Why Pay For Insurance Claim Advice?
I went on a little rant tonight. After re-reading what I wrote in an email to a prospective client, I decided this might have some value to ya'll. So here goes. We've had a major ice storm roll through and there are tens of thousands of homes with water damage. I've...
read moreRestoration Capacity and CAT Events
Insurance Repairs (Restoration) is a capacity business. What I mean is that, in order to thrive one must be able to increase capacity quickly when demand increases dramatically. Major weather events like hurricanes, tornadoes and SEVEN FEET OF SNOW tend to quickly...
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Uninvited
Uninvited I was recently asked to speak at a regional claims conference. Two days later, I was uninvited. The reason? I’m have an adjuster’s license. At first I wasn’t really bothered by it. I’m a busy guy. I wasn’t overly excited about paying for a plane ticket,...
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Ultimate Xactimate Opening Statement
The Xactimate Opening Statement is one of the most overlooked and under-utilized tools in the Restoration estimator's tool box. The opening statement is your first best opportunity to introduce your client to the claims process. Properly written, an opening statement...
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8 Basic Insurance Policy and Claims Guidelines For Happy Customers
The insurance claims world is a dangerous place for amateurs. “Beginning in the 1990s…insurance companies reconsidered [their] understanding of the claims process. The insight was simple. An insurance company’s greatest expense is what it pays out in claims. If it...
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Adjusters Are NOT Responsible
Adjusters are not responsible for the final work product.They never have been.Here is an excerpt from a recent Clarity.fm call I had with a client. The adjuster with Mercury insurance underbid his repairs by at least $10,000. Mercury insurance also made him move...
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Organizational Culture Determines Organizational Success
“We are creating an industry which is creating jobs that are less and less appealing to the potential employees in the job market.” ~Thomas Underbrink Last month I had the pleasure of attending the Oregon Casualty Adjusters Association annual symposium. It had...
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Why You Should ALWAYS Bill Your Client FIRST
Bill Your Client It sounds simple, elementary even. What business expects to get paid without billing their client?Restoration guys, that’s who.I had a conversation with a client of mine yesterday regarding a couple outstanding mitigation invoices. He asked if I...
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NEVER Ask Your Adjuster For Permission on Your Claim
Adjusters aren't in a position to determine scope.Too many times, I've seen insureds give away their negotiating leverage by asking their insurance adjuster for permission.Adjusters aren't in a position to determine scope. They aren't in a position to determine...
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How To Get Xactimate Estimates Written by Claims Delegates
"How does it work?"I recently received an email from a new client asking how Claims Delegates "worked". She asked several really great questions, and I thought I'd answer them for ya'll.In reality I'm being lazy, because these are actually very common questions that...
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What is Depreciation and Why Should I Care?
I thought I'd record a short video to share my take on depreciation.I had several hours of driving to do and decided to at least get some thoughts out there.Depreciation, in short, is the difference between ACV and RCV of your property - whether that be your house,...
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The Claim Clinic gets some Social Media Advice
Get started TODAY! Receive your Xactimate estimate TOMORROW! You can see this whole post over at http://www.theclaim.clinic/ Or listen to the episode on...
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State Farm Rejected Mold Claim
Claim Doctor Q&A: State Far Denies Mold ClaimOften I get questions about denied claims. Too often it is too late for me to provide any meaningful assistance. The moral of this Q&A is: Don't delay in getting professional help. The longer you wait, the worse...
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Scoping for Xactimate
Every loss scope has three main components: plenty of photos, a legible sketch and a detailed room-by-room scope. Today we’re going to talk about room scoping.First, some history.I’ve been “writing” insurance scopes for nearly 20 years. For the first few years,...
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Ten Thousand Percent Return
When was the last time you received a 10,000% return on an investment? Sounds unreal doesn’t it? Did you know that is exactly what you get when you let Claims Delegates write your Xactimate estimates? Go ahead and do the math: a ONE PERCENT fee means that for every...
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Who Controls Your Xactimate Estimates?
Does the IRS do your taxes?No? Of course not.Then why do we feel compelled to let the insurance company settle our claims?I've talked about this a lot before, so I'll try not to repeat myself here. I just wanted to put something out that was on my mind.Xactimate is a...
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How NOT to Take Pictures for Xactimate Scopes
Excuse Me, Your Meter is Showing Alright ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for some brutal honesty. You take crappy pictures. There, I said it. And I won’t apologize. The pictures you are taking are driving us nuts. We’re your estimators and your adjusters. We know...
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Xactimate is NOT a Sales Tool
Insurance claims do not require multiple bids. If you find yourself in a situation with multiple bid/estimates, run away. No one wins when you sell based on price. A "client" who is getting more than one Xactimate estimate from more than one restoration contractor,...
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Mitigation Moneyball: Water Techs and the $1,000 Hour
We all know that water damage mitigation (emergency services) provide the highest levels of profit margins of all our activities as restoration contractors. That's why the most successful franchises started as (and most stayed) water damage service providers. As the...
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The Insurance Claim Process for Homeowners
What Does an Insurance Claim Feel Like?This post is an excerpt from an email I received from a client. The city they live in experienced a sewer system failure and flooded their finished basement with sewer and storm water.State Farm denied coverageTheir own...
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