A home inventory checklist for insurance claims

After a total loss, most people can list about thirty per cent of what they owned. Adjusters know this. It is why claims settle low, and why an hour spent with a phone camera is worth more than any other hour of household admin you will ever do.

How much detail is enough

You do not need a spreadsheet of every fork. Work at two levels: photograph everything in bulk, and record detail for anything worth roughly $300 or more, plus anything irreplaceable.

• Item name and a short description.
• Approximate purchase date and price.
• Brand, model and serial number where one exists.
• A photograph, and the receipt or appraisal if you have it.
• Which room it lives in.

Room by room

Living areas

• Televisions, sound systems, games consoles and their serial numbers.
• Sofas, chairs, tables, rugs and lighting.
• Art, framed prints, mirrors and anything appraised.
• Books, records and collections — photograph the shelves as a whole.

Kitchen

• Major appliances with model and serial numbers.
• Small appliances, which add up faster than people expect.
• Cookware, china, glassware and cutlery, photographed by cupboard.

Bedrooms

• Beds, mattresses, wardrobes and dressers.
• Jewellery, photographed individually, with appraisals for anything insured on a rider.
• Clothing and shoes, counted in rough categories rather than item by item.
• Computers, tablets and their accessories.

Home office

• Computers, monitors, printers, networking equipment.
• Desk, chair, filing cabinets and their contents.
• Professional equipment, which a standard policy may cap far lower than you assume.

Garage, basement, attic and outdoors

• Tools, ladders, and lawn and snow equipment.
• Bicycles, sports gear, camping equipment.
• Patio furniture, grills, and anything stored in a shed.
• Holiday decorations and off-season storage — commonly missed, frequently substantial.

Special categories with their own rules

Standard policies cap certain categories sharply — often at $1,000 to $2,500 regardless of your overall limit. Jewellery, cash, firearms, fine art, collectibles, musical instruments and business property are the usual ones. If you own more than the cap, you need a scheduled rider, and the rider needs an appraisal attached.

Where to keep the inventory

Not in the house. Not only on the phone that might be lost with it. Photographs and video belong in encrypted storage that you can reach from a borrowed laptop in a hotel room, and that a spouse or adult child can reach if you cannot.

Keep it alive

1. Add new purchases over $300 as they arrive — one photo and the receipt.
2. Re-film the whole house once a year.
3. Remove things you have sold or discarded.
4. Check that your contents limit still resembles what you actually own.

A household vault gives each of these a home: an inventory record per item, the photograph and receipt attached as private files, and the whole category visible to the person who would have to file the claim.