Water Bay Village – St. Thomas
Location: St Thomas, USVI
Date of Loss: September 6, 2017
Type of Loss: Wind (Hurricane Irma)
Initial Offer: $250,000
SLC Settlement: $2.2 million
Increase Over Initial Offer: +$1.95 million
Overview
Water Bay Village is a townhouse-style condominium development with over 60 side-by-side units built in the early 1990’s. There are three different unit styles. On September 6, 2017, the property sustained extensive exterior wind and interior water damage as a result of Hurricane Irma. A claim was immediately filed with their insurance carrier and after many months of trying to handle the claim on their own, the Board of Directors reached out to Stark Loss Consultants for assistance.
Challenges
Stark Loss Consultants was retained by Water Bay Village in June 2018 to assist with the insurance claim when they felt settlement talks had stalled. Water Bay Village had received an initial settlement offer of $250,000 and had several contractor’s estimates that far exceeded this offer.
SLC quickly assembled a team of estimators and visited the property in early June 2018 to start preparing a damage evaluation. One of the greatest challenges SLC faced was the coordination to access the interior of over 60 units, several months after the storm. In many instances, the unit owners had left the island and were not planning to return as a result of the devastation brought on by the storm.
Once SLC had completed its repair estimate, a meeting was scheduled with representatives of the insurance carrier and settlement talks resumed. After another few months of inspections and discussions, the SLC team traveled to London, England to meet with insurance company representatives for two days to negotiate an acceptable settlement for all parties.
Results
