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 Most Oklahoma homeowners know their policy covers the house. What trips people up is everything else on the property. The shed in the backyard. The detached garage. The pergola someone added last summer. The wood privacy fence that took a hit in March. These all fall under a separate part of your homeowners policy called Other Structures coverage, and it works a little differently than the coverage on the main dwelling. Here's what you should know before storm season gets any deeper into May. What Counts as an "Other Structure"?Other Structures is the name for Coverage B on a standard homeowners policy. It applies to structures on your property that are not attached to the main house. That typically includes detached garages, storage sheds, workshops, carports, fences, retaining walls, driveways, swimming pools (though pools come with their own set of coverage questions), and outbuildings like chicken coops or garden storage. If it sits on your property and it is not physically connected to the house, it likely falls under this section. One thing worth knowing: if your garage is attached to the house by a breezeway or a shared wall, it is usually considered part of the main dwelling, not a separate structure. The definition of "attached" matters more than you might think. How Much Coverage Do You Actually Have?Standard policies set Other Structures coverage at 10% of your dwelling coverage limit. So if your house is insured for $300,000, you have $30,000 available for detached structures. That number sounds fine until you add up what you actually have out there. A detached two-car garage with a concrete floor and electricity can cost $40,000 to $60,000 to rebuild in the Oklahoma City metro area right now. A quality wood privacy fence running the perimeter of a typical lot is not a $5,000 repair after a severe storm. Building material costs have not come back down to where they were a few years ago, and labor costs in the state have followed. If you have built anything new on your property recently, or if you have not looked at this part of your policy in a while, the default 10% may not be enough. What Perils Are Covered?Other Structures coverage follows the same named perils or open perils structure as the rest of your policy, depending on which form you have. For most Oklahoma homeowners on a standard HO-3 policy, the dwelling itself is covered on an open perils basis, which means it covers everything except what is specifically excluded. Other Structures coverage under the same policy is often more limited. Wind and hail are covered. That matters a lot in Oklahoma. If a tornado or straight-line wind event damages your fence or takes part of your shed roof off, that is a covered loss in the same way your main house would be covered. Flood damage is not covered under a standard homeowners policy, full stop, whether that is the house or the shed or the fence. If your backyard storage building took water damage during the flooding around the Oklahoma City area last spring, that is not a homeowners claim. It would need to be covered under a separate flood insurance policy, and most people do not have one. Normal wear and deterioration is also not covered. A fence that has been slowly rotting for years is a maintenance issue, not an insurance claim. The Fence QuestionFences deserve their own mention because they come up more often than anything else in this category. Oklahoma wind does a number on fences. A solid board-on-board cedar privacy fence acts like a sail in a strong storm, and when one panel goes, it often takes several more with it. Insurance does cover storm damage to fences, but there are a few things that catch people off guard. First, matching. If you have a vinyl fence and only one section is damaged, your insurance company may pay to replace only that section. If the replacement material does not match the existing fence exactly, some policies cover the difference and some do not. This is worth asking about before you file a claim. Second, cause of loss matters. If your neighbor's tree fell on your fence, the damage is covered under your policy regardless of whose tree it was. People expect the neighbor's insurance to pay, and sometimes it does, but your own policy is typically the faster route. Third, split claims. If the same storm damages both your roof and your fence, those losses may be subject to separate deductibles or evaluated differently depending on how your policy is written. An independent agent can walk you through how that would actually play out for your specific policy. If You Have Built Something NewOklahoma homeowners have been adding outbuildings, covered patios, pergolas, and detached garages at a pretty solid clip over the last several years. If you built a workshop or put up a substantial pergola or added a storage building and you did not call your agent, your home insurance coverage may not reflect what you actually have on your property. Some improvements get added automatically up to a certain dollar amount. Others require you to specifically notify your insurer to make sure they are covered at an appropriate value. The safest thing to do is tell your agent what you built when you build it. That also applies to pools. A pool adds liability exposure beyond just the structure itself, and that needs to be addressed separately. What to Do Right NowTake a look at your declarations page and find your Coverage B limit. Then think honestly about what you have on your property, what it would cost to rebuild or replace those structures at today's material and labor prices, and whether the 10% default is close to that number. If it is not, that is an easy conversation to have with an independent agent. You are not locked into the default. Coverage limits can be adjusted, and for most homeowners the cost to increase Other Structures coverage is not significant. We are heading deeper into Oklahoma storm season right now. Wind, hail, and the occasional tornado are part of the territory whether you are in Oklahoma City, Edmond, Norman, or any of the smaller communities in between. If you want to go over your coverage before something happens instead of after, that is exactly what we are here for. If you are in the Oklahoma City area, our Oklahoma City home insurance page walks through what local homeowners typically need to think about. Wherever you are in the state, the conversation starts the same way: pull out your declarations page, find your Coverage B limit, and compare it to what you actually have on your property. Contact Oklahoma Insurance Professionals to review your policy and make sure your full property is covered the way you think it is.
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