Estimating and reserves
Contents Inventory & Total Loss Inventory List Template
Last updated 2026-10-13
Four columns are fixed by statute in the states that enact the standard fire policy, and they are worth knowing exactly, because most published templates paraphrase them into something the proof of loss cannot consume. The requirements-in-case-loss-occurs clause obliges the insured to furnish a complete inventory showing in detail quantities, costs, actual cash value and amount of loss claimed. Two details in that clause get dropped constantly: cost is a column of its own, and the inventory covers the destroyed, damaged and undamaged property, so a schedule listing only ruined items is incomplete on its face where the standard form applies. Description is not one of the four and goes in anyway, for the reason below.
The work is in the description column. 'Books, 14 boxes' is not an inventory, it is a note; it cannot be priced by anyone but the person who wrote it and it cannot be tested by anyone at all. A description that supports a value carries quantity, category, and whatever identifies the specific thing — make, model, edition, size, age. The difference is not pedantry: an inventory that cannot be priced independently is an inventory that stalls the claim while somebody goes back to the insured for the third time.
The worked example below prices fourteen cartons of water-damaged books and deliberately does not finish. Two volumes the insured describes as signed first editions are recorded at no value with the reason written out, and the inventory total is stated as partial. That is the honest shape of most real contents inventories at the point they first go into the file. A second, shorter example follows: a fictional fire in which the scenario assumes every contents item was destroyed, scheduled room by room with quantity, description, age, replacement cost, depreciation and ACV on each row. Grouping by room helps the insured reconstruct what was there, and lets a reviewer trace each row's quantity, identification, pricing evidence and depreciation assumption.
Jurisdiction
Written primarily against US first-party property practice. Claim handling is regulated state by state — acknowledgment and response deadlines, prompt-payment requirements, adjuster licensing and unfair claims practices standards all differ — and the policy actually issued governs the claim. Where a page cites a statute, model act or regulation, confirm what applies in the state where the loss occurred. Outside the US, treat the structure as transferable and the legal references as not.
Contents Inventory template
Free Word download, no email required. Or open it in Professional Drafter — it lands in your template library, ready to draft against.
When to use this document
- Any loss with an unscheduled personal property component large enough that a lump-sum figure would not survive review.
- Before a sworn proof of loss is prepared, since the proof's schedule of personal property is built from this document and the two must reconcile.
- When items are being disposed of, so that quantity, condition and value are recorded while the property still exists to be photographed.
Worked example
Fictional scenario: the Harbour Lane water loss, claim PC-2026-11482. Fourteen cartons of stored books, water-stained, inventoried on 18 July and priced on 4 August. Two volumes are left unvalued and the total is stated as partial, which means the reserve carried on the file since 21 July is already wrong and the memo says so. The last two blocks are a separate fictional file, the Alder Court fire, showing the same schedule on a total loss organized room by room.
Claim identification and preparation notes
Claim PC-2026-11482. Insured D. Okonjo, 118 Harbour Lane. Date of loss reported 14 July 2026. Unscheduled personal property limit $155,000; the loss is nowhere near it and no sublimit is engaged except as noted below.
Inventory compiled by the insured on 18 July 2026 in my presence during the inspection, carton by carton, with counts taken by both of us and agreed. Photographs 30 to 44 in the file show each carton individually, opened, with a numbered card. Values added 4 August 2026 by the writer with a pricing service, working from the insured's list and the photographs.
The property has NOT been disposed of. All fourteen cartons remain at the risk address at my request and are available for inspection. The insured has agreed to retain them pending disposition and was told not to dispose of anything until he hears from us in writing.
Basis of valuation
Contents are settled on this policy on a replacement cost basis subject to the loss settlement provision, with the first payment on actual cash value and the difference recoverable on documented replacement. That is the same structure as the building payment on this file.
Replacement values sourced as follows. General trade titles: median current retail for a comparable copy, from the pricing service's book category, applied per volume by category rather than title by title, which is the only practical method at this count. Technical and reference titles: current retail for the same or the succeeding edition, priced individually where the insured could name the title. Children's titles: category median. Art and photography folios: current retail, priced individually.
