Step & Apron Flashings

Insurance companies are typically only going to pay for what is physically damaged to your property.  When the field adjuster comes out to visit you, don't be offended if an initial insurance estimate is given to you to perform repairs to your roof; instead of replacement of your roof.  Sometimes it can make more sense to attempt a repair (if logical).  If that repair will not work then the estimate may be revised at a later date (if warranted).  What most people don't understand, is that the field adjuster's estimate is not written in stone.  Revisions may be made at a later date to reconcile any concerns or disagreements that a contractor and/or homeowner may have.

One of the most common disagreements from the contractors, I've found, while adjusting is in regard to step flashings, chimney flashings and apron flashings.  These are not considered separate trades.  All roof flashings are considered roofing trades, as roofing sub crews will perform this work.  Therefore general contractor overhead and profit (O&P) is not warranted for roof & flashing replacements only.  Usually these items are not damaged during the storm.  However, these items will incur damage upon roof replacement.  Flashings are nailed down to the shingles and are sometimes sealed down with adhesive to prevent water from entering the home.  Each insurance carrier is going to approach flashing differently.  Most of them will not pay for these items up-front unless there if visible damage.  However, if the flashings are sealed down to the shingles with yucky puck, caulking or any other type of adhesive, the adjuster can usually justify replacement of these items as it can be easily photographed and shown to the insurance carrier that the flashing will incur damage.  Field adjusters are usually not going to pay for flashings up-front.  If you have concerns, call your insurance carrier and an inside adjuster (or call center adjuster) may be able to assist you.

Keep in mind that most insurance policies have a building code endorsement attached to the main insurance policy.  What this allows the adjuster to do, is allow extra funding within the insurance estimate to bring the damaged portions of the dwelling up to current building code specifications.  In most states, damaged or rusted flashings is a building code violation.  Please be sure to check with local building code enforcement to verify before filing supplement requests.  It would behoove you to find this written documentation and give it to your field adjuster during the inspection.

Helpful Supplies for Hurricane Claims

With hurricane season roughly 3 days away it is important to keep your bags packed and to call your dispatcher ASAP; so your adjusting firm has your current availability status.  If you do get called out, be prepared to sleep in your vehicle for a few days!  I spent 5 days in my truck for Super-storm Sandy...  Lots of homeowners and utility companies will be occupying every single hotel room you can find, so bring some blankets and other necessary supplies to prepare for the possibility of being "homeless" for a few days/weeks.

• Baby wipes: If you are not going to have a hotel room for awhile, bring some baby-wipes so you can take a bum shower at the gas station. While it may not sound very glorious, it'll make you feel a little bit more comfortable.


• Bring extra gas: If there is a gas shortage, you may find yourself in the weeds.  Bring a few extra gallons of gas with you before you head out!


• Buy a lock for your supplies!  There were a lot of adjusters involved in Sandy who had their trucks broken into and other supplies stolen.  Gas shortage was so bad that adjuster vehicles were having their gas tanks siphoned!  Buy a bike-lock to secure your belongings and a tarp to hide everything as best as you can!

Also, this thing is pretty neat too!  I would be jealous if I saw you on a storm-site with this...



They also make a version of this tent for SUV's.  Full sized air mattresses for truck beds are available too!

How to set yourself apart from other adjusters

So its a few weeks into your storm deployment.  You are all caught up on your contacts.  You are scheduled out at-least 3 weeks.  You've settled and closed a few dozen claims.  Now what?  It feels good to finally catch your breath and relax, right?  While it is healthy to give yourself a breather; now couldn't be a more important/crucial point for your deployment!

Some of you may start to feel like you are over that hill and that things are easing up.  While this may be true, the one thing you need to remember is to stay on your game!  This is the point in the storm where you can greatly differentiate yourself from the other adjusters on-site.  This could buy you more time deployed on storm if you handle everything right!  By now you should be receiving return phone calls from homeowners you have already inspected.  Make it a goal to respond to these people within 24 hours!  Agents and homeowners often complain about their adjuster's lengthy response time for voice messages.  They don't always understand how busy we are... Do your managers a favor and respond before these complaints reach them!

You may also be overhearing word of potential HOT claims in the office.  These are usually homeowners that are upset because another adjuster may be 3 weeks or further out on their schedule.  While it is impossible to make "everyone" happy, you could earn a few brownie points by making room in your schedule to take a HOT claim off of your manager's hands.  However, don't reschedule someone just to make an impatient homeowner happy.  You owe it to your homeowners to keep your word with your appointments.  Make yourself known and tell your manager that you would be willing to take an extra claim or two to help out.  Don't do this if you do not feel comfortable taking on extra work!  If you are absolutely booked solid, its okay to turn down a few claims.  Remember, you still need to keep a high standard of quality on all of your claim files.  Don't do anything that would hinder your best performance!

