Effective January 3, CFSIC will be launching a program aimed at assisting homeowners with the assignment of a severity class code to their Type 1 affected foundation claims.
As you may have read elsewhere on this site, if you have an affected foundation and are filing a Type 1 claim, CFSIC will require that your foundation be assigned a severity class code of 3, 2, or 1 by a Connecticut-licensed professional engineer before your claim can be approved.
This is true on a going-forward basis beginning with applications received on or after January 10, 2019…but it is also true for affected homeowners who may already have had a visual examination conducted by an engineer either through the CRCOG program or through some other means, such as a visual examination report provided by an engineer retained by an insurance company reviewing a homeowner claim.
The assignment of a severity class code for a Type 1 claim is a requirement of the CFSIC program.
Any claim that does not contain a foundation severity class code assigned by a CT-licensed professional engineer will be placed in “inactive” status until a severity code rating has been assigned. Going forward, after January 10, we expect that any professional engineer making a visual examination of a foundation will assign a CFSIC severity code within the body of his or her written report.
It is for the benefit of those homeowners who already have had a visual examination…before CFSIC’s claims management guidelines were announced…that the re-examination program applies.
In order to facilitate severity class code rating for visual examination reports already completed prior to January 10, including those completed some time ago, CFSIC has selected three engineering firms that are available to assist homeowners at their own option and at no cost to the homeowner. The assignment of a severity class code for pre-existing visual examination reports can be accomplished by any of the engineers selected by CFSIC through a desk review of an existing visual examination report or, if applicable, through a site visit…the choice to be made solely by the engineer.
Alternatively, homeowners can feel free to find on their own, on a direct basis, a CT-licensed engineer to provide the re-examination service, or may re-engage with the engineer who originally did the work, in order to obtain a severity code rating. In these cases, if the homeowner takes that route, CFSIC will not pay for the severity code rating work.
Should a homeowner choose to use the re-examination program offered by CFSIC, the engineer’s professional opinion regarding the appropriate severity class code assigned will be final. The homeowner will not be able to “shop” an opinion by going to multiple engineers. The first opinion rendered will be the opinion CFSIC uses to adjust the claim.
To learn more about the CFSIC re-examination program, and to see the list of selected engineers and their contact information, click here.
Michael Maglaras, Principal
Michael Maglaras & Company
Superintendent, CFSIC