Thursday, October 31, 2019

Elevation Certificate

Omland & Osterkorn is an experienced and accomplished engineering firm that can provide you with an Elevation Certificate in Bergen County NJ.

A Flood Elevation Certificate documents your building’s elevation. If you live in a high-risk flood zone, you will need an Elevation Certificate before you can obtain an accurate flood insurance policy quote. Your insurance agent needs this information to compare your building’s elevation to the Base Flood Elevation (BFE), which determines how high the water will rise during a base flood.
Elevation certificates also documents the elevation of your building for the floodplain managers enforcing local building ordinance, and for insurance rating purposes. The need for an elevation certificate is very important if you are living in a high-risk area that is prone to flood which can have disastrous after effects.
How to Get an Elevation Certificate:
If you are starting the process from scratch, check with your local government to raise the profile or certification in your home. If none of these are available, you will need to contract a state-certified surveyor, architect or designer to do the elevation certificate. The cost of the elevation certificate will vary depending on your location and the complexity of the job.
Please Note: An Elevation Certificate does not expire. However, newer Elevation Certificates require additional information that older ones do not offer. In order for an agent to offer you a quote on a high-risk flood policy, you may need to update your Elevation Certificate. Unfortunately, this may require that you again enlist the services of a surveyor or architect to provide that additional information.
When You Need a New Elevation Certificate: If you make substantial changes to your building in a high-risk area—for example, you make an addition to your home or convert the garage to living space—you likely need a new EC to reflect the new building characteristics and Lowest Floor Elevation.
When You Do Not Need a New Elevation Certificate: As long as the structure information on your elevation certificate is accurate, you do not need a new one. If you get an elevation certificate from the previous property owner or have a copy of the one on file with your community, your insurance agent can use the certificate to rate your policy. If your community adopted new FIRMs and your building has not changed, your insurance agent can rate your policy using the information on the old elevation certificate and the FIRM used to rate your policy. However, you might need to provide additional information, such as new photographs of your home or business.
Why you need an Elevation Certificate:
  • To determine the flood insurance policy rates.  Without an Elevation Certificate, your home may not be rated properly and you could be paying unnecessarily high rates. 
  • Rebuilding the structure after a disaster to the proper elevation to protect it in the future.
  • Remodeling a property or raising it to help mitigation future losses from flood disasters.

For more information about elevation certificates in Bergen County NJ, speak to one of our engineers at 973-647-7820.
Omland & Osterkorn – Your Trusted Elevation Certificate Surveyors in Bergen County NJ.

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