As Jamaicans gear up for their annual Labour Day tradition of community improvement and local beautification projects, a top executive from one of the island’s leading financial groups is calling on residents to add one critical task to their to-do list: reviewing their property insurance coverage to protect the assets they have spent years building.
Tammara Glaves-Hucey, managing director of GK General Insurance and Key Insurance under the GraceKennedy Financial Group (GKFG), is sounding the alarm over a widespread gap in property protection across Jamaica. New data compiled by the Insurance Association of Jamaica (IAJ) paints a stark picture: only 1 in 5 residential properties in the country currently hold active insurance coverage, leaving a full 80% of Jamaican homes exposed to devastating financial loss in the event of damage, natural disaster, or accident.
Glaves-Hucey notes that many property owners – both residential homeowners and commercial operators – often do not realize they are underinsured until it is too late. The issue typically develops gradually over time: a policy purchased years ago remains in place, with annual premiums paid on time, leading owners to assume their coverage is still sufficient. But circumstances shift, market values change, properties are upgraded, and business operations expand. As construction and replacement costs continue to climb year over year, old policy limits quickly fall out of step with actual current needs.
To help Jamaican property owners address this gap, Glaves-Hucey has outlined five actionable steps people can complete this Labour Day to shore up their coverage and protect their long-term assets:
First, take time to review your current insured sums. While pulling together important documents during your annual holiday cleaning, pull out your insurance policy and double-check the listed coverage amount. Ask yourself a critical question: if my property suffered major damage today, would this payout be enough to fully rebuild at current construction prices? If the answer is no, or if you are uncertain at all, reach out to your insurance agent or advisor to request an updated property valuation.
Second, account for any upgrades or improvements made to your property since you first took out your policy. Many Jamaicans invest in home upgrades over the years – everything from kitchen remodels and new bathrooms to added bedrooms, solar water heaters, upgraded roofing, new windows, security systems, tiled patios, and higher-value furniture. All of these changes raise your property’s value and require updated coverage. For commercial property owners, this step also applies to new machinery, office equipment, expanded inventory, updated technology, and signage added since the last policy review.
Third, conduct a full review of your personal property and content coverage. Building insurance only covers the physical structure of your home or business; coverage for the items inside is a separate policy line. Walk through every room of your property and catalog all high-value items, including electronics, appliances, furniture, jewelry, tools, and core business assets. Document your inventory with photos and video, and store digital copies of receipts, valuation documents, serial numbers, and warranties in a secure cloud storage account or email to avoid losing them if physical documents are destroyed in an incident.
Fourth, identify and fill gaps in your coverage. Underinsurance is not an issue that only affects large estates or major corporations – it impacts everyday families and small business owners across Jamaica just as often. A small shop owner may insure their building but overlook coverage for their inventory and in-store equipment. A homeowner may cover their house structure but leave personal property unprotected. A landlord who completes a major renovation may forget to update their policy limits, and a small manufacturer that adds new production equipment may fail to expand their coverage to match the new asset value. Glaves-Hucey emphasizes this step is especially urgent today, as rising fuel, energy, transportation, and raw material costs continue to push construction and replacement prices higher. If rebuilding costs have gone up but your coverage has stayed the same, you will be stuck covering the gap out of pocket after a major loss from a fire, hurricane, flood, or other disaster.
The fifth and final step is to use Labour Day as a head start on hurricane season preparedness. Jamaica’s annual Labour Day falls just weeks before the official June 1 start of the Atlantic hurricane season, when insurance adjustments often become impossible once a storm is already bearing down on the island. As residents complete their usual Labour Day prep – clearing storm drains, trimming overgrown trees, repairing fences, inspecting roofing, and securing loose outdoor items – Glaves-Hucey says setting aside just one extra hour to review insurance coverage can save homeowners and business owners from catastrophic financial loss later.
“Use Labour Day as a practical annual reminder,” she shared. “The home you repaired, the business you built, the contents you bought, and the dreams you continue to work for are all fruits of your labour. Progress, though built by effort, must be protected.”