one most likely to be out of date. Second, the hurricane deductible in dollars, not as a percentage. Third, how roof claims settle, at replacement cost or actual cash value, along with the year the roof was installed. Those three decide more about your outcome after a Florida claim than everything else combined, and our article on how to save money on homeowners insurance in Florida explains how each one affects the premium.
What to Confirm
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Does Coverage A reflect current rebuild cost?
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Is personal property written at replacement cost, and are valuables above the sublimits scheduled?
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What is the hurricane deductible in dollars, and is there a separate roof deductible?
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How do roof claims settle?
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Do you have ordinance or law coverage in all three parts?
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Is there anything about the property the carrier does not know?
Homeowners Insurance With Prestige Insurance Group
Prestige Insurance Group writes homeowners coverage in Florida and across our nine-state footprint, for clients in Miami, Pinecrest, Cutler Bay, Orlando and Winter Park, and for those who moved out of state and stayed with us. If you would rather someone else read it, send us your declarations page, and we will tell you what the three numbers above say about your policy and whether anything on the forms schedule deserves a second look. Learn more on our homeowners insurance and umbrella insurance pages. Call the office nearest you. Se habla español.
Miami: 305-969-8776 Orlando: 407-993-2331
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a declarations page?
It is the summary page of your homeowners policy that lists your coverages, limits, deductibles, premium and the forms and endorsements that make up the policy.
What should my dwelling coverage be?
Enough to rebuild the home at current construction costs. It should not be based on the purchase price or the market value.
How do I calculate my hurricane deductible?
Multiply the percentage by your Coverage A dwelling limit. Two percent of a $500,000 dwelling limit is $10,000.
Is flood shown on my declarations page?
No. Homeowners policies exclude flood, so flood coverage requires a separate policy with its own declarations page.
General information only, not legal advice. Policy forms, coverage structures, sublimits, settlement provisions and endorsements vary by carrier and policy, and Florida statutory provisions on hurricane deductibles can change. Refer to your actual policy for the terms that apply to your home.
