Storm damaged windows in Berwick: will insurance pay?

Do this first

The evidence checklist, in the order a claim actually needs it

Claims are refused far more often for missing evidence than for the wrong kind of damage. Once the broken glass is in the skip and the frame is cleaned up, you cannot prove cause, and cause is the whole argument. Work down this list before anyone sweeps. Tick it on your phone, print it for the assessor, and it stays saved on this device if you close the page.

First 30 minutes, before anything is touched

Make people safe first. Evidence is worth nothing next to somebody standing in broken glass.
Photograph the whole room and the whole outside elevation before you move a single piece of glass.
Photograph whatever caused it where it landed: the branch, the hailstones next to a coin for scale, the brick, the tyre marks.
Ring the insurer's 24 hour claims line before authorising a make-safe, if the timing allows it, and write down the claim number.
If you must make safe first to keep the house secure, do it and keep the invoice. Reasonable emergency make-safe is normally reimbursed.
For a break-in or vandalism, get a police report or event number. Most policies require one for malicious damage.

Photograph and film, in this order

Wide shot of the elevation from the yard, so the assessor can see which window and which aspect.
Mid shot of the whole window or door, inside and out, with the frame in view.
Close shot of the break point, the impact mark and any bending or twisting of the frame.
Close shot of any manufacturer stamp etched in a corner of the glass, and of any label on the frame.
Photograph secondary damage: wet carpet, stained plaster, a torn flyscreen, a marked sill, damaged blinds.
Take a 30 second video walking the room, narrating the date, the address and what happened.
Check the photos carry their date stamp, and back them up off the phone the same day.

Measure and record

Glass height and width, and the overall frame height and width, in millimetres.
Glass thickness at an exposed edge, and whether it is one pane or a sealed double glazed unit.
Height of the bottom of the glass above the floor, which decides whether safety glass is required.
Frame material and finish: mill aluminium, powder coated aluminium, timber, uPVC.
Count how many other openings in the house match it, in case the insurer argues about matching.

Keep, do not throw out

The piece of glass carrying the etched stamp, bagged and labelled with the room.
The object that caused it, if it is safe to keep, or a photograph of it beside a tape measure.
Damaged hardware: the broken lock body, the snapped stay, the bent keeper.
Every invoice and receipt, including the make-safe, the skip, the carpet dry and the tarpaulin.
Any old quote, warranty document or invoice showing the window was sound before the event.

Write down while it is fresh

Date and time of the event, and where you were when it happened.
The weather at the time. Wind direction, hail, the Bureau of Meteorology warning if there was one.
Names and phone numbers of anyone who saw it, including neighbours with the same damage in your street.
A running log of every call: date, who you spoke to, reference number, what they committed to.

What your insurer will ask the glazier for

An itemised written scope: glass type and thickness, frame work, hardware, make-safe, labour and GST shown separately.
A short statement of cause, in plain words, saying what the damage is consistent with.
Confirmation the replacement meets the safety glazing requirements for that position.
ABN, public liability certificate of currency, and the trade credentials the insurer requires.
Lead time in writing, so the insurer cannot blame the glazier for a delay that is a glass factory queue.

Before you accept any settlement figure

Check the scope lists every damaged opening, not only the obvious one.
Check whether make-safe, waste removal, scaffold and internal repairs are inside or outside the figure.
Check the glass specification matches what is there now, including toughened, laminated or obscure.
Get your own written quote before signing a cash settlement. Once it is accepted, the shortfall is yours.
Ask what the workmanship guarantee is and who carries it, the insurer or the builder.

Covered or not

Sudden and accidental against gradual and expected

Every argument about a window claim comes back to one line in the policy. Insurers pay for damage that happened at a moment in time from a listed cause. They do not pay for deterioration, and they do not pay to correct maintenance you did not do. Read your own product disclosure statement, because wording varies, but the pattern below holds across the Victorian market.

