Become the “go to” contractor
Become the “go to” contractor in your area. Insurance adjusters technically aren’t allowed to refer specific contractors. However, situations develop that cause adjusters to request help from the same contractor over and over.
After leaving my position as a property insurance adjuster after 16 years, it took several months to get over what I would call flashbacks. I would be taking a shower in the morning and out of the blue get hit with this strong sense of dread. How am I going to reconcile (reconcile means to justify payment based on information) this contractor’s estimate? Our estimate was 1/3 the cost of his. My supervisor is never going to approve payment and this contractor is not going to budge. And the homeowner is livid.
Rock and a hard place. In fact, I had a friend and colleague that would experience the same episodes, but they were in the middle of the night. I wanted to pay the estimate and move on, make everyone happy, but I wasn’t allowed. So there I was, we had these two estimates that were very far apart. We needed a third opinion.
The insurance industry has a long history with giving out contractor referrals to homeowners. Homeowner’s have always requested a referral, in fact, it is usually the 1st question asked after a claim payment has been issued. Adjuster’s used to have their favorite contractors they would refer, knowing the homeowner would be taken care of by reliable services and importantly to the adjuster they would never hear of the claim again after issuing the check. Eventually, this system broke down.
With customer demand for contractor referrals still high, the property insurance industry started direct repair programs. Their vetted contractors would actually perform the work as estimated in the claim. However, this created liability issues that arose out of repairs and the difficulties around residential repair.
Today we are in a “mixed bag” phase; a hybrid of third party program referral and limited direct repair. Networks like Alacrity and Contractor Connection take on the liability of the referral, and once again, after payment, the insurance companies never hear of the claim again(at least they hope they won’t). This system limits the insurance adjuster’s ability to give out any contractor referrals even if they know great companies that may not be part of referral programs.
However, scenarios still exist that allow an adjuster (with approval) to send a specific local contractor out to provide an estimate and potentially win the job. These scenarios are normally like what I mentioned above. The nightmare situation where the adjuster feels caught between a rock and a hard place. Sure they may be directed to check the referral programs first for the third opinion, but there may not be any contractors available on those. Sometimes things just go sideways on a job and there is a cascade of problems during repairs. In those moments the adjuster will certainly look for someone whose opinion they value and trust.
So how to obtain this position as the “go to?” First off, I'm not suggesting any contractor just take the first estimate provided by the insurance company and be happy that they got it. Here are a few tips though:
Be prepared to spend a little extra time documenting the damages and explaining the line items in your estimate. Take more photos than you might normally(more on photos later)
When communicating the scope of work that the adjuster might not feel necessary, do so as a teacher would. Help the adjuster find ways to justify your scope of work. All adjuster’s have different levels of technical knowledge, sometimes they simply might not know how the repair actually needs to be approached, so they don’t know how to communicate the additional scope to their management.
Show that you can be flexible and be open to a give and take process.
Don’t shy away from a difficult job/customer/situation. That job where the 1st contractor walked off. Show you are willing to grab it by the reins.
Obviously, you should always evaluate the business relationship. If it becomes a one way street where you constantly get asked to fix problem situations that aren’t necessarily great jobs for you, don’t be afraid to mention to the adjuster that they should keep you in mind for packouts, large consultant estimates on complex fires, or try to send you out on something straight forward every now and then.