Keeping receipts for an insurance claim: what counts and how to file it

A claim is proved with paper. Not with what you remember spending, and not with a bank statement showing a total — with an itemised receipt or invoice that says what was bought and what it was for.

What generally counts

• Emergency mitigation — tarps, boarding, drying equipment, the crew who came out at midnight. Usually covered and very often forgotten.
• The repair work itself, invoiced by trade.
• Materials, whether bought by you or by the contractor.
• Professional fees where the policy allows: engineers, architects, sometimes permits.
• **Additional living expenses** if the home was uninhabitable — accommodation, and the amount by which your food costs rose above normal.
• Contents — the belongings, which are usually a separate limit with their own rules.

What does not — and why it matters so much

Keep these completely separate from the claim total:

• Upgrades. If the tile was porcelain and you chose marble, the difference is yours.
• Additions. New square footage is not restoration, however naturally it followed on.
• Carrying costs. Mortgage, property tax, ordinary utilities. You would have paid these anyway.
• Work funded by someone else — a family loan, a trust, a second policy. It still needs recording, just not as a claim cost.

How to file so it can be proved

1. One category per receipt, matching the categories on the scope of loss. Roof with roof, tile with tile.
2. Mark each one covered or not covered at the moment you file it, while you still remember which it was.
3. Photograph paper receipts immediately. Thermal paper genuinely fades to blank within a year or two.
4. Keep the itemised version, not the card slip. "Home improvement store — $2,412.88" proves nothing about what was bought.
5. Note who paid. You, the contractor, a family member, a trust. This is the detail nobody records and everybody needs later.

The test

Pick a receipt at random from six months ago. Can you say, in under a minute, what it was for, which category it belongs to, whether it is covered, and who paid it? If not, the filing is not going to survive an adjuster's questions — and the completion packet that releases your recoverable depreciation will be a week of work instead of an export.