Stillwater homeowners insurance for a house that has to get through an Arkansas spring.
Most of what decides how a homeowners claim goes was settled long before the storm, on a page nobody read. Cribb Insurance Group is appointed with Stillwater and places homeowners coverage for Arkansas households from our office in Bentonville.
The short version
A homeowners policy is six coverages bundled under one name, and the argument after a loss is almost never about whether you had a policy. It is about the settlement basis, the deductible that applies to the kind of damage you had, and whether the endorsement you needed was ever added.
Arkansas is unusually specific about two of those things. Dwelling roofs settle under rules that do not apply the same way in other states, and the code gives policyholders a real lever when a covered loss goes unpaid. Both are on this page, and both are worth knowing before you need them.
Six coverages, one policy, six sets of rules.
People tend to picture a homeowners policy as one promise about the house. It is closer to six separate promises that happen to be stapled together, each with its own limit.
The dwelling
The house itself, including what is attached to it. This is the limit everything else on the policy tends to be measured against, and it is meant to reflect what rebuilding would cost rather than what the property would sell for. Those two numbers are not related, and in this market they can move in opposite directions.
Other structures
Detached garages, shops, fences, and similar structures on the property that are not attached to the house. The limit is normally a stated proportion of the dwelling limit set by the form rather than a number you choose, which surprises people who have built something substantial out back.
Personal property
The contents. Also normally a stated proportion of the dwelling limit. Certain categories, such as jewelry, firearms and some collectibles, carry their own internal caps regardless of how much total contents coverage you have, which is what scheduling exists to solve.
Loss of use
Pays the additional cost of living somewhere else while the house is being repaired. The word doing the work is additional: it covers the difference between normal living costs and what you are paying now, not the whole bill. It is the coverage people are gladdest to have and least likely to have thought about.
Personal liability
Responds when you or a member of your household is legally responsible for injury to somebody else or damage to their property, and it provides the defense. It follows the household rather than the address, which is why it reaches situations that have nothing to do with the house.
Medical payments
Covers smaller medical bills for a guest hurt at your home without the question of fault needing to be settled first. A goodwill mechanism that occasionally keeps a small incident from turning into a liability claim.
We do not publish suggested limits for any of these, here or anywhere. What a household should carry depends on the rebuild cost, the contents, the assets behind the liability line and what the mortgage requires, and that is a conversation rather than a number on a page. For the coverage line generally rather than this carrier specifically, start with homeowners insurance.
Settlement basis is the whole ballgame.
Two policies with identical limits can pay very differently on the same loss. The reason is almost always the settlement basis, and it is printed on a page most people file without reading.
- Replacement costPays what it takes to repair or replace with materials of like kind and quality, without subtracting for age and wear. Typically paid in two stages: an initial payment, then the held-back portion once the work is actually done and documented.
- Actual cash valueStarts from that same figure and subtracts depreciation for age and condition, so it pays less on an older item. Correct and appropriate in some places, and a genuine shock in others when nobody expected it.
- Not necessarily the same throughoutA policy is rarely simply one or the other. The dwelling, the contents and in some cases the roof can each sit on a different basis, on the same policy, at the same time.
- Where to find yoursThe declarations page and the endorsement list. If reading it is not obvious, send it to us and we will tell you what it says in plain English. That is a service call, not a sales call.
The Arkansas roof rule, which is not the national one.
This is where national advice goes wrong for Arkansas households, so it is worth being precise. On an Arkansas dwelling policy, a roof settles either at replacement cost or under an Agreed Roof Payment Schedule that the carrier has filed with the Arkansas Insurance Department. Open-ended actual cash value depreciation, where an insurer subtracts years of wear and hands over what is left, is not the correct framing for an Arkansas dwelling roof. That is a real consumer protection, and it is specific to this state.
There is one exception, and in practice it matters enormously. Arkansas Insurance Department Bulletin 17-2023 permits a mandatory actual cash value endorsement for wind and hail damage once a roof reaches an age of seven years. So two houses on the same street, with policies that look identical on the summary page, can be on genuinely different settlement footing after the same hailstorm. They usually find out by comparing checks.
What to do with that is simple and unglamorous: know which basis your policy is on, and know it now. We will read the declarations page and tell you. What we will not do on a web page is tell you anything about the roof itself — that is a roofing question, not an insurance question, and we are not the right people to answer it.
One thing not to harmonize, because it gets mixed up constantly: the actual cash value rule that governs a totaled vehicle under Ark. Code 23-89-211 is a different rule for a different product, and it is correct. A roof is not a car. Advice written about one does not transfer to the other.
