A home inventory, before you need one

Why it decides your payout

Contents claims are settled on what you can substantiate. The adjuster asks for a list: what it was, roughly when you bought it, and what it cost. Anything you cannot recall is usually money you do not receive.

People consistently underestimate what they own. Walk one room and count the things in it that would need replacing, and the gap between your contents limit and reality tends to appear immediately.

The fast version

Twenty minutes, and better than most people manage:

• Video every room slowly with your phone, narrating what things are and roughly when you bought them.
• Open cupboards, wardrobes and drawers while filming. Closed doors record nothing.
• Film the garage, the loft, the basement and any storage unit.
• Photograph serial numbers on electronics, appliances and tools.
• Save it somewhere that survives the house burning down.

The thorough version

Add a simple spreadsheet for anything over a few hundred dollars: item, make and model, serial number, purchase date, price, and a photograph. Keep receipts for big purchases as you go, which is far easier than reconstructing them later.

Jewellery, art and collectables need appraisals, and those need refreshing every few years as values move.

The categories with their own limits

Standard policies cap certain categories regardless of your overall contents limit. Typical examples:

• Jewellery, watches and furs, often capped around $1,500 for theft.
• Firearms, frequently limited and sometimes only for theft.
• Cash, capped very low.
• Silverware, cameras, musical instruments and business equipment kept at home.

Anything above those caps needs scheduling individually, which usually requires an appraisal and costs a small additional premium. Worth doing before a loss, impossible afterwards.

Where to keep it

• Cloud storage, so it survives the event you are insuring against.
• A copy with someone you trust, or in a safe deposit box, for appraisals and receipts.
• Not only on the phone in the house. That is the item most likely to be lost with everything else.
• Update it once a year, and after any large purchase. A calendar reminder is enough.

If you move often

A move is the natural moment to do this, because everything is already being handled and listed.

• Photograph high-value items before the packers arrive, with condition visible.
• Keep the mover's inventory; it is a ready-made list, though it is not a valuation.
• Damage in a government-arranged move runs through the shipping claims process, not your policy, but your own photographs support both.
• If the contents are in storage between homes, tell your insurer. Cover for stored goods is not automatic.

Whether you rent or own changes which policy responds, not whether you need the list. Renters cover is its own subject.

Common questions