Two numbers decide your policy. You probably know one.
Most homeowners can quote their deductible. Far fewer can quote their wind and hail deductible — which is a percentage of the dwelling limit, applies to the peril most likely to actually damage a home here, and can be twenty times larger. Add the way Arkansas handles roof settlement, which is widely explained wrong, and you have the two lines that decide what your policy is worth. Here's all six coverages, both deductibles, and what our clients pay. We shop it across 40+ carriers.
The short answer
A homeowners policy is six coverages, A through F, and B, C and D are usually set as a percentage of A — so the dwelling limit quietly drives almost everything. Two lines matter more than the rest here. Your wind and hail deductible is a percentage of Coverage A, not a flat amount, and on a $400,000 home 5% is $20,000. And roof settlement in Arkansas isn't plain ACV — it's replacement cost or a filed, AID-approved roof payment schedule. Knowing which one your policy carries, and what it pays at your roof's age, is the question worth asking.
Six coverages, and one of them sets the other three.
Most homeowners never see this structure until a claim, which is exactly when it's too late to change it. Read it once and you'll know more about your policy than almost anyone on your street.
Dwelling
The structure — walls, roof, foundation, built-ins, attached garage. Set at replacement cost: what it costs to rebuild today, not what the house would sell for and not what the county assessed it at. This is the number everything else keys off.
Other structures
Detached garage, shop, shed, fencing, in-ground pool. Usually set automatically at a percentage of Coverage A — which is fine until someone builds a serious detached shop and nobody adjusts it.
Personal property
Everything inside. Also set as a percentage of A. Carries category caps — jewelry, firearms, silver and collectibles are limited to modest amounts unless scheduled individually, no matter how much total contents coverage you carry.
Loss of use
Hotel, rental, meals and storage while the home is uninhabitable. Also a percentage of A. After a regional storm this runs longer than anyone plans for, because every contractor in the county is already busy.
Personal liability
Responds when you're legally responsible for someone else's injury or property damage — on your property or off it. A dog, a pool, a trampoline, a guest on the stairs. This is where an umbrella sits on top.
Medical payments
A small no-fault amount for a guest hurt at your home. Modest and fast, and often the thing that resolves a minor incident before it turns into a Coverage E claim against you.
Your wind and hail deductible is not your deductible.
Most Arkansas policies now apply a separate deductible to wind and hail, expressed as 1, 2, 3 or 5 percent of the dwelling limit. It applies to the peril most likely to actually damage a home here.
Same house, same policy, five very different numbers.
On a home insured for $400,000, here is what that one line means in dollars:
| Deductible on the declarations page | What you actually pay first |
|---|---|
| All other perils — $1,000 | $1,000 |
| Wind & hail — 1% | $4,000 |
| Wind & hail — 2% | $8,000 |
| Wind & hail — 3% | $12,000 |
| Wind & hail — 5% | $20,000 |
Illustrative arithmetic on a $400,000 dwelling limit, shown to explain how a percentage deductible works. Not a quote and not an indication of what any carrier would offer you.
The cheapest quote is often the one with the worst hail terms.
This is the trade that gets made without anyone naming it. A carrier can produce a lower premium by moving the wind and hail deductible from 1% to 5%, and on a $400,000 home that's the difference between paying $4,000 and $20,000 after the storm that finally comes. Two quotes are only comparable if both deductibles match — the flat one and the percentage one. We put them side by side on every quote and every renewal, because it's the single easiest place for a comparison to be quietly dishonest.
Arkansas roofs don't just drop to actual cash value.
Rather than plain actual cash value, an Arkansas carrier may apply an agreed roof payment schedule filed with and approved by the Arkansas Insurance Department — a percentage set out in advance for each roof age.
The right question isn't "am I on ACV." It's "what does my schedule pay."
You'll read all over the internet that Arkansas carriers move roofs past a certain age onto actual cash value, and that hail payouts then get depreciated away. That isn't how it works here. Arkansas roofs are settled at replacement cost, or under a filed roof payment schedule — a disclosed table of percentages tied to the age of the roof, approved by the state rather than applied at an adjuster's discretion after the fact. The earliest point at which a mandatory schedule endorsement may attach is roof age seven.
