EQC has been!

It's been over 4 months now since our little earthquake. We lodged our claim with EQC (the Earthquake Commission) just a day or two after the main quake. At the time, we just had cracks in the interior walls, some cracks in the house cladding, and a cracked window. When asked, we said our damage was "minor" as opposed to "moderate" or worse.

But then 4 days later, on Wednesday the 8th, a big aftershock hit and knocked the stone cladding off our garage wall. There have been thousands of aftershocks since then and our damage seems to be getting a little bit worse with each one. We keep finding new cracks and asking each other, "was that there before?" Window frames are separating, new hairline cracks are appearing between the stones on the outside of the house. And it hasn't stopped - there was another big aftershock on Boxing Day which was followed by a whole buncha smaller aftershocks.

We've heard virtually nothing from EQC since lodging our claim. We know they're working though. We see them driving around in their Toyota Corollas, wearing their fluorescent yellow vests. (Why do they where fluorescent vests? We have no idea. But they all do.) They travel in pairs, like Mormon missionaries, wearing their vests, driving their Corollas, assessing the damage. So we know they're out there working. They just hadn't yet seen fit to make it to our house.

We hemmed and hawed about calling EQC to update our claim from "minor" to "moderate". Surely losing a wall qualifies as more than minor damage, right? We're not necessarily in a hurry to get the house fixed up, but sooner would be better than later, if we were given the choice. We were finally convinced to call and update the claim when some friends visited last week and said "definitely" we should do it. Well then. We would do it.

So I called EQC's hotline last week and explained the situation. I felt kind of stupid calling 4 months after the damage had been done, but she didn't seem to think it was strange at all. She just asked if we would be home through January 17th. Yes, yes one of us will be home. She then gave me an e-mail address and said to write this person, tell them about your damage, and tell them you're home and available for an inspection by January 17th. She said someone would come inspect our house by January 17th. Wow, ok. That was easy. Glad I called!

A couple days later, having had no response to my e-mail, I started to suspect that the woman on the phone had just been fobbing me off. But then on Saturday, Jeff called. I imagine that Jeff is always greeted eagerly and happily when he makes these calls. "Hello, this is Jeff from EQC, I'm calling to arrange an inspection." That's great! Thank you! "Are you available on Monday at 10 a.m.?" Yes! Of course we are! We'll be here! "It will be close to 10, right around 10, is that ok?" Yes, yes! Don't worry about it! We'll see you when you get here! Looking forward to it!!

The Corolla pulled up at 10:45 this morning. Out came two men in yellow fluorescent vests. I was actually at work but Gareth was ready and waiting to greet them, proof of insurance in hand.

They spent quite a lot of time going room to room. Gareth was very impressed with how thorough they were. And generous! Our bedroom has one small crack in the paint above the patio doors - neither of us had even noticed it. But EQC says they will pay for the whole room to be repainted. Nice.

In the end, we're getting new cladding and repairs to broken cladding. Paint and underlying paper will be stripped in the lounge, dining room, front hall, bedroom hallway, our room, and the spare room, and all will be repainted. Separated window sills will be sealed and repainted. A new window installed in the conservatory. And they're even going to paint the garage!

Gareth tried to score us a new bathroom by telling the assessors that our bathroom was beautiful and modern before the earthquake, but they weren't buying it. Apparently, earthquakes don't ever send bathroom decor back to 1972.

The way they're working it is this: if your damage is valued at less than $10,000, they'll just write you a check and you can have the repairs done yourself. If it's more than $10,000 but less than $100,000, repairs will be managed by their hired contractor who is handling all repairs. If your damage is valued at more than $100,000, then your insurance company has to be involved because they will be on the hook for the excess above $100,000.

Our assessors put us in the middle category: more than $10,000 but less than $100,000.

They were direct with us on this next point: we will be waiting a long time. It could be one or 2 years. This is no big surprise, as there is one contractor handling tens of thousands of repairs. (sidenote: it's a good time to be a builder in Christchurch!) Even if they hire every subcontractor in town, it's going to take some time. So we'll wait.

On the plus side, maybe by the time the contractor gets to us, we will have saved enough to renovate our bathroom, and we can get the whole house done in one go.