I've known a couple of people who had large fires and the adjusters got both significantly more than the insurance company offered. Talk to an adjuster and see. It was more than worth it for the people I knew.

That is how it works. Often the person you hire has worked with the insurance company’s adjuster. The insurance company’s representative’s compensation is based on how much they “save”. If you are unable to get quotes to counter the offer, you will be denied, and they have time.

FWIW, google the insurance company you are dealing with. I have heard things from underwriters, adjusters, brokers.

I don't know the percentage fee paid to public adjusters, but I have always thought it was more than 10%. Perhaps the exact amount may vary based on services provided but be certain you understand the details before signing anything. Certainly, ask any potential adjuster to provide details about their previous experiences, especially with your particular insurer. If all they can provide is a bland statement about average payouts, ask how they calculated the numbers and ask to see some previous settlements. If the addresses and names are removed, it is not an invasion of privacy to see this info.

I suggest a conversation with your agent. They have extensive experience working with claims and may be able to tell you how best to document your losses. Insurance agencies make money from your premiums, not from denying claims so they don't have the same incentive to minimize costs as the insurance company.

In this case where a neighbor's issue caused problems for you, perhaps you may have a valid claim against their insurance company. You should consider doing more research before accepting that first offer because you will lose your leverage once you say OK.

I so very much wish I hired one.

Jim Mat - most claim reps are salaried employees and are not paid by how much they “save” the carrier. WRT hiring a public adjuster - you can always see what they cost.

Thanks all - I get that they may get us a higher claim from insurance. I'm just not sure if it helps us to hire one? It seems we could and up with the same out of pocket:

-we don't use a public adjuster and further negotiation with insurance leads to an amount that's within $6k of what our contractor's costs so we foot the difference for the rest

-public adjuster gets us what our contractor bid or more but we have to pay the adjuster at least $6k or 10% of the amount that they get us

Shady, maybe things have changed, but I went to college with people who worked for insurance agencies and independents, both side were paid based on performance. My info is about 10 years old.

JY doesn’t look like it pencils out for you. Do you have the resources to get well on the insurance proposal amount.

It's a mess. Insurance transferred us to new, large claims adjuster and it's like starting over. He walked through our house Tuesday and was supposed to get us a revised estimate by Friday and did not.

The new guy talked directly with our contractor, but the conversation didn't go well. Insurance wants our contractor to further break down each line item for his cost of materials vs his cost of labor. Our contractor told us he will do that, but feels insurance is telling him what he actually should be charging for things like labor, and he will not bend to their pricing - that insurance unfairly prices labor in what it takes in perfect conditions of a brand new build, not dealing with imperfect conditions, uneven walls, beams, etc of our 90+ year old home.

Insurance guy emailed us and agrees that contractor convo did not go well and basically implied now we have to use insurance preferred Paul Davis Restoration. Also basically implied we have to move from our hotel because this is going to take awhile now and the hotel is expensive. Then he didn't follow up that email with a phone call or respond to our phone calls. We are so very irritated by that email and lack of follow up!

At any rate, whoever does the work, our concern is that they match exactly what was done in our brand new renovation that we had just barely moved into! For instance, we had beautiful new wood floors installed in our new open floor plan first floor, but part of them in the kitchen area got damaged from a failed tarp when it rained through a wall the firefighters ripped open. We need the replacement floors to match exactly so it looks seamless, like nothing happened, or will not consider ourselves fairly indemnified We want all trim work, crown moulding, replaced decking, etc to match what was just done in our renovation. Our contractor literally just did this work so we know they can and will redo it the same, but don't have the same faith in whoever we get through insurance.

We may not have the funds to pay the public adjuster as we are already financially stretched at the end of a long renovation, but have reached out to one anyway and are waiting for a call back. In the meantime, we've also reached out to a lawyer (I have access to one as a work benefit), and will also be looking into talking with our states public insurance commissioner. We do feel insurance is bullying us a bit now and want to make sure we understand our rights and our policy.

Are you in the U.S? I ask because I live in Ontario, Canada and we used Paul Davis Systems for an insurance claim . The roof leaked less than 2 years later where they repaired it . I think they cut corners (and they were very expensive as well). They were the insurance

preferred contractors

Yes, we are in the U.S.