Does anyone deal with homeowners insurance enough to know how it all works? We had to file a claim due to a leaking showerpan in our upstairs bathroom. Tiled shower and floor, saturated subfloor with mold throughout. Basically we had a dropped ceiling and didn't realize it. The leak went on long enough to collapse the section of top ceiling and then we saw the drywall sagging. We are having a professional company come in and do the mitigation, which will include most of the demo for the bathroom. My confusion and question is this: we have a $1,000 deductible, to rebuild the bathroom I know the contractor will want big $$$ from insurance. Insurance told me that I can do it myself, submit estimate and invoice for hours and materials and they'd cut the check to me. I'm trying to figure out how to have as little out of pocket as possible as we already had a 5 figure semi-unexpected cost this month. If I do the work myself, and my labor is "worth" at least $1,000 then I can essentially pocket the deductible correct? The adjuster said that it's not as simple as them saying this is a $10,000 job and cutting me a check for $9,000 to shop around with. If I find a contractor who does it for $7,000 then insurance will just give me $6,000.
Does any of this make sense? If it is recommended I do it myself what's a fair price to claim for my hourly time? I wouldn't charge as much as the professionals would, because I'd have more hours. Do I look at their estimate and try to get "mine" as close to theirs, but a bit under? We aren't trying to take advantage of insurance, just trying to mitigate out of pocket costs with doing some of our own work. Insurance company isn't giving us many reasons to shop around.
