Services
Document a loss
Support a claim
For carriers and employers
Service areas
Middle Tennessee
- Nashville
- Clarksville
- Murfreesboro
- Franklin
- Hendersonville
- Smyrna
- Spring Hill
- Gallatin
- Lebanon
- Columbia
- Brentwood
- Mount Juliet
- La Vergne
- Cookeville
East Tennessee
West Tennessee
Property Damage Documentation for Owners Filing Their Own Claim
Homeowners, landlords and small property owners handling their own insurance claim can have damage to a house, outbuilding or lot recorded by a licensed Tennessee private investigator. Delator Claims Division documents conditions only. It is not a law firm, public adjuster, contractor or engineering firm.
- Coverage
- 95 of 95 counties
- Dispatch
- 24 / 7 / 365
- Metro response
- Under 60 min avg.
- Statewide
- 4-hour guarantee
What this service covers
Property damage is hard to photograph well from the inside of the problem. An owner knows the house and tends to take close pictures of the worst spots, without the wider views that show a stranger which room, which wall and which side of the building is involved. Cleanup starts almost at once, because nobody wants to live with a wet ceiling or a tree on the fence. The original condition disappears as the repairs go forward.
We record that condition before it changes further. We do not estimate repair costs, interpret your policy, state what caused the damage or say whether it is covered. We do not negotiate with your insurer or act as a public adjuster, and we do not tell you what the claim is worth or what to do with our file. Adjusting a claim for a policyholder requires a Tennessee license we do not hold.
When owners ask for a neutral record
- A contractor is scheduled to start tear-out or roof work, and you want the present condition recorded before any material is removed.
- A tree or large limb came down on a structure or fence, and it will be cut up and hauled away soon.
- Water has stained ceilings, walls or flooring, and the affected areas are drying out or being opened up for fans.
- A vehicle left the road and struck your building, mailbox, wall or landscaping, then was towed away.
- You own a rental or vacant property in another county and cannot get there yourself to see and photograph the damage.
What a property visit covers
- Whole-property orientation
- Views of every elevation of the structure and the lot from the street and yard, so each later close-up can be placed on the building.
- Room-by-room interior condition
- Each affected room photographed wall by wall, floor and ceiling, in a consistent order, with the room identified in the notes.
- Dimensions of affected areas
- The length and width of stained, broken, burned or missing sections measured with a tape shown in the photograph, recorded as dimensions and not as repair quantities.
- Roof and exterior surfaces
- Shingles, flashing, gutters, siding, windows and fencing photographed from the ground and from safe vantage points, with missing or displaced material shown in context.
- Damaged contents as found
- Furniture, appliances and stored items in the affected areas photographed where they sit, with visible labels or model plates, without assigning any value.
- Debris and removed material
- Fallen limbs, torn-off roofing, pulled carpet and discarded drywall photographed before disposal, including piles already moved to the curb or a dumpster.
From request to delivered record
- RequestCall dispatch or submit the request form with the location, loss type and urgency.
- DeployDispatch assigns the nearest available licensed field investigator through the statewide network.
- DocumentPhotographs, video, measurements and factual notes are captured once the scene is safe to work.
- PreserveFiles are timestamped, organized and kept in their original form with a record of who captured them.
- ReportThe package is delivered securely to the requesting party, typically the same day.
Why property conditions change faster than owners expect
Owners make temporary repairs because they have to. Tarps go over roofs, wet carpet comes up, broken glass is boarded over and fallen trees are cut for access. Each step is reasonable, and each one removes part of what was there. Weather continues to act on the opening in the meantime. Within a week or two a damaged property can look very different from how it looked on the first morning.
A documentation visit fixes one moment in a dated record. If mitigation has already begun, the investigator photographs both the remaining damage and the temporary work, and the notes separate the two. If you saved removed material, it is photographed as well. The record does not say what the damage means. It shows what a person standing in the house on that date could see, measure and describe.
A third-party record compared with an owner's phone album
An owner's album is often dozens of close images with no sequence. A reader who has never seen the house cannot tell the upstairs hall from the back bedroom. Our investigators start wide, move in steps toward the detail, and keep the same order in every room. Each image carries a date and time, close-ups include a scale, and the field notes list what was photographed and from where.
The record is also made by someone with nothing to gain. The investigator is not selling a repair, not bidding the job and not paid according to the claim's outcome. The notes avoid words like cause, covered and cost. That restraint is deliberate. It lets you hand the same file to an insurance representative, a contractor preparing an estimate, or an attorney if you consult one, and each receives observations without argument.
Delator documents evidence for people handling their own claim. It does not give legal advice, negotiate with insurers, tell you what a claim is worth, or act as a public adjuster. What you do with the record is your decision.
If you need advice about your rights, deadlines or strategy, speak with a licensed Tennessee attorney.
Common questions about this service
Will you give me a repair estimate or tell me what the damage is worth?
No. We do not estimate, appraise or value damage, and we do not act as a public adjuster. We are also not a law firm and give no legal advice. You receive a factual record of the property's condition. What it supports, and what to do with it, is for you to decide.
Can you say what caused the damage, such as wind versus wear?
No. Cause is outside the scope of neutral documentation, and Delator is not an engineering firm. The investigator records what is visible, such as the location, pattern and extent of the damage, without attributing it to any event. People qualified to give opinions on cause can then work from a clear record.
Will the investigator go up on my roof?
That depends on pitch, height, surface condition and weather on the day. Where a roof cannot be walked safely, it is photographed from the ground, from ladders at the eave where practical, and from other safe vantage points. The field notes state which method was used and which areas could not be seen.
What will I have in hand when the visit is finished?
A secure delivery, typically the same day, containing timestamped photographs, video walk-throughs where useful, measurements of the affected areas and written field notes. The notes describe conditions only. You control the file and decide whether to share it with your insurer, a contractor or anyone else.
Available statewide, including
Every Tennessee county is covered. See the deployment map for typical response tiers by county.
Request documentation anywhere in Tennessee
Dispatch is staffed around the clock. For time-sensitive scenes, calling is fastest; the request form works for routine and scheduled assignments.