The practical difference matters. A schedule is knowable in advance. You can read it, find your roof's age on it, and know today what a total roof loss would pay — which is exactly the conversation to have before a storm rather than during a claim. So the question to ask at renewal isn't whether you've been quietly downgraded. It's "does this policy carry a roof payment schedule, and what percentage does it pay at my roof's age?" That's a specific line on the declarations page, and if you can't find it, ask.
Roof age still drives price and eligibility — just not the way people say.
All of the above is about how a claim gets paid. Separately, the age and condition of a roof are among the strongest factors in what a policy costs and in whether a carrier will write it at all, and appetite varies widely between markets — which is exactly the situation where having a lot of them helps. If your roof is approaching the point where the schedule starts to bite, that's the moment to have the conversation, not after the next hail event. Replacing a roof at the right time is one of the more consequential insurance decisions a Northwest Arkansas homeowner makes, and it's worth pricing the coverage consequences alongside the roofing quote rather than separately.
Six add-ons that close the gaps we actually see.
Each of these closes a hole that exists in a standard policy by default. Most cost a small amount annually and are worth carrying for almost any NWA home.
Water backup
Sewer, drain and sump-pump backup is excluded on a standard policy, full stop. Adding it is inexpensive and it's close to essential for any home with a finished lower level or a sump.
Service line
The water, sewer, gas and electrical lines running from the street to your house are your responsibility and aren't covered as standard. Excavation is most of the cost, which is what makes this one pay for itself.
Equipment breakdown
Mechanical and electrical failure of HVAC, water heaters, well pumps and major appliances — normally excluded as wear. One HVAC failure typically covers many years of the endorsement.
Ordinance or law
Pays the extra cost of bringing the home to current code during a covered rebuild. Often included at a small default percentage and worth increasing, especially on an older house.
Scheduled property
Jewelry, firearms, art, instruments and collectibles listed individually — at agreed value, usually all-risk, usually with no deductible, and covered away from the house. The fix for Coverage C's caps.
Personal umbrella
Extra liability sitting on top of the home and the autos at once. The standard answer once there's a teen driver, a pool, a dog or rental property in the picture, and cheaper relative to what it does than most people expect.
Not every home should be on an HO-3.
The form is chosen before the limits are, and choosing the wrong one is a more expensive mistake than picking the wrong deductible.
Open perils on the structure, named perils on contents. The right form for most owner-occupied single-family homes and the one most policies here are written on.
Open perils on both the structure and the contents, so the burden of proof at claim time shifts. Usually worth pricing on newer or higher-value homes rather than assuming HO-3.
For a unit where an association's master policy covers the building. Sized against that master policy rather than against the unit's purchase price.
Built for homes where a full replacement-cost rebuild would far exceed market value — often the only way to write an older house that other forms won't accept.
For a house you rent out or don't occupy. Covers the structure, fair rental value and landlord liability, and it isn't a homeowners policy with a different name.
Three things it won't cover, no matter how good the policy is.
Flood
Water arriving from outside and spreading across the ground is flood, and it's excluded from every homeowners policy. Being outside a mapped zone means a lender won't require it, not that it can't happen. See our flood page.
Earth movement
Earthquake, landslide, subsidence and earth shifting are all excluded, and the wording is deliberately broad. Coverage exists but has to be added on purpose. See our earthquake page.
Wear, rot and neglect
Insurance answers sudden accidental loss, not deterioration. A roof that wore out, a slow leak that ran for months, termites, rot and deferred maintenance are all outside it — and neglect can complicate an otherwise covered claim.
What our Arkansas clients actually pay.
Drawn from Cribb Insurance Group's own Arkansas homeowners book — clients we placed, not a published market average. Ranges are by replacement cost, which is what a policy is rated on, rather than by what a home would sell for.
| Home replacement cost | Cribb client range | What tends to drive it |
|---|---|---|
| $200,000 | $83 – $129 / mo | A smaller home still carries full wind and hail exposure, so the premium doesn't scale down as fast as the value does. |
| $300,000 | $118 – $167 / mo | Roof age and the wind and hail deductible tend to move this band more than anything else. |
| $400,000 | $144 – $209 / mo | The most common band for newer NWA construction. Worth pricing an HO-5 against the HO-3 here. |
| $500,000 | $171 – $246 / mo | Scheduled property and higher liability limits usually start to matter at this point. |
| $750,000+ | $220 – $379+ / mo | Worth comparing against a purpose-built high-value form rather than only a standard one. |
Ranges reflect Cribb Insurance Group client policies in Arkansas. They are historical, they describe other households, and they are not a quote, an estimate for you, or a promise of availability or price. See the full disclosure at the foot of this page.
