Had house fire having trouble settling insurance claim. Has anyone had experience with public adjusters in getting fair settlement.

I am a licensed contractor who also had a fire. I gave my insurance carrier a reduced price bid, so I could get my team (employee's) in to quickly and cheaply do the work at cost. I asked for $100,000. They then offered me $80,000, less my deductible--paying me only 60% up front and the balance when the job was completed to "their" satisfaction. There was no reasoning with them.

So I called a public adjuster who sent in each "Trade" to bid on each segment of the job. Demolition. Framing. Electrical. Plumbing. Insulation. Drywall. Paining. Flooring. Finish Work. The bid now came in at $328,000, a lot more than my $100,000.

So my insurance carrier got their own bids, and called me in a meeting, now offering me $200,000 to settle.

I told them that my first bid, $100,000, was cost for a marginal job. But my insurance policy covers replacement cost plus code upgrades. Their $80,000 offer was a joke and so is their $200,000. Nope, I'm sticking to my Public Adjuster and his teams. So they had to deal with the public adjuster. I only had to supervise the mistakes his contractors made. Not having enough neutrals wires per hot. Not applying tile over plywood with the property prep. And not having proper weep holes for drainage in the window frames. The little things.

Absolutely have public adjuster and as Robert said have separate bids for each trade. I did this last fire and the insurance didn't know what job my company would do or their company so they had to be honest with the trades. We made enough off the items we did it covered our deductible.

I've used a public adjuster for the several major fires that I've had. Each time I was very happy with the results. Unless it was a very minor fire (less than $10K) I would highly recommend that you find & hire a reputable public adjuster to represent you.

Yes! Get one and haggle on the commission . Mine started at 10% of the claim. I told him he was one of FIVE that have called me (ambulance chasers). He doubled as a lawyer and took 7%.

Woody,

My answer disappeared.

Start with the FACTS

1. the ins co claims dept's job is to save the company money.

2. YOU must study your policy and KNOW what is covered. Odd things like landscaping, trash out the resident's soaking wet mattresses, dump fee, boarding up windows, flooring, your appliances, pumping the water out of the basement...

(fire hoses pump 1500 gallons per MINUTE!)

A recent fire: State Farm claims adjuster offered $43,000 with a big fancy report. I let a public adjuster give it a shot.

His claim was $93,000 and negotiated with State Farm. I got $73,000, the max on the policy. His commission was based on the difference so he got $11,000.

BRAD