Shop inventory idea

Jeff Horton

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The Heart of Dixie
Reading on another forum about making an shop inventory for insurance purposes. Realizing how bad I need to do that. Someone mentioned the importance of having a copy off site. If your house burns good chance you lost your list.

Create your list in Google Docs or one of the other 'clouds' and you don't have to worry about it. It could be accessed from anywhere. If you have a web site you could even set up a private/non-public folder and store a copy there.

Just food for thought.
 
I posted and deleted, but I agree with Jeff 100000%.
Not only an inventory list, a seperate list for wives or children on how to dispose of them, a guide if you will, if they have no clue of value.
I lock up the lists with my will in a fire proof safe.
And I also have lists for everything I own, jewelry, cars, guns, etc...anything worth money, I make it clear how I wish it to be disposed of.
I know Jeff is only talking insurance reasons, but Ive seen alot of bad things happen when a family member passes and no plans were made and vultures come out and cause alot of grief to wives or husbands of the deceased.
Im sorry Jeff, Im a bit obsessed with some things.
 
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I think it is a good idea also. When I built my shop my insurance agent said it would be covered for 10% of the value of the house. Now that sounds like a lot of money but when you add up the cost of the structure and its contents all of a sudden I figured out that my coverage was inadequate. So I asked him about a rider to adequately cover the cost of my tools. He said that would not be a problem and would not be expensive but I would have to inventory my shop and provide the insurance company with the inventory and proof.

He then went on to say the easiest way to do that was to photograph or video the contents of my shop.

So every year when the premium is due my wife and I take a video of the contents of the shop laying out all of my tools and from that we make a comprehensive list of what is shown on the video. We pull open each drawer and spread out the contents as we video. It takes several hours to do but the videotape itself is fairly short.

If you are like me and have accumulated your shop over a number of years you may be surprised at how many things you have out there that would cost a bundle to replace.

One more thing, doing the videotaping is good incentive to clean up the shop really well at least one time each year. A couple of cautions, you may want to make sure you have a fire extinguisher in the shop and a fire proof cabinet for your finishing materials. These should be prominently displayed in the video as well as any security measures such as dead bolts, window locks, etc.

I forgot, make sure you have a copy of the video and list in your safety deposit box.
 
Good recommendation. I'm sure many of us are keeping our weekly backups (including shop inventory files) up to date and have copies stored "offsite", right? I get a little extra advantage in that LOML and I both have our own homes. I do backups for work, my home office and her home office in an approximate weekly rotation. It is just one of the normal weekend tasks like setting out the trash cans. Once you are setup, you just have to fire it off and walk away. Copies of all three sites are at each location with (about) a week's difference of potential loss. That is close enough for me; how much you can afford to lose is up to you :thumb:

P.s. A spin-off benefit of a detailed shop inventory is the "rarely used tool/item locator" function. When I can't remember what I did with that self adhesive cork I used a year ago, instead of buying more I check the inventory spreadsheet I keep for small items. Yep, its in the shed, left side, third shelf. This sounds very OCD but, jotting something down on a tablet in the shop and then entering it into a spreadsheet while you are waiting for a coat of finish to dry really takes no time at all. Looking for that lost self adhesive cork will take about an hour before I give up and drive to the store for more. That takes much longer Man, am I pathetic :rolleyes:
 
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Great idea.

Just to add to the thread....My wife and I video tape the entire home...Jewelery, tools, furniture......etc. We pick one day a year to do it......always the day we take down the Christmas tree....This way, God forbid...if we have a catastrophic event, like a hurricane, Flood, Fire, Burglary, etc....we have a taped evidence package that we can give to the insurance company or police. I good practice to get into.
 
Good tip. Started doing it a while back. Don't forget to document firearm serial numbers/models too. If they are on a police report, most likely you'll see them again if located by the police when stolen.
 
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