Two houses of the same value on the same street can price a long way apart. Price turns on the replacement cost and how it was calculated, the age and condition of the roof, construction type, the age of wiring, plumbing and HVAC, your all-perils and wind and hail deductibles, protection class and distance to a responding station, claims and coverage history, whether you bundle, and each carrier's filed rates. This isn't a quote or a guarantee. Send your declarations page and we'll build the real figure with you across our markets.
The weather is why it costs what it costs.
Arkansas sits in one of the more active severe-weather regions in the country. The state averages roughly thirty to forty tornadoes a year, with a peak season running March through June, and hail and straight-line wind events happen outside that window too. None of that is about the houses — it's about the sky above them. Carriers have responded the way carriers do: higher base rates, percentage-based wind and hail deductibles, and much closer attention to roof age. That's the entire reason a homeowners premium here reads high next to a national average.
It also explains why shopping matters more here than in a calmer state. When carriers are all adjusting to the same weather at different speeds and with different appetites, the spread between the friendliest and least friendly market for one specific house gets wide — and it moves. The company that was sharpest on your home three years ago frequently isn't today, and nothing about a renewal notice tells you that.
Where we earn it.
The quiet mistakes on homeowners policies are a dwelling limit that hasn't kept up with what rebuilding actually costs, a wind and hail deductible nobody converted into dollars, no idea whether the policy carries a roof payment schedule or what it pays, water backup and service line never added, and valuables sitting inside Coverage C rather than scheduled. We read the declarations page before we shop it, put both deductibles side by side in dollars, find the roof provision and tell you plainly what it does, compare like for like rather than premium against premium, and say so when your current policy is already the right answer. We don't adjust your claim and can't overrule an adjuster — but we build the policy to respond, and we compare it across our 40+ carrier markets rather than one company's appetite.
What usually sits next to it.
Homeowners insurance questions.
What does homeowners insurance actually cover?
A standard homeowners policy is built from six coverages, labeled A through F. Coverage A is the dwelling, the structure itself. Coverage B is other structures, meaning detached garages, sheds and fences. Coverage C is personal property, everything inside. Coverage D is loss of use, the additional cost of living somewhere else while the home is repaired. Coverage E is personal liability, which responds when you are legally responsible for someone else's injury or property damage. Coverage F is medical payments, a small no-fault amount for a guest hurt at your home.
Most homeowners never see this structure until a claim, which is exactly when it is too late to change it. B, C and D are usually set as a percentage of A, so the dwelling limit quietly drives almost everything else on the policy.
What is a wind and hail deductible, and how is it different from my regular deductible?
On most Arkansas homeowners policies, wind and hail claims are subject to a separate deductible that is expressed as a percentage of your dwelling limit rather than as a flat dollar amount. Commonly it is one, two, three or five percent. The percentage is applied to Coverage A, not to the size of the claim.
On a home insured for four hundred thousand dollars, a two percent wind and hail deductible is eight thousand dollars and a five percent one is twenty thousand, while the all other perils deductible on the same policy might be one thousand. Since wind and hail is the peril most likely to actually damage a home here, that line matters more than the deductible most people can quote from memory. Check it on the declarations page rather than assuming.
How does roof age affect homeowners insurance in Arkansas?
Roof age is one of the largest factors in both price and eligibility, but the way Arkansas handles it is often described incorrectly. Arkansas roofs are not simply switched to actual cash value as they age. What a carrier may do instead is apply a filed agreed roof payment schedule, approved by the Arkansas Insurance Department, which sets out in advance what percentage of the roof replacement cost is payable at each roof age. The earliest that a mandatory schedule endorsement may attach is at roof age seven.
The practical effect is that the right question is not whether you are on actual cash value. It is whether your policy carries a roof payment schedule, and what that schedule pays at your roof's current age. That is a specific line to look for on the declarations page, and it is worth asking about at every renewal.
What is not covered by a standard homeowners policy?
Flood is excluded and needs a separate policy. Earth movement, including earthquake, landslide and subsidence, is excluded and also needs a separate policy. Normal wear and tear, deterioration, mechanical breakdown and maintenance are excluded, because insurance responds to sudden accidental loss rather than to things wearing out. Sewer and drain backup is excluded by default and has to be added by endorsement. Business activity conducted at the home is largely excluded.