You may have two deductibles. Most people remember one.
The deductible you chose is frequently not the deductible that applies to the claim you have.
- The all-other-perils deductibleA flat amount that applies to most losses. This is the one people remember, because it is the one they picked.
- The wind and hail deductibleFrequently separate, frequently larger, and frequently expressed as a proportion of the dwelling limit rather than as a flat amount. On a hail claim, this is the number that applies. In a state with our storm pattern, it is the more consequential of the two.
- How they interact with the settlement basisA larger wind and hail deductible sitting on top of an actual cash value roof endorsement is a very different position from a flat deductible sitting on top of replacement cost. Neither is wrong; they are simply not the same policy, and it is worth knowing which one you have.
- Where both appearBoth are on the declarations page, usually within a few lines of each other. If the wind and hail figure is a surprise, the useful time to discover that is now.
We do not publish a recommended deductible any more than we publish a recommended limit. Raising or lowering one changes what you absorb and what you pay, and the right answer depends on cash on hand and appetite for risk rather than on a rule of thumb.
Arkansas hands homeowners a lever most states do not.
Nearly every claim gets paid without drama. This section is about the ones that do not, and about a provision of the Arkansas code that a lot of homeowners have never heard of.
The twelve percent penalty, the attorney's fee, and the reason your demand number matters
Under Ark. Code 23-79-208, where an insurer liable for a loss fails to pay it within the time specified in the policy after demand is made, that insurer is liable to the policyholder for twelve percent damages on the amount of the loss, on top of the loss itself, together with all reasonable attorney's fees for prosecuting and collecting it. The same section provides that a policyholder is in no event liable for the attorney's fees an insurer runs up defending a case in which the insurer is found not liable.
Here is the part almost nobody knows, and it is the reason this is on the page. Recovering less than you demanded does not automatically defeat the penalty. The section provides that the right to the twelve percent damages and attorney's fees survives if the amount recovered is within twenty percent of the amount demanded or sought in the suit. And then it goes one step further specifically for households: in all cases involving a homeowner's policy, the right to reasonable attorney's fees arises if the recovery lands within thirty percent of what was demanded.
Read those two bands carefully, because they are not the same band doing the same job. The wider thirty percent figure is homeowner's-policy-specific and reaches the attorney's fees. The twelve percent damages continue to answer to the twenty percent band. Anyone who tells you it is simply thirty percent for everything has flattened the statute.
The practical consequence is the thing worth acting on, and it is entirely within your control: the number you demand matters. A demand built from an accurate, documented estimate keeps you inside the bands that make the statute work for you. A demand pitched high because high felt safer can put you outside them and cost you the protection. So the useful discipline is documentation — photographs before anything is moved, the estimate written by someone who will stand behind it, receipts kept, and a demand that matches what you can actually show.
That is the part we help with. We do not adjust your claim and we cannot overrule an adjuster, but we can make sure the coverage that should respond gets identified, that your demand is built on the policy you actually have, and that the file does not go quiet. Anything beyond that is a lawyer's job, and if a dispute reaches that point you want an Arkansas attorney rather than an agent.
Ark. Code 23-79-208, summarized. The section carries provisions this page does not cover, is subject to judicial interpretation, and may be amended. General information, not legal advice.
What a homeowners policy is not.
A good share of claim disappointment comes from expecting this policy to answer for something that was never inside it. These are the neighbors, not the gaps.
Not flood
Rising water is not a homeowners peril at any carrier. Flood is a separate policy through the National Flood Insurance Program or a private flood market, with its own waiting period before it takes effect.
Not earth movement
Earthquake and earth movement are normally excluded from the base policy and addressed separately where coverage is available. Worth asking about in this part of the country rather than assuming either way.
Not water backing up
Water that backs up through sewers or drains is a different exposure from a burst pipe and is normally addressed by an endorsement rather than by the base policy.
Not wear, and not maintenance
Insurance answers for sudden and accidental events. Gradual deterioration, and the upkeep a building needs over time, sit outside it. That distinction drives more denials than any exclusion people can name.
Not a business run from the house
Business property and business liability at a residence reach past what a homeowners policy was built to cover. Depending on the scale, the answer is an endorsement or a separate small business policy.
Not a substitute for reading the form
Every homeowners policy carries exclusions, conditions and internal caps, and they vary between forms and carriers. Ask us what yours says rather than assuming it matches the last one you had.
Because these lines sit against each other so closely, they are worth building together rather than one at a time from three directions. That usually means the home alongside auto, with an umbrella sitting over both, and flood arranged separately where the property needs it.