What happened	Usual outcome	Why
Branch through the window in a gale	Covered	Storm is a named event, and impact damage is sudden
Hail cracked the glass	Covered	Named event. Photograph the stones for scale before they melt
Ball, brick or a mower stone through a pane	Usually covered	Accidental breakage of fixed glass, where the policy includes it
Break-in, forced slider, smashed side panel	Covered	Malicious damage or theft, with a police event number
Car reversed into the front window	Covered	Impact by a vehicle. The driver's motor policy may respond instead
Mist between the panes of a double glazed unit	Not covered	Edge seal failure over time, treated as wear. This is a warranty question
Rotten timber sill and a sash that has dropped	Not covered	Gradual deterioration and lack of maintenance
Thermal stress crack from a heater on cold glass	Argued either way	Sudden, but insurers often class it as an inherent glass characteristic
Corroded aluminium and a seized lock near the coast	Not covered	Corrosion is an exclusion in almost every wording
Water through a window during a storm with no glass damage	Depends	Resulting water damage may be covered, the failed seal that let it in is not

General guidance for Victorian home building policies in 2026. Your product disclosure statement, your excess and your endorsements decide your claim, not this table.

Make-safe

What a make-safe is, and who ends up paying for it

A make-safe is the temporary work that stops the damage getting worse and keeps the house secure: boarding an opening, sheeting a hole, removing hanging glass, tarping and drying. It is not a repair. In Berwick that is $180 to $320 in business hours and $280 to $550 after hours, on a single opening.

If the claim is accepted, the make-safe is part of it and the insurer pays. The excess still applies once, to the claim as a whole, not once per invoice. You are entitled to take reasonable steps to protect the property before you speak to anyone, and doing so is expected of you, so board it up and keep the paperwork. What causes trouble is letting a make-safe crew slide from securing the opening into reinstatement work under the same job number, before anyone has agreed a scope. Secure the house, stop there, then get a scope in writing.

Excess against repair cost, with real numbers

Most Victorian home building policies in 2026 carry a standard excess of $500 to $1,000, and voluntary excesses of $1,500 or more in exchange for a lower premium. Compare that with what glazing actually costs, then decide:

Small float pane, existing frame: $220 to $420 fitted. Never worth claiming.
Grade A safety glass in a door or low panel: $350 to $700 per panel. Rarely worth claiming.
One double glazed unit remade and fitted: $660 to $1,300. Marginal at a $500 excess, not worth it at $1,000.
Three or four openings damaged in one storm: $2,000 to $5,000. Usually worth claiming.
Opening reinstated after vehicle or tree impact: $2,500 to $6,000 with frame, glass and internal repairs. Claim it.

Add one more factor to the maths. A claim stays on your insurance history and most insurers ask about claims in the past five years when they price a renewal. A claim that nets you $150 after the excess can quietly cost more than that over the following renewals.

The process

Assessor, scope of works, and the two settlement paths

On anything above a few thousand dollars the insurer sends an assessor, or asks their preferred builder to price it. The assessor is deciding two things: was this damage caused by a covered event, and what is the reasonable cost to put it back to the condition it was in. They are not deciding whether you would like better windows. Have the photographs, the stamped piece of glass and your itemised scope ready, and the visit takes twenty minutes.

Insurer managed repair

The insurer engages their own builder or glazier, pays them directly, and normally guarantees the workmanship for the life of the repair. You pay the excess and nothing else. The trade off is control: you get their trade, their glass supplier and their queue, and if you want a different specification you negotiate. This is the right choice for most people, and it is the only one where a cost blowout is not your problem.

Cash settlement

The insurer pays you an agreed sum and steps out. It is attractive when you want your own glazier or you plan to combine the repair with other work. The trap is the number itself: settlements are calculated at the insurer's negotiated trade rates, which commonly run 10 to 25 per cent under a retail quote, and once you have accepted, any shortfall is yours. The other trap is scope creep in reverse, where the settlement covers the glass but not the plasterboard reveal, the paint or the blind. Never accept a cash figure before you hold a written quote for the whole job.

The upgrade that is worth doing at claim time

Insurers fund like for like. If the broken pane was single glazed, they pay the $220 to $420 that single glazed costs, and you can pay the gap to have a double glazed unit fitted instead, usually $300 to $900 per opening. The make-safe, the labour, the access and the glazier's travel are already paid for, so it is the cheapest double glazing you will ever buy. Compare that gap against the full rates on our pricing page and it is normally an easy decision.

