Living post-flood for most people in Lismore and surrounds is manageable, it has its difficulties but the comforts of home are still around us.

For some, life is a lesson in strength and resilience as they try to rebuild their lives to pre-flood conditions not matter how long that takes.

For Heidi and Lindsy Barton and their two children life is a struggle especially in the heart of winter when socks and a beanie are part of the nighttime ensemble for bed.

The family home in Cathcart Street was trashed on February 28 with 2.35 metres of water through the house which put the water level at a metre from the roof.

Like many others, this was the first time that the Green's had water in the house. During the 2017 flood, the water level was about 20cm underneath the floor in their raised house.

The Green's do have insurance which is positive, however, it can also be a negative when your insurance company asks you to not touch anything in the house until they have inspected it and made a decision on whether write it off or rebuild it.

Heidi told the Lismore App the scope of work that needs to be completed was greater than the value of the property so the insurance company is recommending a cash settlement.

"There are too many variables to look into with what we do and what we don't do, it's an unknown factor for us at the moment," Heidi said.

The amount of money is nothing to do with the value of the property as will be the case with landswaps or buybacks, it has to do with how much you have insured your house for.

What most people don't realise is that their house is actually underinsured as labour and material costs skyrocket in a very tight market.

"I was under insured when it comes to the price of steel and timber," Heidi explained, "I was probably about $60,000 under insured."

"You just don't think to increase your insurance with prices going up, you don't think of that."

"When the insurer rang me and said it was a total loss because we were at 93% of the total spend then but if I had an extra $60,000 on top I would have been right. I kick myself because I thought I should have been on top of this. I knew what supply prices were doing but even the insurance lady said she is in the insurance game and she doesn't even think of it."

Then there is the uncertainty of landswaps and house buybacks.

"We know that people are selling houses, we know the money there are getting for selling houses so do you sell it, do you wait for a buyback, do you wait to see if they do the Girards Hill area and not just north and south (Lismore). It is just everything at the moment."

"Then we're still dealing with the business which is just another hold other headache."

"We are waiting for a hydrologist report to tell us if it is storm or flood. If it's deemed as storm we're covered, if it's deemed as flood we're stuffed. And there is a big difference between a $50,000 Grant and what we have in insurance and what they will pay us in our Business Interruption payments which they are not paying at the moment because they haven't decided whether they are accepting our claim or not."

The frustration is that if you are waiting for an insurance company to make an assessment, you can't get the $50,000 Grant which would have meant Heidi and Lindsay could have reopened their Furniture Wiz store.

"We went to the Service NSW forums and said to them 'we think you're going to say no but we're just coming to see if there is anything' and they said, "no, we won't touch you, you've got insurance". Until the insurance have declined you we won't give you anything."

So, while Heidi and Lindsay live off Heidi's wage which is enough to survive it is not enough to buy new tools and equipment to reopen their business.

"Lindsay feels penalised now for doing the right thing. He had insurance but now feels he is being punished. There are other business that didn't have insurance that have got the fifty thousand and they can buy what they need to buy and reopen. They are already making money again."

The estimate damage bill for Furniture Wiz is $250,000 in stock so $50,000 for the Small Business Grant may buy some equipment but it still leaves you with a $200,000 loss.

While the insurance saga is being resolved, Heidi, Lindsay and the kids say they are lucky. The have a brilliant landlord who is allowing them to live above the shop becasue he knows they have no home to go to.

"We're doing so much better than other people who don't have houses, who are living in PODS and all the rest of it. I would have a completely different story if we were living in a POD."

"Our shed is 12x12 metres. Upsatirs there is a mezzanine floor that we have ripped out and put down flooring."

"It is divided into four. One area is completely open so we can move things up and down to the mezzanine. Then we've got an open area that has a washing machine, dishwasher, sink and dryer and sort of our storage space. And then we have another, I think 6x6 metre room which is our kitchen we bought from Bunnings. We bought a garage storage system and turn that into a kitchen and we have two kids sleeping in there. Then we have another 6x6 room that is our bedroom and an office."

When you are in the middle of winter and experiencing 3 degree nights with no heating and no insulation in the roof, the cold really bites.

"I sleep with a beanie on every night and socks on my feet to keep warm."

(The Green's wardrobe)

Even in the face of adversity, Heidi says, "We're lucky. We've got a bed to sleep in and a roof over our head. We are not in a POD, we didn't have to go to an evacuation centre. We fell like we're living in a mansion becasue we have everything we need like a shower and toilet."

"We are not home but we're making it our home for now."

Heidi believes this will be home for possibly two years depending on what happens with insurance, buy backs, land swaps and every other variable you can imagine after one of Australia's worst natural disasters.