The part that lasts twelve months.
A homeowners policy is not a document you file and forget. It drifts out of alignment with the house quietly, and the drift only becomes visible at the worst possible moment.
The rebuild cost moves
Construction costs do not hold still, and a dwelling limit set several years ago may no longer reflect what rebuilding takes. This is the single most common way a policy quietly falls behind the house it covers.
The house changes
A finished basement, an addition, a new shop out back, a pool. Tell us when the property changes rather than at renewal, because the description of the risk is part of how the policy was underwritten in the first place.
The roof gets older
Roof age interacts directly with the settlement rules above, and it changes on its own without anybody doing anything. It is worth a look at renewal each year rather than a look after the storm.
What you own changes
Rings, instruments, firearms, collections. Items that carry internal caps are the ones most likely to be underinsured without anybody realizing, and scheduling them is a short conversation.
Reporting a claim
Report promptly, and document before anything gets moved or cleaned up. Call the office and we will walk you through it and coordinate with the carrier, or report direct if that is faster in the moment.
Re-shopping the account
Renewals move. When one does, the useful question is not whether the increase is fair but whether it is competitive, and answering that takes more than one carrier. That is the whole argument for placing it through an independent agency.
Discounts for holding more than one policy, insuring more than one vehicle, protective devices and paperless billing are commonly available. Which ones actually apply is account-specific, so we work it out rather than promise it.
Other Stillwater lines.
Stillwater overview
The carrier profile: what Stillwater writes, how the appointment works, and where its financial strength ratings currently sit.
Stillwater auto
Arkansas minimum liability, uninsured motorist, total loss settlement, and the credit re-rate you can compel in writing.
Stillwater condo and renters
Where the association's master policy stops and yours starts, loss assessment, and what renters coverage adds.
Stillwater landlord and dwelling fire
Rental property structure, loss of rents, tenant-caused damage, and why a landlord policy is not a homeowners policy.
Stillwater personal umbrella
How an umbrella sits over the limits underneath it, and the underlying-limit requirement nobody mentions.
Stillwater businessowners policy
What a businessowners policy bundles, where the small business line stops, and when an account has outgrown it.
Homeowners questions we get.
What does a homeowners policy actually cover?
How does a roof claim settle in Arkansas?
What is the difference between replacement cost and actual cash value?
Why is my wind and hail deductible different from my regular deductible?
What happens in Arkansas if an insurer does not pay a covered loss?
Is flood covered by my homeowners policy?
Cribb Insurance Group publishes carrier explainers, Arkansas coverage guidance and homeowners insurance education. Add Cribb Insurance as a preferred source on Google.
Send us the declarations page.
The address, the year the house was built, the age of the roof, and whatever you are carrying now. We will tell you which settlement basis you are actually on, what your wind and hail deductible really is, and where Stillwater lands against the rest of our markets. If what you have is already right, we will tell you that too.
Bentonville, AR 72713
Stillwater and related marks are marks of their respective owners and are used here nominatively to identify a carrier Cribb Insurance Group is appointed with. Cribb Insurance Group Inc is an independent agency and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or acting on behalf of Stillwater Insurance Group or any Stillwater underwriting company.
Coverage descriptions on this page are general and simplified. Coverage, availability, eligibility, endorsements, internal limits and terms vary by policy, by property and by state, and the actual policy language controls in every case. Nothing here amends any policy or creates coverage. Flood coverage is not provided by a homeowners policy and is written separately through the National Flood Insurance Program or a private flood market.
Financial strength and financial stability ratings are assigned by independent rating agencies using their own separate scales, are opinions about a company's ability to meet its insurance obligations rather than about claims handling or service, are subject to change, and are not recommendations to purchase any policy. The current rating position for this carrier is stated on the Stillwater carrier overview page and at ambest.com and demotech.com.
No premium figures, rate estimates, savings figures, suggested coverage limits or suggested deductibles are published on this page. Homeowners pricing and limit structure are developed from the individual property, its construction and protection characteristics, the coverage selected and the loss history of the account. Discounts are named without amounts; availability and application depend on the account, the state and the carrier's filings.
Arkansas statutory and Arkansas Insurance Department references are general information and not legal advice. Statutes and bulletins are summarized, carry provisions and exceptions this page does not cover, are subject to judicial interpretation, and may be amended. How any of this applies to a particular policy, property or claim depends on facts this page cannot know. Consult a licensed Arkansas attorney before relying on any of it in a dispute.
Last reviewed August 2026.