I'm not telling you to be a pest while your in the office.  After-all, nobody likes a brown nose...  Approach everything from a genuine, realistic perspective.  Don't be a stranger!  Face time is one of the most important things you could do for your career!  Make yourself known to your peers!  You are just a name on a roster unless others can associate your face to that name.  It is common sense for higher-ups to keep the claim handlers they know, and even more common sense to keep the claim handlers that are willing to go an extra mile to lend a helping hand!

 

How to make GREAT first contact phone calls

This is the hardest part of the storm for many new adjusters.  There is a lot of pressure that comes with a new storm.  A big part of this stress can be contributed to the pressure of making quality first contact phone calls with the policy holders (within a reasonable time-frame).  It is not unusual for an adjuster to arrive on site and be dumped with 50 to 80 claims right out of the gate!  All of these policy holders need to be contacted ASAP to make management happy and to adhere to good customer service practices.
It is crucially important to arrive on site and to get your storms off to a good start; because it will help build your confidence and set your mood for the rest of the storm!  I have met many new guys who are too focused on performing inspections as soon as humanly possible.  Unfortunately these adjusters never stick around because they will be back-logged with too many claims.  Ive met too many adjusters who put themselves in a hole that they cannot get out of; because they didn't allow themselves the proper amount of time to schedule everyone.  DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU!!!

How soon do I need to contact everyone?

• Depending on the insurance carrier, most companies will expect you to have everyone contacted within 24 - 48 hours of receiving the claim.  It is possible to do!  You just need to allow yourself enough time to focus on calling everyone before you attempt to perform any inspections.

How much time should I set aside after arriving on-site so I can get everyone called?

• A reasonable time-frame would be 2 or possibly 3 days (depending on your initial claim load).  A good way to judge would be to allow yourself 1 day per every 25 claims you receive.  If you give yourself this time when you start receiving claims, your going to earn a lot of respect from management!  Managers usually have to hassle the other adjusters who do not take the time to call homeowners.  You will look like a stud-muffin if you do this step!

What questions should I ask the policy holders?

• What damage did you sustain?
  
  
  
  • This will help save you some detective work when you arrive at the home.
  
  
  • This gives the homeowner a chance to address any specific concerns they may have.


• How old is your roof?
  
  
  
  • The age of the roof plays a HUGE role in determining repairability!


• Is there any interior damage?
  
  
  
  • Usually I encourage all of my homeowners to be present for the inspection.  Sometimes it is not possible to work around their schedule and inspections will have to be performed without the homeowner being present.  If there is interior damage, then there will need to be someone present so you can access and photograph the damage.  If you ask this question and find out that there is no interior damage, then it becomes that much easier to set your schedule (because the homeowner doesn't necessarily need to be present).


• Do you have a contractor involved?
  
  
  
  • Contractors are usually the first people to notify the homeowner that they have sustained storm damage.  If the homeowner is comfortable with their contractor they will often times want their contractor to be present for your inspection.  Always be sure to notify the homeowner that the contractor is welcome to be present for the inspection!  This scares a lot of new guys because they don't want to argue.  But it will save you a lot of back end work later on, because you won't have to be dealing with as many supplement requests later on during the storm.  Get the contractor to meet with you and document if this particular contractor agrees with your inspection results (or not!).

Is your home 2 story and/or steep?

• This is probably the most important question to ask!  Because if the roof is 2 story and/or steep and you are not comfortable climbing it, then it will need to be referred over to a 2 story & steep team (or another adjuster who is willing to climb big roofs).  Not every insurance carrier utilizes a 2 story and steep team.  If you end up with one of these insurance carriers, don't be afraid to ask a manager or another adjuster for help!  It's much better to ask for help, instead of falling off of a roof and dying!  It is important to remember that this does not give you permission to refer every roof that looks "mean" over to a 2 story team!  The roof will need to be at-least 7/12 in pitch and/or 2 stories tall.  If the roof has a single story access YOU CAN CLIMB IT!  Unless you need a special 2 story ladder or need to perform a double pull to access the whole roof, do not refer a tall roof to the 2 story and steep team!  (ITS VERY ANNOYING)

Verify their deductible and mortgage company!

• Sometimes a policy holder will be thrown back when they hear that their deductible has risen to $1,000.00 from $500.00.  Ask them this question so they can get their insurance agent involved if they believe there is an error.  The more detective work you do from the beginning the quicker the claim can be settled!


• Mortgage companies NEED TO BE VERIFIED!  By law, if the Coverage A (building/dwelling) damages exceed $7,500.00, the mortgage company NEEDS to be included!  Or if the mortgage company is considered a "dollar-one mortgagee" then you will need to include the mortgage company regardless! (even if you only write a check for 1 dollar!)  If the incorrect mortgage company is written on the check, then the insured will not be able to deposit it into their account!  This makes for a very angry homeowner!