Depreciation on contents is applied by condition rather than by age alone, because a book's replacement cost does not decline on a schedule. The percentages below reflect used condition against a new-copy replacement price, which is where nearly all of the deduction sits.
The schedule
Room: hallway closet, floor level. All items water-stained from below. None partially damaged, so amount of loss equals ACV throughout.
The cost column is carried but not stated per item. These volumes were accumulated over roughly thirty years, the insured holds no purchase records for any of them, and a fabricated original cost is worse than an absent one. The entry "not available, accumulated purchases, no records" is made once against items 1 to 4, so the omission reads as a fact about the property rather than as an incomplete form.
No. | Qty | Description | Source of value | RC | Dep % | ACV | Loss | Disposition
1 | 318 vols | Cartons 1-9, general trade titles, mixed hardcover and paperback fiction and non-fiction, reading copies, no first editions identified | Pricing service category median, $12.00/vol | $3,816.00 | 60 | $1,526.40 | $1,526.40 | Retained, no salvage value
2 | 46 vols | Cartons 10-11, technical and professional reference, titles on the insured's attached schedule, current or one edition behind | Current retail, priced individually, averaging $60.00/vol | $2,760.00 | 40 | $1,656.00 | $1,656.00 | Retained, no salvage value
3 | 61 vols | Carton 12, children's picture and early-reader titles | Pricing service category median, $9.00/vol | $549.00 | 70 | $164.70 | $164.70 | Retained, no salvage value
4 | 3 vols | Carton 13, large-format art and photography folio volumes, titles and publishers on the attached schedule | Current retail, priced individually | $410.00 | 25 | $307.50 | $307.50 | Retained, no salvage value
5 | 2 vols | Carton 14, described by the insured as signed first editions, one inscribed. See the excluded-items section below | None established | Not determined | n/a | NOT DETERMINED | NOT DETERMINED | Retained, segregated, not to be disposed of
Items 1 to 4 total $3,654.60 ACV. Item 5 is unvalued, so the schedule total is partial and is stated as partial wherever it appears. Row numbers are fixed at first issue and are never renumbered: the correspondence file already refers to "item 5", and an inventory that renumbers between drafts breaks every reference to it.
High-value and specially treated items
Item 5 is the only entry treated separately. The insured describes the two volumes in carton 14 as signed first editions, one inscribed. If they are what he describes, they are individually worth more than items 1, 3 and 4 combined and the policy's sublimit provisions may become relevant, which they are not on any other row of this inventory.
Items 2 and 4 were priced individually rather than by category median specifically because a category median for technical and folio titles understates by a wide margin. That is a pricing decision rather than a special treatment, recorded here so it is visible.
No other item on this inventory approaches a sublimit. There are no scheduled items on this policy.
Items excluded, held pending, or unvalued
Item 5, two volumes, carton 14. Unvalued.
The insured states both are signed first editions, one inscribed to a family member, and that they came to him through his father's estate in 2014. He has no receipts, no appraisal, no insurance schedule and no photographs predating the loss. The title pages of both are water-stained; the signature on one is legible in photograph 43 and the other is not photographed open because the leaves are adhered and I did not want to separate them wet.
I have not entered a figure, and I am not entering a nominal one. A placeholder in the schedule would be read as a valuation by everyone downstream — including by the insured, who would reasonably treat it as our position. Two things would resolve this: a book appraiser's opinion on identification and condition, and any documentary trace from the 2014 estate. I have asked the insured for the estate paperwork, requested 4 August, and have recommended to the examiner that an appraiser be instructed, with a quoted fee of $450 which is not in the current expense reserve.
The volumes are segregated from the rest of the property and the insured has been told in writing not to dispose of them or attempt to dry them himself.
Until this resolves, the totals below are PARTIAL and are labelled as such on every copy that leaves this file.
