Studying the total losses at Slave Lake
Building cost information provider Marshall & Swift/Boeckh (MSB) has launched a major review of reconstruction costs compared to insured values in partnership with The Co-operators Insurance Company and the Alberta Motor Association (AMA). These insurers suffered substantial losses during the Slave Lake area fire that occurred on May 15, 2011, which completely destroyed 433 of the town’s buildings and damaged another 96.
MSB said its reconstruction cost experts are working side-by-side with customers’ adjusters, contractors and numerous Slave Lake officials. These reconstruction cost experts are assisting carriers in understanding the dynamics behind variances in insured reconstruction values and actual built costs for residential and commercial properties in the case of a large scale natural catastrophe.
“MSB is committed to helping our customers improve underwriting and claims processes by continually validating our cost data and promoting best practices,” said Norrine Brydon, MSB’s Vice-President of Data Asset, in a statement. “Natural catastrophes like Slave Lake provide a unique opportunity to analyze and better understand gaps in insured values and how to reduce for the future. Large scale reconstruction undertakings display different cost dynamics than single losses and all participants gain valuable insight by studying the reconstruction process.”
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