*****IMPORTANT NOTE***** If you do not include a mortgagee that needs to be included on the check, then you may face some serious fines!

First Big CAT of the Season! Indiana gets CREAMED by Hail!

Alright, it's that time! All you adjusters out there START DOING YOUR HAPPY HAIL DANCE! I know I have been! ***see below video of happy, chubby kid dancing (that about sums up my dance moves!)***



The Midwest got CREAMED by hail today! Areas of Indianapolis got hit with 1" to 2" sized, hard hail stones that have busted out numerous car windows and hit an unsuspecting panhandler in the face! OUCH!  Currently Missouri has had a tornado cause some damage and forecasters are saying that it's going to get dangerous tonight (because people will be sleeping when round 2 hits).  Keep safe if you are in the splash zone!  And get your bags packed if your an adjuster who is licensed in Indiana and/or Missouri! Heads up Memphis! You're next!




[caption id="attachment_557" align="alignleft" width="200"] A local beggar was hit in the face by a hail stone today[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_558" align="alignright" width="265"] 4/10/2013[/caption]

Local Woman Interviewed about Intense Hail Storm - Kapooyah!

This has been floating around the interwebs for awhile, and it still cracks me up every single time I watch it! A local woman is interviewed about a significant hail event that hit her neighborhood. Watch to see her hilarious explanation of the events that occurred!

To O&P or not to O&P...

That is the question...

O&P stands for overhead and profit and is usually included into an insurance claim when a job warrants extra work/coordination of sub crews from a general contractor.  It is extra money allowance of 10% overhead and 10% profit added to the overall claim settlement amount (20% total).  The definition of overhead and profit inclusion is "Complexity of repairs or coordination of multiple trades".  There is a lot of controversy surrounding what warrants O&P into an insurance claim.  Arguments can easily be made on both sides of the fence.  But it all comes down to how well the insurance adjuster can justify O&P inclusion into his or her file notes.

Once upon a time, insurance companies used to automatically include O&P into a job when 3 or more different trades were present in the claim.  For example, if the roof was being replaced along with: an elevation of siding and interior drywall/paint repairs, then this job would quality for O&P for multiple trades (because there would be a total of 4 different trades in this example).  This type of job is also complex (as some of the trades are contingent upon each other), which is also another reason why O&P would be warranted.  However, it only takes a few bad eggs to spoil the batch for everyone... What insurance companies were finding is that some general contractors would purposely hire additional sub crews to perform miniscule/unnecessary tasks (such as hiring an HVAC tech solely to unhook the furnace cap during a roof replacement) or hiring a window installer to replace an exterior window screen, just so they could bill the insurance company for O&P.  It is for this reason, that most insurance companies will look for "complexity of repairs" as another area to consider O&P.

So how could an adjuster justify coordination of multiple trades properly in his or her file notes?  You could take the approach of:

"Overhead and profit is warranted on this job due to coordination of multiple trades and complexity of repairs.  This job has complexity due to the need to coordinate between the roofing, siding, drywall and painting subcontractors and the homeowner.  The painter cannot begin his work until the drywall subcontractor has finished his work and the mud is dry.  The drywall subcontractor cannot begin his work until the roofing subcontractor is finished with his work and the roof stops leaking.  All of this has to be coordinated with the homeowner’s schedule, as interior access will be necessary to complete the repairs; thus adding complexity to the job."

Feel free to paraphrase, but if you want to sound like a smarty pants and get management off of your back about your settlement decisions, then this example would be a good place to start in how you should structure your logic within a file note.  Of course your photographs should also support justification of overhead and profit as well.

What should I do if I am not sure if a claim warrants overhead and profit?

You should review any settlement/coverage questions with your manager.  But if your manager is not available and you are out in the field ready to make an on-site settlement then INCLUDE IT!  If you are on the fence and there is any question in your mind at all about including O&P into a claim; then just include it!

You are more likely to get in trouble for not paying O&P when it should have been warranted, than vice-versa.  There is an old saying that one of my old managers loved to throw around at the office "The tie goes to the runner!"  It is just good customer service to include O&P as much as you can justify it.  This will make the contractor happy, and in turn will make the homeowner happy; because that is just one less step that the homeowner will have to deal with.  Homeowners HATE having to ask the insurance company for supplemental payments!  The same cannot be said for the contractor ;)

Also think of it this way.  If overhead and profit is included in the claim that you are adjusting, then you have a greater chance for the claim to reach eligibility for percentage file billing.  Which is more money in your pocket!  Everyone loves more money! It's a win-win situation!  Just be sure you are not going crazy with it and that you can reasonably justify your thought process within your file notes.  Un-ethical billing on your files can lead to a quick release from the storm and a probable DNR or (do not rehire) black-listed to your employment.