Salvage and disposition
No salvage of value on items 1 to 4. The volumes are stained through the block, not merely at the edges, and the pricing service confirms no residual market for water-damaged reading copies at this condition. No salvage vendor has been engaged and none is warranted; no permission has therefore been sought.
All property is retained by the insured at the risk address at our request, and remains available for inspection. Nothing has been disposed of and nothing is authorized for disposal.
Item 5 is segregated and held pending the appraisal question. If an appraiser is instructed the volumes go to them; if not, they stay where they are until the file says otherwise in writing.
Totals and insured's certification
PARTIAL TOTALS as at 4 August 2026, excluding item 5 which is not determined:
- Total replacement cost:
- $7,535.00
- Total actual cash value:
- $3,654.60
- Total amount of loss:
- $3,654.60
These totals are partial. Item 5 is outstanding and may be material.
Effect on the file. The reserve rationale memo of 21 July carried a contents placeholder of $1,900, derived from a per-carton comparison before anything was priced. The priced figure is $3,654.60 on the determined items alone, so the placeholder was low by roughly $1,750 before item 5 is considered at all. A reserve change memo issues today rather than waiting for item 5, because the movement on the determined items is already known and holding a figure you know to be wrong until the last unknown resolves is how reserves end up strengthening in one lump.
This inventory is presented to the insured for signature in the form above, showing item 5 as undetermined. I would rather he sign an honest partial than a complete-looking document that quietly assigns his father's books a value nobody has established.
- Insured:
- ______________________ Date: __________
- Adjuster:
- R. Calloway Date: 4 August 2026
Total-loss variant: the Alder Court fire, room by room
Separate fictional file: claim PC-2026-13907, insured M. Reyes, 42 Alder Court. Kitchen fire on 2 September 2026. Scenario assumption: every contents item in the dwelling was destroyed, so nothing remains to be listed as damaged or undamaged. The inventory is built from memory, phone photographs and card statements, room by room, with the insured walking each room on a floor plan. Extract: three of the nine rooms, in one continuous table.
The fictional policy settles contents on a replacement cost basis, paying actual cash value first and the difference on documented replacement. The ACV figures below are gross figures under an illustrative method — replacement cost less a depreciation percentage chosen per row for age and condition, not a published table — and are stated before the deductible and any limit or sublimit.
No. | Room | Qty | Description | Age | RC | Dep % | ACV | Loss
1 | Kitchen | 1 | Refrigerator, 25 cu ft French-door, stainless | 6 yrs | $2,100.00 | 50 | $1,050.00 | $1,050.00
2 | Kitchen | 1 | Range, 30 in freestanding electric | 8 yrs | $900.00 | 60 | $360.00 | $360.00
3 | Kitchen | 1 set | Cookware, 10-piece stainless | 4 yrs | $320.00 | 40 | $192.00 | $192.00
4 | Kitchen | 12 | Stoneware dinner plates at $15.00 | 5 yrs | $180.00 | 25 | $135.00 | $135.00
5 | Living room | 1 | Sofa, three-seat, fabric | 7 yrs | $1,600.00 | 70 | $480.00 | $480.00
6 | Living room | 1 | Television, 65 in LED, make and model on card statement | 3 yrs | $800.00 | 45 | $440.00 | $440.00
7 | Living room | 2 | Table lamps at $85.00 | 10 yrs | $170.00 | 50 | $85.00 | $85.00
8 | Living room | 1 | Area rug, wool, 8 x 10 ft | 5 yrs | $650.00 | 25 | $487.50 | $487.50
9 | Bedroom 1 | 1 | Queen mattress, hybrid | 4 yrs | $1,100.00 | 40 | $660.00 | $660.00
10 | Bedroom 1 | 1 | Dresser, six-drawer, solid wood | 12 yrs | $950.00 | 30 | $665.00 | $665.00
11 | Bedroom 1 | 12 | Men's long-sleeve cotton dress shirts at $35.00, all bought together | 3 yrs | $420.00 | 50 | $210.00 | $210.00
- 1, 2:
- current retail for a like model from two appliance retailers' websites, lower price used; insured reports both working with no known faults. 3: current retail for the same set, set still sold; normal wear. 4: current retail from the manufacturer's site, per plate; two chipped before the loss, reflected in the percentage. 5: current retail for a comparable three-seat fabric sofa from one furniture retailer; worn cushions visible in a 2025 phone photograph. 6: the card statement gives make and model; current retail for its successor model. 7: comparable lamps from a home-goods retailer. 8: current retail for a comparable wool rug; photographs show it in good condition. 9: current retail for the same mattress line. 10: comparable solid-wood dresser; photographs show sound condition. 11: a single order on a card statement, 12 identical shirts, current price from the same retailer; normal wear.
