Questions We Get Asked

Every replacement cost policy must include at least 12 months, and insurers must offer the option to purchase 24. Check the declarations page, because many people bought the longer term without remembering.

A cushion above the dwelling limit for when rebuilding costs more than the policy figure. Colorado requires insurers to offer at least 50 percent of the dwelling limit, raised from 20 percent by the 2023 reforms.

It pays to bring a rebuilt house up to current code rather than back to what stood there. Insurers must offer at least 20 percent of the dwelling limit, raised from 10 percent. On older housing it is frequently what makes a rebuild affordable.

The declarations page. One sheet, and it shows the dwelling limit, contents limit, living expense term and whether those two coverages were purchased.

Not for the statutory minimum. On a total loss of a furnished owner-occupied residence, the insurer must offer at least 30 percent of the contents limit without a written inventory. Going above that does require establishing the loss.

Yes, where the governor declares a wildfire disaster. The contents floor rises from 30 percent to 65 percent without an inventory, and living expense coverage must run at least 24 months with two possible six month extensions.

At least a full year after a total loss. You also have at least 365 days after your living expense benefits are exhausted to replace property and recover depreciation.

Insurers must make available the methodology used to depreciate personal property. Request it. If the claim has been unreasonably delayed or denied, Colorado has separate statutory remedies and that is a conversation for a lawyer.

Every primary structure in Denver, yes. Landmark Preservation staff have 10 business days from a complete application to determine whether the building has potential to be a Denver landmark.

More than 30 years old or exceptionally important, structurally intact, meeting at least 3 of 10 criteria in Chapter 30 of the Municipal Code, and retaining integrity.

A public notice goes up on the property for 21 calendar days and a report is published. Somebody from the public then has to file a designation application; the city does not do it. Where a notice of intent arrives by the 21st day, the posting is extended.

A determination that gives five years during which Landmark Preservation would not review a demolition application on the property. Owners use it when weighing options and buyers use it as a due diligence tool.

Then a different regime applies. Alterations and demolition within the district are reviewed against the district's own standards, and that reaches restoration work as well as clearance.

Both. Dimensional framing can sometimes be repaired in sections where engineered assemblies come out whole. But older houses carry a wider gap between what was built and what a rebuild must meet, which is what law and ordinance coverage exists for.

Because engineered roof trusses and floor systems exposed to heat are replaced as complete assemblies rather than patched. Across a larger floor plate that multiplies quickly.

Yes. An unheated damaged house through a Denver winter suffers freeze damage to plumbing and finishes that compounds what the fire did, and that deterioration is separate from the fire itself.

On some rezoned Denver parcels, yes. The city's zoning map shows what your parcel now permits, and it is worth checking before pricing a repair.

Yes. Who keeps the proceeds is a negotiated term rather than a legal barrier. Tell any buyer at the outset; one who suggests concealing it from your carrier is telling you something useful.

Nothing. No fee, no commission, no repair spend and no obligation if you decline.

On an older house where clearing is a plausible route, it is worth considering. The five year clearance goes with the property and removes an uncertainty a buyer would otherwise discount for.

The estate has to be able to convey. It is a common cause of delay and it runs alongside the coverage and demolition questions rather than instead of them.