RCV vs ACV and Depreciation: Terms on a Virginia Water Damage Estimate

On an RCV vs ACV water damage estimate, the whole difference comes down to age. Replacement cost value, or RCV, is what it costs today to put the damaged part of your house back the way it was. Actual cash value, or ACV, is that same figure minus a deduction for the wear the materials already carried on the day of the loss.

Your declarations page states which basis applies to your policy, and two houses on the same street can carry different bases. How a basis applies to your loss is your insurer's decision.

An estimate is a line-by-line document that can show a column for replacement cost, a column for depreciation, and a column for actual cash value. The summary page at the back is where the arithmetic is shown in full.

Depreciation can be shown line by line rather than as one lump sum taken off the bottom. Where it is, each line reflects an age, an expected service life and a condition assigned by whoever prepared the estimate.

Some estimates apply depreciation to the material only and others to material and labor. Emergency mitigation work, meaning the extraction and the drying days, is service performed rather than property replaced. The estimate's own columns show how it treated each line.

These are terms used on estimates and in policies. Recoverable depreciation is depreciation that a policy may release once conditions in the policy are met, and non-recoverable depreciation is depreciation a policy does not release.

Which term applies to any line on your estimate is stated in your policy and decided by your insurer. Coverage depends on your policy and your insurer's decision. Questions about coverage belong with your insurer, your agent, or a licensed public adjuster or attorney.

An estimate summary page commonly shows the figures that sit between the replacement cost total and the actual cash value figure: depreciation applied across the lines, the deductible, and any amount already paid.

The arithmetic runs from the replacement cost total, less the depreciation applied across the lines, less the deductible. How your insurer calculated a particular payment is shown on your own estimate, and questions about it belong with your insurer.

When mitigation work is complete, Restoration Doctor provides the property owner with a final itemized invoice and the project documentation: dated photographs, moisture readings and equipment logs. At the property owner's request, we share those records with the insurer.

We invoice the property owner. Your insurer alone decides what it approves and pays.

Any time limits or conditions that apply to a policy payment are set out in your policy. Read your policy, and ask your insurer or agent to point you to the relevant paragraph. Coverage depends on your policy and your insurer's decision. Questions about coverage belong with your insurer, your agent, or a licensed public adjuster or attorney.

The Virginia Bureau of Insurance publishes how to file an insurance complaint; the link is in the sources at the end of this guide.

A mortgage lender can be named on an insurance payment because of its interest in the property that secures its loan. Whether and why a particular payment names the servicer is a question for your insurer and your servicer.

A servicer can have its own written process, with its own timing, for handling insurance payments.

Your mortgage servicer's loss draft department can describe its written process, the forms it uses, and any inspection or disbursement schedule.

Restoration Doctor can provide the property owner with a contract or invoice for the work we performed.

Hidden damage is the usual cause on a water loss. We pull the baseboard first, and the moisture meter often reads wet a foot or two past where the staining stops. Insulation inside an exterior wall holds water long after the drywall face feels dry to the hand. None of that is visible on the morning of the first inspection.

Restoration Doctor documents a change in scope with dated photographs and meter readings while the wall cavity is still open.

Restoration Doctor provides a final itemized invoice together with the photographs and the drying records from the mitigation phase. Keep your own copies as well.

Daily moisture readings, equipment counts and psychrometric logs recorded under the ANSI/IICRC S500 standard document drying progress. Where mold is involved, EPA cleanup guidance and the ANSI/IICRC S520 standard are the references.

Restoration Doctor works across Northern Virginia across our service area, and our crews document a job as it runs instead of reconstructing it afterward.