Pricing and condition notes (fictional, keyed to row numbers; all prices checked 15 September 2026):
Total-loss variant: reconciliation
- Kitchen (rows 1-4):
- RC $3,500.00, ACV $1,737.00
- Living room (rows 5-8):
- RC $3,220.00, ACV $1,492.50
- Bedroom 1 (rows 9-11):
- RC $2,470.00, ACV $1,535.00
Room subtotals:
- Replacement cost:
- $3,500.00 + $3,220.00 + $2,470.00 = $9,190.00
- Actual cash value:
- $1,737.00 + $1,492.50 + $1,535.00 = $4,764.50
- Depreciation:
- $9,190.00 - $4,764.50 = $4,425.50
- Amount of loss:
- $4,764.50, gross, before the deductible and any limit or sublimit
Extract totals, three rooms, eleven rows:
Every row reconciles on its own: ACV = line-total RC x (100 - depreciation percentage) / 100. Because the scenario assumes every item was destroyed, the amount of loss on each row is shown at that row's ACV. These are initial ACV figures, not the whole contents claim: under this fictional policy the depreciation of $4,425.50 is recoverable as items are replaced and documented. Each room subtotal is the sum of its rows, and the extract total is the sum of the room subtotals, so a reviewer can test any single figure without re-pricing the rest.
The cost column the standard fire policy names is carried on the full sheet where the insured has a card statement or receipt and is marked not available where not; it is omitted from this extract only for width. The other six rooms are scheduled the same way and are totalled separately as PARTIAL until the insured confirms each room is complete.
Section-by-section guide
What each section is for, what a good one contains, and where they typically go wrong.
1.Claim identification and preparation notes
Who prepared the inventory and from what. An inventory the insured compiled from memory, one built from a walkthrough with the adjuster present, and one assembled from photographs after disposal are three different evidentiary animals, and the difference should be on the face of the document rather than reconstructed later from diary notes.
2.Basis of valuation
Say how values were sourced before the first row, because the reader's question at row one is 'where did that number come from'. Retail replacement from a pricing service, a like-kind-and-quality comparison, the insured's receipts, an appraisal — name the method for each category. Note also which valuation basis the contents coverage is settled on, since that is not always the same as the dwelling's.
3.The schedule
Quantities, costs, actual cash value and amount of loss claimed are the four the standard fire policy's inventory clause names. Description is the fifth and it is the one that makes the other four usable, so it sits between quantity and cost. Add replacement cost, age and depreciation to the right so the arithmetic is visible. Number every row and never renumber — an inventory that gets renumbered between drafts breaks every reference to it in the correspondence file. Group by room, then by category within the room.
4.High-value and specially treated items
Anything approaching a sublimit, anything scheduled, and anything requiring an appraisal comes out of the main schedule into its own block. Burying a $4,000 item among four hundred paperbacks is how sublimits get missed and how appraisal requirements get discovered at settlement instead of at inventory.
5.Items excluded, held pending, or unvalued
Every item you could not value goes here with the reason, rather than being given a placeholder number in the schedule. A row carrying a guess is indistinguishable from a row carrying a valuation once the document leaves your hands. Say what is missing and what would supply it.
6.Salvage and disposition
For each item or group: retained by the insured, held for salvage, disposed of with permission, or awaiting instruction. Where property has been disposed of, record who authorized it and when. Most carriers require the insured's permission before a salvage vendor is engaged rather than after, and where that is the practice this is the section that shows it was followed. Check what your own file handling requires; the point of the section is that the answer is visible either way.
