Large strata scheme flood damage

A large strata scheme suffered widespread flood damage affecting many lot owners and common property. The strata policy covered common areas and, in some instances, repair coordination, while individual lot owners held separate contents/household policies.

What the insurer faced

• Multiple, similar perils: water ingress and flood damage to both common property and individual lots, with a mix of strata policy insured building and contents loss and lot-owner insured elements
• Evidence intensity: lot-owner damage list, photos, tenancy/occupancy data and personal policy details required to determine cover and payment route
• Operational friction: fragmented FNOL from many claimants, slow evidence collection, duplicated inspections and complexity in separating strata cover from personal cover elements
• Governance & reputational risk: required transparent communication to many claimants while protecting the brands of the strata manager, broker, and insurer

The solution we delivered

Custom Smart.ly intake for lot owners

• Created a branded, device-agnostic form enabling lot owners to lodge claims
• Claimant was able to enter loss details, upload inventories and declare personal insurer details (insurer/policy, cover level)

Primary strata loss adjuster & desk-first lot owner handling

• Developed a single, low friction intake and assessment route for lot owners and the strata manager
• Senior loss adjuster managed common property strategy and delegation
• Coordinated repairs and liability to lot owners and common property by a senior loss adjuster managing the primary loss
• Desk-based Digital First adjusters processed eligible lot owner claims end-to-end, verifying uploads, applying delegated payment rules and issuing offers
• Complex or structural matters escalated to Sedgwick Building Consultancy team or field adjusters

Virtual adjusting and evidence validation

• SightCall was used on an as-needs basis to communicate with the lot owner to validate missing information, capture interior and structural footage to reduce need for site re-attendance

Claim-specific reporting

• Integrated Power BI dashboards accessed through viaOne provided real-time visibility and claim-specific reporting for the strata manager, the insurer and brokers to support reserving, recovery and communications

Outcomes

• Faster capture and decisions: majority of lot owner FNOL submitted with full/complete evidence negating the need for time-consuming and costly field adjuster attendance and assessment
• Lower touch expedited settlements: routine lot owner losses settlement agreed through DA, reducing administrative touches and improving claimant experience and overall satisfaction
• Cost and lifecycle: conservative modelling using previous Digital First property deployments indicated meaningful fee reduction and substantial decreases in claim life versus legacy field-first handling
• Portfolio control: consolidated dashboards enabled accurate reserve setting, clear segregation of strata versus personal liabilities and earlier identification of recovery opportunities