There are also category caps inside your contents coverage, so jewelry, firearms, silver and collectibles are limited to relatively small amounts unless they are scheduled individually. None of these are hidden, but almost nobody reads them until after something happens.
How much does homeowners insurance cost in Northwest Arkansas?
Premiums here run higher than the national picture because of severe weather rather than because of anything about the houses. Arkansas averages roughly thirty to forty tornadoes a year with a peak season from March through June, and hail and straight line wind events happen year round. Carriers have responded by raising base rates, applying percentage based wind and hail deductibles, and looking much harder at roof age.
Beyond that, price turns on the replacement cost of the home, its age and construction, the roof, your deductibles, prior claims and coverage history, and which carrier you land with. The ranges published on this page come from our own Arkansas book and describe what other households paid, not what yours will cost.
How do I get a homeowners insurance quote in Northwest Arkansas?
Start a personal quote online or call (479) 286-1066, and send your current declarations page if you have one. That single document lets us rebuild your existing coverage exactly and compare like for like rather than guessing at limits.
Otherwise we need the address, the year built, the square footage, the construction type, the age of the roof and of the major systems, any recent updates, and a rough history of claims. Tell us about anything unusual, such as a pool, a trampoline, a dog, a home business, solar panels or a detached shop, because those change both eligibility and the liability conversation. We review the limits and the wind and hail deductible before we shop it, not afterwards.
If our coverage explainers are useful, mark Cribb Insurance as a preferred source so more Northwest Arkansas homeowners can find our local, plain-English guides.
Send the declarations page. We'll read the two lines that matter.
We'll convert your wind and hail deductible into dollars on your actual home, find the roof provision and tell you plainly what it pays at your roof's age, check whether water backup and service line are on there, look at whether the dwelling limit still reflects what rebuilding costs, and compare it across our markets on a matched spec. If your current policy is already right, that's what you'll hear.
Cribb Insurance Group Inc. is an independent insurance agency licensed in Arkansas. This page describes homeowners insurance in general, industry-standard terms for informational purposes only. It is not a policy, not an offer of insurance, and not a guarantee of coverage, availability, eligibility, or price.
About the rate ranges on this page. The figures shown are drawn from Cribb Insurance Group's own book of Arkansas homeowners clients. They are historical and descriptive: they report what a set of other households paid for a stated replacement cost band, over a past period, under the carriers and rating rules in effect at that time. They are not an estimate of your premium, not a quote, not an offer, and not a representation that any particular price is available to you or to anyone. Individual premiums are determined solely at quote and by the policy actually issued, and are affected by replacement cost, construction, age and condition of the roof and major systems, protection class, deductibles, coverage history, claims, carrier underwriting and filed rates, and available discounts. Rates change over time and past figures are not a prediction of future pricing. No saving, discount or comparative advantage is stated or implied. Deductible figures shown on this page are illustrative arithmetic used to explain how a percentage deductible is calculated and are not an indication of what any carrier would offer.
Dwelling, other structures, personal property, loss of use, personal liability and medical payments coverages, along with endorsements such as water backup, service line, equipment breakdown, ordinance or law and scheduled personal property, and along with limits, sub-limits, deductibles, covered causes of loss, and exclusions, are set by the carrier, vary by state and by policy and over time, are subject to the carrier's underwriting approval and eligibility, and apply only as written in the policy actually issued to you. Percentages used to derive Coverage B, C and D from Coverage A vary by carrier and form. Flood, earth movement, wear and tear, deterioration, maintenance, and business activity at the residence are commonly excluded and may require separate coverage.
Statements about how roof damage is settled describe general Arkansas market practice and the use of carrier-filed roof payment schedules approved by the Arkansas Insurance Department. They are general information, not legal advice, and not a description of any particular policy. Whether a roof payment schedule applies to you, and what it pays, is determined by the endorsement actually attached to your policy; read your declarations page and endorsements, and confirm current requirements with the Arkansas Insurance Department. Weather figures are general background drawn from published sources and are not a prediction. Any cost or coverage descriptions are general and illustrative, not a quote, and not a guarantee; your premium and coverage are determined at quote and by the policy issued.
Last reviewed July 2026.