Every Ontario adjuster reviews restoration claims against the same checklist. Whether you are a homeowner whose basement just flooded or a commercial property manager handling a sprinkler discharge, understanding what insurance companies look for in water damage restoration claims is the difference between a smooth payout and a months-long fight.

After 20+ years working with Intact, Aviva, Co-operators, Wawanesa, Desjardins, TD, Economical, and RSA across Eastern Ontario, here is exactly what adjusters are looking for — and what causes claims to stall or get reduced.

The 6 things adjusters check first

1. Cause of loss documentation

The single most important question on any claim: was the loss sudden and accidental? Standard Ontario policies cover sudden events (burst pipe, ruptured supply line, appliance failure) but exclude gradual leaks the homeowner "should have noticed."

Adjusters look for:

Photos of the failed component (split pipe, ruptured hose, cracked tank)
Plumber's invoice identifying the failure mode
Date of failure clearly established
Evidence the homeowner discovered and reported promptly

A picture of a split copper pipe with a date-stamped photo wins claims. A vague "the basement was wet when I came home" loses them.

2. Duty to mitigate

Every Ontario property policy contains a duty to mitigate clause. The homeowner is legally obligated to take reasonable steps to limit further damage. Adjusters check:

Time between discovery and the call to a restoration company
Time between the call and on-site mitigation
Whether extraction and drying began within 24–48 hours
Whether the policyholder shut off the water source

Delays without explanation reduce the claim. A 5-day gap between discovery and mitigation can knock 30–50% off the recoverable loss.

3. Xactimate-formatted scope

Adjusters work in Xactimate — the line-item estimating software that uses localized Ontario pricing updated quarterly. A scope written in any other format gets bounced back for rework.

A winning scope includes:

Line-item breakdown by trade (extraction, drying, demolition, antimicrobial, reconstruction)
IICRC standard codes referenced (S500 for water, S520 for mould)
Equipment justification (air mover and dehumidifier counts tied to cubic footage)
Itemized materials (drywall sheets, baseboard linear feet, paint gallons)
Local labour and material pricing matching Xactimate's Ontario database

If your contractor cannot deliver an Xactimate scope, find a contractor who can.

4. Daily psychrometric logs

Adjusters need proof the structure actually dried. Daily logs document:

Temperature and relative humidity readings
Grains-per-pound calculations showing dehumidifier effectiveness
Moisture content readings on framing, subfloor, and drywall
The day each measurement point hit dry standard

Without the log, adjusters cannot defend the drying-day count, which often becomes the largest line item on the claim.

5. Photographic documentation

Every loss should be photographed at five milestones:

Pre-loss condition — before any extraction begins
Mid-extraction — equipment placement and water removal
Demolition — flood cuts, removed materials, exposed framing
Drying phase — daily equipment placement and meter readings
Post-restoration — completed reconstruction

Adjusters use these photos to defend the claim against subrogation challenges from the at-fault party's insurer.

6. Pre-existing conditions

Adjusters look hard for evidence of pre-existing damage that the policy does not cover. Common reasons claims get reduced:

Old water staining unrelated to the current loss
Existing mould visible before the loss event
Rotted framing from a previous, undisclosed leak
Deferred maintenance (cracked grout, failed caulking)

A professional restoration contractor isolates pre-existing damage from the current claim with separate documentation and stops work on non-covered scope until the homeowner authorizes it as an out-of-pocket expense.

Documentation that wins commercial claims

Commercial water damage claims add a layer most adjusters scrutinize closely: business interruption. Beyond the property scope, commercial claims require:

Hourly revenue logs from the affected location
Documented reopening timeline tied to the drying schedule
Containment plan showing how unaffected areas stayed operating
Coordination notes between building owner, tenant, and both insurers

We provide a separate business-interruption documentation package alongside the property scope for every commercial loss.

The 5 most common mistakes that hurt claims

Hiring an uncertified contractor. Adjusters trust IICRC-certified firms. Non-certified estimates routinely get sent back for rework.
Delaying mitigation. Waiting more than 48 hours forces material replacement that would have been covered by drying-only mitigation.
Throwing out damaged property before documentation. Once it is at the curb, the adjuster cannot verify the loss.
DIY demolition before the adjuster sees it. Adjusters need to see the cause of loss in its original state.
Signing an Assignment of Benefits (AOB) without reading it. Some AOBs sign over your entire claim recovery to the contractor.

How we work with your adjuster

Every 24/7 Remedial Services project follows the same process:

Free on-site assessment with photo documentation within hours of dispatch
Xactimate-formatted scope delivered to your adjuster within 24 hours
Daily psychrometric logs emailed to adjuster and policyholder each morning
Supplemental requests with photo evidence if hidden damage is exposed
Final closeout package with before/after photos, complete dry log, and reconstruction warranty

Adjusters across Eastern Ontario know our documentation, which is why our claims close faster than industry average.

Call dispatch: (855) 3247-FLOOD for IICRC-certified, insurance-ready water damage restoration across Kingston and Eastern Ontario.

About this guide & the team behind it

This article was written and reviewed by the IICRC-certified restoration technicians at 24/7 Remedial Services, a Kingston, Ontario property-restoration company with more than two decades of combined field and construction experience across Eastern Ontario. We respond 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year to water, fire, smoke, mould, storm, and impact losses across Kingston, Napanee, Brockville, Gananoque, Picton, Belleville, Smiths Falls, Perth, Prescott, Carleton Place, and the surrounding Frontenac, Lennox & Addington, Leeds & Grenville, Lanark, Hastings, and Prince Edward county townships.

Every guide on this blog is grounded in the same industry standards Canadian insurance carriers expect on a properly documented claim file: IICRC S500 for water damage restoration, IICRC S520 for professional mould remediation, and IICRC S700 for fire and smoke restoration. Where the article references a Category 1/2/3 water classification, a Class 1–4 drying environment, a Condition 1/2/3 indoor mould assessment, or a specific Xactimate line item, that terminology is used deliberately — it's the same vocabulary your adjuster uses and the same vocabulary that holds up in subrogation.

If you are dealing with an active loss as you read this, please do not wait. Most Kingston addresses see one of our restoration crews on-site within 60 minutes of dispatch — including overnight, on weekends, and during severe-weather events. Surrounding Eastern Ontario communities follow as quickly as travel allows. The cost of waiting on mitigation is almost always higher than the cost of acting immediately.

How our crews work

› 24/7/365 dispatch from a Kingston base
› Free written Xactimate scope before any work begins
› Daily timestamped moisture logs & photo documentation
› Direct billing to every major Canadian insurer
› Mitigation through reconstruction under one project lead

What we restore

› Water damage — burst pipes, floods, sewage backups
› Fire & smoke — soot removal, deodourization, rebuild
› Mould — IICRC S520 containment & clearance
› Storm & impact — emergency board-up and tarping
› Commercial, multi-unit, institutional & residential

Need restoration help right now?

24/7 Remedial Services dispatches IICRC-certified crews around the clock across Kingston and Eastern Ontario. Whether the damage is water, fire, smoke, mould, or storm-related, calling early in the first 24 hours dramatically reduces the eventual scope of work, the disruption to your property, and the size of your insurance claim. Our team handles the documentation, the insurer coordination, and the rebuild — so you only deal with one accountable contact from the first call to the final paint touch-up.

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