Timeframes and what to do if it stalls

Under the General Insurance Code of Practice, insurers commit to deciding a straightforward claim within 10 business days of receiving everything they asked for, and to keeping you updated while they wait on information. If you are unhappy with a decision, ask for it in writing with the policy wording they relied on, then lodge an internal complaint, which must be answered within 30 calendar days. After that the Australian Financial Complaints Authority will look at it for free. Declared catastrophes run to different timeframes, and after a big Melbourne storm the queue for assessors is measured in weeks.

Straight talk

When we would tell you not to claim

We do not get paid more when you claim, so here is the honest version. Do not claim a single broken pane. Do not claim a fogged double glazed unit, because it is not a covered event and lodging it only creates a refused claim on your record. Do not claim a window that has been sticking, leaking or rotting for two years, because the assessor will read the frame the same way we do. And do not let anyone talk you into lodging a claim for a whole house of new windows off the back of one broken pane. That is the fastest way to have the entire claim looked at very closely.

There is also work we simply do not do. We are glaziers and window specialists, not a restoration builder. We will make an opening safe, remake and fit the glass, repair or replace the frame and the hardware, and write the scope your insurer needs. We do not dry out carpet, replaster reveals or repaint rooms, and we will tell you which of those the insurer should be pricing separately rather than pretending otherwise.

If the damage turns out not to be a claim at all, the practical questions become what it costs and whether it is worth upgrading while the frame is open. The fogged unit replacement page covers seal failures, the signs your windows need replacing page covers the point where repair stops making sense, and if it is still broken tonight, start with the emergency window triage table. What we cover in your suburb is on the Berwick page.

Questions homeowners ask before they lodge

Will home insurance pay for storm damaged windows in Victoria?

Yes, if the damage came from a named event such as storm, hail, impact by a falling branch or vehicle, malicious damage or a break-in, and your building policy covers that event. No, if the glass failed from age, rot, corrosion, a failed double glazing seal or years of no maintenance. The dividing line insurers use is sudden and accidental against gradual and expected, and it is the reason a $650 fogged unit is never paid but a $3,500 wind damaged opening usually is.

Is a single broken pane worth claiming in Berwick?

Usually not. Most Victorian home building policies carry an excess of $500 to $1,000, and a small float pane replaced in an existing frame is $220 to $420 fitted. You would pay the excess and still be out of pocket, and the claim sits on your claims history for five years. Claim when the repair is well above your excess: a full opening reinstated after impact runs $2,500 to $6,000.

Who pays for the emergency board-up after a storm?

The make-safe forms part of the claim, so if the claim is accepted the insurer pays it, but the excess still applies once to the claim as a whole. An after-hours board-up is $280 to $550 and the business-hours equivalent is $180 to $320. Ring the insurer's 24 hour claims line before you authorise work if you can, keep the invoice if you cannot, and never let a make-safe crew start demolition or reinstatement work under the same job number without a scope you have seen.

Can I upgrade from single to double glazing as part of the claim?

You can upgrade, but the insurer only funds like for like. If the broken pane was single glazed clear float, the insurer pays the $220 to $420 that a single glazed replacement costs and you fund the difference to a double glazed unit, which is usually a gap of $300 to $900 per opening. It is the cheapest time you will ever buy double glazing, because the labour, the scaffold and the make-safe are already being paid for.

Should I take the cash settlement or let the insurer manage the repair?

An insurer managed repair usually comes with a workmanship guarantee from the insurer for the life of the repair, and any cost blowout is their problem. A cash settlement is calculated at the insurer's negotiated trade rates, which commonly sit 10 to 25 per cent below a retail quote, and once you accept it the shortfall is yours. Take cash only when you have a written quote in hand, you know the exact glass specification, and the settlement covers it.

How long does an insurer have to decide a window claim?

Under the General Insurance Code of Practice, insurers commit to deciding a straightforward claim within 10 business days of receiving everything they have asked for, and to keeping you updated while they wait on information. If you are unhappy, their internal complaints process must respond within 30 calendar days, and after that you can take the matter to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority at no cost. Claims after a declared catastrophe run to different timeframes.

Get a price

Get an itemised repair scope for your insurer

Send the details and we come out, measure, photograph and issue an itemised scope in the format assessors accept, usually within 2 business days.

Will home insurance pay for storm damaged windows in Berwick? What is covered and what is not