7.Totals and insured's certification
Totals for replacement cost, actual cash value and amount of loss, marked clearly as partial if anything is unvalued. Then the insured's signature attesting that the inventory is complete and accurate to their knowledge. The certification is what converts a list into a statement, and it is also the moment the insured reviews it — which is why totals stated as final when they are not is a problem that compounds.
Common mistakes
The failure modes that show up most often when this document is reviewed later.
Grouping items too coarsely to be priced by anyone else.
'Books, 14 boxes' has to go back to the insured before it can be valued, and every return trip adds days to a claim the insured is already measuring in days. A count and a category can be priced by a service the same afternoon.
Entering a placeholder value for an item you cannot value.
Downstream readers cannot distinguish a placeholder from a valuation, and the insured will reasonably treat it as the carrier's position on their property. Leave it blank, write the reason, and label the totals partial.
Renumbering rows between drafts.
Every reference in the correspondence file, the diary and the proof of loss then points at the wrong item. Numbers are assigned once; corrections are made in place or appended.
Building the inventory in a structure the proof of loss cannot consume.
Where the standard fire policy is enacted by statute, the inventory it calls for shows quantities, costs, actual cash value and amount of loss claimed, across destroyed, damaged and undamaged property. An inventory organized on some other axis has to be rebuilt at proof stage, usually under time pressure and usually by someone who was not at the inspection.
Letting property be disposed of before it is photographed and counted.
The inventory becomes an argument about memory. It is also the point at which a reasonable insured stops being able to substantiate their own claim, which is a bad position to have put them in.
Holding a known-wrong reserve until every open item resolves.
It converts a series of small, explainable movements into one large one at the end, which is exactly the pattern that draws attention on a file review and on an aggregate report.
Questions
- Which columns does the standard fire policy actually name?
- Quantities, costs, actual cash value and amount of loss claimed — that is the wording of the requirements-in-case-loss-occurs clause, and several states enact the standard fire policy verbatim into their insurance code, which is what makes the wording checkable rather than customary. Description is not on that list, and no inventory works without it. Build the sheet in those four plus description and the proof is a transcription; build it in some other shape and the proof becomes a reconstruction.
- Should the insured or the adjuster prepare the inventory?
- Usually the insured, because they know what was there — but the document should say so, and say whether it was compiled from memory, from a walkthrough, or from photographs after disposal. Those are three different kinds of evidence and a reader six months later cannot tell them apart unless you write it down.
- How do you handle an item the insured claims is valuable and cannot document?
- Record the claim, record the absence of documentation, record what would resolve it, and enter no figure. That is a complete and honest row. What it is not is a decision about the item, and the inventory is not the document where that decision gets made.
- Amount of loss and actual cash value are the same on most of my rows. Why keep both columns?
- They are the same only when an item is a total loss, and even then both are gross figures before the deductible, limits and, on replacement cost coverage, any later recovery of depreciation. On partial damage — a scratched table, a rug cleanable at a cost — the amount of loss is the repair or cleaning cost and the ACV is the value of the article. Collapsing the columns works until the first partial item, and then it silently overstates.
The blank template
Exactly what is in the Word download, so you can see the structure before deciding whether you want it.
Claim identification and preparation notes
Basis of valuation
The schedule
- One row per item, or per homogeneous group with a stated count
- Description specific enough for a third party to price it
- Source of value on every row
- Amount of loss shown separately from ACV, since they differ on partial damage
High-value and specially treated items
Items excluded, held pending, or unvalued
Salvage and disposition
Totals and insured's certification
Download this template
Free Word download, no email required. Or open it in Professional Drafter — it lands in your template library, ready to draft against.
Sources
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This page is a documentation aid, not legal advice and not a coverage opinion. Claim-handling requirements vary by state and by policy wording, and a template cannot tell you what your file requires. The worked example describes a fictional loss.