Your homeowners insurance declaration page — the “dec page” — is a one or two page summary of your entire policy. It is what your carrier sends you at renewal and what you hand to your mortgage lender at closing. Most Michigan homeowners file it away and never look at it again until they need to make a claim.
By then, it is often too late to understand the gaps. The dec page is the document that tells you, in plain numbers, exactly how much protection you actually bought — and where you are exposed. Here is how to read it before something happens, while you still have time to fix what’s wrong.
What the Dec Page Contains
Nearly every dec page follows the same structure. Once you know what each line means, you can read your own in a few minutes:
- Policyholder name and property address
- Policy number and effective dates
- Dwelling coverage (Coverage A) — what it costs to rebuild your home from scratch at today’s prices
- Other structures (Coverage B) — detached garage, fence, shed; usually 10 percent of Coverage A
- Personal property (Coverage C) — your contents; usually 50 to 70 percent of Coverage A
- Loss of use / ALE (Coverage D) — temporary housing if you can’t live in your home
- Liability (Coverage E)
- Medical payments (Coverage F)
- Annual premium and deductible
The Number That Matters Most — Coverage A
Coverage A is your dwelling replacement cost limit. If your home burns to the ground, this is the maximum your carrier will pay to rebuild it. Everything else on the page tends to scale from this number, which is why it deserves the most attention.
The problem: most Michigan homes are underinsured on Coverage A. Construction costs have risen significantly since 2020, and most homeowners haven’t updated their limits since their policy was first written. If your Coverage A is based on a 2019 valuation, it may be 20 to 40 percent short of what it actually costs to rebuild your home in 2026 — a gap you would pay out of pocket after a total loss.
How to check: ask your contractor or a licensed appraiser to estimate your current rebuild cost per square foot, then compare that to your Coverage A limit. If the limit is lower than the rebuild estimate, call your agent before you ever file a claim.
Your Deductible — The One You Don’t See Coming
Most Michigan policies now carry two separate deductibles, and the second one surprises people:
- Standard deductible — applies to most claims (fire, water, theft), usually a flat dollar amount
- Wind/hail deductible — often a percentage of Coverage A (1 to 2 percent), not a flat amount
The percentage structure is where the cost hides. If your Coverage A is $400,000 and your wind/hail deductible is 1 percent, you pay $4,000 out of pocket before insurance touches a storm damage claim. This is often buried in the dec page or the endorsement schedule. Find your wind/hail deductible before storm season, not after a tree comes through your roof.
ALE Limit and Time Limit
Find Coverage D on your dec page and note both numbers: the dollar limit (often 20 to 30 percent of Coverage A) and any time limit listed on the endorsements. Together these determine how long you can be displaced and still have your housing costs covered.
If Coverage A is $400,000 and ALE is 20 percent, you have $80,000 in temporary housing coverage. That sounds like plenty — until a full gut-and-rebuild takes 14 months and you are running both a rental and a mortgage. Knowing the limit in advance lets you plan the rebuild timeline against it.
Endorsements That Change Everything
Endorsements are policy additions that expand or restrict coverage. They are easy to overlook because they are often listed as codes or a separate schedule, but a few of them are decisive in Michigan:
- Replacement cost on personal property (versus actual cash value) — a major difference for older furniture and electronics, which lose most of their cash value but cost full price to replace
- Water backup and sump overflow rider — a standard policy does NOT cover sump pump failure; this endorsement does
- Ordinance or law coverage — pays for code upgrades required during repair, which is critical for older Michigan homes that no longer meet current code
- Extended or guaranteed replacement cost — raises your Coverage A limit if actual rebuild costs exceed the stated number, protecting you against the underinsurance problem above
If you don’t see these endorsements on your dec page, you probably don’t have them. Ask your agent which ones apply to your home — the cost of adding them is small compared to the gap they close.
The Bottom Line
Five minutes with your dec page today can prevent a five-figure surprise after a loss. Check Coverage A against current rebuild costs, find both deductibles, note your ALE limits, and confirm which endorsements you carry.
Phase III reviews coverage scope alongside our damage assessment on every job. If your carrier’s estimate seems to be hitting policy limits or running into deductible math that doesn’t add up, we’ll tell you. Call (734) 237-7322.