MMaintnr
Protect what you own

When disaster strikes, your insurer
asks you to prove what you had.

A fire, flood, or burglary takes your belongings in minutes. Then comes the part no one prepares for: itemizing everything you lost, from memory, to a claims adjuster. A documented home inventory is what stands between you and that impossible task.

Build your inventory with Maintnr How to document your home
Why we built Maintnr

The Marshall Fire hit close to home

On December 30, 2021, a grass fire driven by hurricane-force winds tore through Superior and Louisville, Colorado. In a matter of hours it became the most destructive wildfire in the state's history — more than 1,000 homes gone, tens of thousands of people evacuated, and over half a billion dollars in losses. It struck a dense suburban neighborhood where almost no one had ever considered wildfire a real threat.

Our family lives in Colorado, and that day the fire came close enough that being at risk of losing everything stopped being hypothetical. We were among the fortunate ones. Friends were not. They lost their homes — and then discovered that losing the house was only the beginning.

In the months that followed, we watched people we cared about sit across from insurance adjusters and try to reconstruct a lifetime of belongings from memory. Every appliance, every piece of furniture, every tool in the garage, every item in every closet — itemized, valued, and justified, with no photos and no receipts because those had burned too. Some fought their own insurers for a year or more over contents they couldn't prove they owned.

That's the problem Maintnr was built to solve. Not the fire — no app stops a fire. But the second disaster, the paperwork one, is entirely preventable. It just requires having documented your home before you needed to.

1,000+
homes destroyed in the Marshall Fire
37,500
people evacuated in hours
$500M+
in insured losses
Minutes
from normal day to total loss

Figures per Boulder County, NOAA, and news reporting on the December 2021 Marshall Fire.

The difference it makes

Same loss. Two very different claims.

Your policy is the same either way. What changes the outcome is whether you can prove what you owned.

Without a home inventory

  • Reconstruct hundreds of items from memory, weeks after the trauma
  • No photos, receipts, or serial numbers — because they were in the house
  • Adjuster disputes values you can't substantiate
  • Underpaid on contents, or claims dragging on for months
  • You forget items entirely and never get reimbursed for them

With a documented inventory

  • Hand your insurer an itemized list with values and photos
  • Serial numbers and purchase dates already recorded
  • Records stored in the cloud, so they survive the event itself
  • Faster settlement and a stronger position on contested items
  • Nothing forgotten — the list remembers so you don't have to

What is a home inventory, and why does it matter?

A home inventory is a documented record of your belongings — item names, descriptions, approximate values, and where possible photos, purchase dates, serial numbers, and receipts. Most homeowners have never made one. Most homeowners also assume their insurance will simply cover their contents after a loss. Both of those are true right up until you file a claim.

Here's the part that surprises people: a standard homeowners policy covers your personal property, but a personal property claim requires you to prove what that property was. After a total loss, insurers typically ask you to itemize your belongings — often hundreds or thousands of individual items — with descriptions and values. If you can document them, the process is straightforward. If you're working from memory, it becomes a slow, stressful negotiation where you're trying to convince someone the things you owned actually existed.

Fires aren't the only reason to document your home

Wildfire is the dramatic example, and after events like the Marshall Fire it's the one on everyone's mind. But the same documentation protects you against far more common events: a burst pipe that ruins a finished basement, a burglary that clears out your electronics and jewelry, a kitchen fire, storm damage, or a theft while you're traveling. Any claim involving contents benefits from proof of ownership. Disasters are rare; the paperwork problem they create is universal.

The record has to survive the disaster

There's a catch that trips people up: a home inventory stored inside the home is worthless the moment that home is destroyed. A binder of receipts in a filing cabinet burns with the filing cabinet. Photos on a phone that melts in a house fire are gone. Your inventory only helps if it lives somewhere the disaster can't reach — cloud storage, or an app that syncs off your device. That's a core reason Maintnr stores your inventory in the cloud rather than only on your phone.

Do it before you need it

How to document your home in an afternoon

You don't need it to be perfect. A rough inventory beats no inventory by an enormous margin.

1

Go room by room

Work through one room at a time so nothing gets skipped. Open closets, cabinets, and the garage — the easy-to-forget spaces are where a lot of value hides.

2

Photograph everything

Photos are the fastest proof there is. Capture each item, and take a close-up of model and serial numbers on electronics and appliances. A short video walkthrough of each room is a great backstop.

3

Record the details that matter

For each significant item, note what it is, roughly what it's worth, when you bought it, and its serial number. Keep receipts for big-ticket purchases. Maintnr's AI label scanning can pull model and serial numbers straight from a photo to speed this up.

4

Store it off-site

Keep the record somewhere that isn't the home it documents. Cloud sync means your inventory survives the exact event it's meant to protect you against.

5

Keep it current

Add new purchases as they come in and review it once a year. An inventory that's five years stale still helps, but a current one is what gets you paid in full.

Maintnr does the documentation for you

Catalog your appliances, electronics, and equipment with photos and serial numbers, organized by property. When you need it, generate an insurance report — a documented record of your home's contents — on demand. It lives in the cloud, so it's there even when the house isn't.

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FAQ

Home inventory & insurance questions

What is a home inventory for insurance?

It's a documented list of your belongings — descriptions, values, photos, and where possible serial numbers and receipts. After a loss, your insurer uses it to verify your personal property claim. Without one, you're reconstructing everything you owned from memory, item by item.

Why do I need an inventory if I already have insurance?

Insurance covers your belongings, but a claim requires proof of what you owned. A total-loss contents claim asks you to itemize hundreds or thousands of items. Policyholders with documentation consistently settle faster and more fully than those working from memory.

What should I include for each item?

At minimum, a description and rough value. Better still: a photo, the purchase date, the serial or model number for electronics and appliances, and a receipt for anything expensive. Maintnr captures these fields for you and can read serial numbers from a photo.

Where should I store my home inventory?

Anywhere that isn't inside the home it documents. A paper binder in a burning house helps no one. Cloud storage or an app that syncs off your device means your inventory survives the fire, flood, or burglary it exists to protect against.

Does Maintnr generate an insurance report?

Yes. Maintnr Pro produces a documented record of your home's inventory and maintenance history that you can hand to an insurer for a claim — and a separate resale report for buyers when it's time to sell.

Can I document more than one property?

Yes. Maintnr Pro's multi-property management keeps separate inventory, tasks, and reports for each property you own — useful for a second home or a rental.

This page is general information, not insurance or legal advice. Coverage, claim requirements, and documentation standards vary by policy and provider — review your own policy and speak with your insurer or a licensed professional about your specific situation. Maintnr helps you organize and store a home inventory; it does not file claims or guarantee any claim outcome.