California Home Inventory Template

What a California home inventory is for

After a fire, flood, burglary or wildfire, the hardest part of an insurance claim is often proving what you owned. Without a list, people forget most of their belongings, under-claim by thousands of dollars, and spend months rebuilding a record from memory and old bank statements. California has written specific protections into its Insurance Code for contents claims after disasters, but they work best when you can hand your insurer an organized inventory.

This workbook does that. The Inventory sheet records each item or group of items by room and category, with quantity, brand and model, serial number, age, price paid, replacement cost and where to buy it today, and estimates actual cash value from the expected life you enter. The Summary sheet totals everything by room and category, separates the items you are claiming, and calculates the disaster advance California requires (at least 60 per cent of your contents limit, up to $350,000) and the further amount to claim with the itemized inventory. The Policy and Claim sheet calculates your deadline to collect replacement cost, the ALE Log tracks additional living expenses, and the printable pages add room sheets, a photo checklist, a claim log and a plain summary of the rules.

When to use it

Use it now, before anything happens: walk through your home, fill in the inventory, take photos and a video, and store a copy away from home. Update it once a year and after major purchases. After a loss, use the same workbook to prepare your claim, mark what was damaged or destroyed, and track your communications and living expenses.

It works for homeowners, condo owners and renters in California. The disaster-specific rules apply to total losses of a primary residence related to a declared state of emergency; the inventory itself is useful for any claim, including theft and water damage.

What's inside

The full list of sections and fields in this template, in the order they appear.

1. Policy and Claim sheet

   • Insurer and policy
   • Contents limit
   • Replacement cost or actual cash value
   • Deductible
   • Claim number
   • Date and cause of loss
   • State of emergency
   • Replacement cost deadline

2. Inventory sheet

   • Room
   • Item or group
   • Category
   • Quantity
   • Brand and model
   • Serial number
   • Age
   • Price paid
   • Replacement cost
   • Total
   • Expected life
   • Estimated actual cash value
   • Where to buy
   • Photo or receipt
   • Claimed

3. Summary sheet

   • Totals by room
   • Totals by category
   • Claimed amounts
   • Disaster advance at 60 per cent up to $350
   • 0
   • Further amount to claim
   • Missing values check

4. ALE Log and Example

   • Additional living expenses
   • Normal cost
   • Extra cost claimed
   • Receipts
   • Completed example room

5. Printable pages

   • Room inventory form
   • Photo and video checklist
   • Claim communication log
   • California claim rules

Preview pages

How to complete the inventory

1. Enter your policy details. Add your insurer, policy number, contents limit, deductible and coverage type.
2. Go room by room. List items in each room, including closets, drawers, the garage and storage.
3. Group similar items. Count items such as clothing, books and kitchenware as groups with an average price.
4. Record what you know. Add brand, model, serial number, age and price paid where you have them.
5. Price replacements today. Enter what a comparable new item costs now, and where you found it.
6. Set expected life. Enter a reasonable life for each item, or 0 for items that do not lose value.
7. Note your evidence. Record where each photo, video clip or receipt is kept.
8. Store a copy safely. Keep it in cloud storage or with a relative, and update it yearly.
9. After a loss, mark claimed items. Use the Summary sheet for your claim figures and the logs for your records.

Example: part of a completed inventory

The workbook's Example sheet shows twelve rows for a fictional home with a $75,000 contents limit:

Living room: sectional sofa, 4 years old, replacement cost $2,499, expected life 12 years, estimated actual cash value $1,666; 65-inch television, $1,199.99 to replace; about 180 books grouped at $18 each, $3,240. Primary bedroom: women's clothing, about 120 items at an average of $45, $5,400; 14 pairs of shoes at $100, $1,400. Kitchen: a stand mixer cleaned after smoke damage, listed but not claimed. Totals: replacement cost of claimed items $22,154.99; estimated actual cash value $11,961.04.

Because the loss was a total loss in a declared emergency, the Summary sheet shows the required contents advance of $45,000, which is 60 per cent of the $75,000 limit, before any itemized claim.

California rules to know

These are the California rules this workbook is built around.

• Insurance Code section 2061. After a declared emergency total loss: an advance of at least four months of living expenses on request, acceptance of your own inventory form with substantially the same information, and acceptance of grouped categories.
• Section 10103.7(b). A contents payment of at least 60 per cent of the limit, up to $350,000, without an itemized claim, with the right to claim more with an inventory.
• Section 2051.5. At least 12 months, or 36 after a declared emergency, to collect replacement cost; no proof of loss demanded sooner than 100 days after an emergency loss.
• Fair Claims Settlement Practices Regulations. Acknowledgment within 15 days and a decision within 40 days of proof of claim.
• California Department of Insurance. Consumer help and complaints at 1-800-927-4357.

Mistakes that shrink contents claims

The common problems are having no inventory at all, listing only big items and forgetting closets, drawers and the garage, entering what you paid years ago instead of today's replacement cost, accepting depreciation without asking how it was calculated, missing the deadline to replace, throwing away receipts for living expenses, and keeping the only copy of the inventory inside the home. Filling in the workbook now and storing it safely avoids each of them.