Getting paid the ethical way, fast and in-full. Where do some contractors fall down and make mistakes?
Why insurance companies don’t like to pay for profit. A little history of what happened in the industry. We (contractors) laid an unethical foundation.
Should OMP be negotiable? Why are you entitled to your OMP? How to stand up for your rights and what you charge. Who is your actual client?
Bulk pricing/invoicing. What is it? Does it work? Should I use it?
Advocating for flat rate pricing. How to make them take you seriously. Documentation gets paid. You need a system, like The 24 Hour Tech.
Being a better sales person. Soft sell vs. hard sell. What’s happening with deductibles? The need to remind property owners. Skin in the game and cash flow issues. Getting property owners on your side. What are they in for? How big will their final invoice be?
The need for a clean contract. Have you read your fine print? Don’t give up your power. Don’t use boiler-plate contracts. You don’t need to feel guilty about charging your worth.
Don’t be a Hyundai. What does that mean? The insurance company wants that. Do you?
TPAs are Necessary? We’re all in business to make money. Here’s an alternate opinion.
Insurance Profit Game. We’re certainly not getting the money. The insured isn’t getting the money. Who’s getting the money?
Making the case that CONTRACTORS are the enemy. We know this is ridiculous, but the insurance company paints this picture.
How much money do you need? You should know how much you have spent on a job. You need to make at least that much. Everything else is profit. What if you don’t know? The insurance company knows…
Having bad intentions from the start. This leads to difficult discussions later on. Be honest from the start. Trust us.
Power Question FREE DOWNLOAD. Put the adjustor in his or her place. Tell your client EXACTLY what they will say. Arm them with the right answers.
TOO MUCH TO COVER! Seriously. There’s a ton of golden nuggets in this one.
Ben *** put up a great post this afternoon and it’s getting a lot of response including one from me. His question, “What does it really mean to you or us to be a Restoration Rebel?”
I appreciate Ben for doing that. “Thank you!”
There’s some energy and some discussions here. We really need to have this discussion. We need to repeat this discussion over and over because it’s important. What the Restoration Rebels represent is important but don’t be fooled! Just because you’re a member of this page does NOT mean that you’re a Restoration Rebel.
Membership in this page is FREE. We have a very low bar to membership. You need to be a restorer or an associate of some kind. You need to answer three simple questions. That’s it. That’s the only requirement to being on the page.
The requirement to being a Restoration Rebel is very different. Being a Restoration Rebel means putting a target on your back. It means standing up for things. It means fighting for things you believe in. Sometimes, this is in spite of the fact that it’s probably not in your best interest short term.
It’s for the greater good. I’ve been fired from three different companies because of my affiliation with and my voice in this group. I think that qualifies me as a Restoration Rebel. I’ve given up or been forced to give up my livelihood and start over again and go find another way to make a living because of the things i’ve said in regards to insurance claims in this industry as a whole. You know who else qualifies in my mind as a real Restoration Rebel? Ben.
I’m involved in two files with Ben right now. One as a public adjuster and one as an appraiser. The only reason that both of these claims went sideways is because Ben has a target on his back. The carriers (State Farm and Liberty Safeco) saw his company and his name on the file and it went straight off the rails. They put the brakes on everything and these claims are WAY harder now. It is all because they saw his involvement.
I’m not saying they’re harder because of him. In reality, I’ve gone through his paperwork. I’ve seen his stuff. I’ve seen his estimates. He is MORE than fair on the mitigation side. I would challenge anyone in this group to match his level of documentation.
So why does BEN have a have a target on his back?
I’ll tell you why. It’s because he does the right thing every time. He doesn’t take ****. He doesn’t bend on behalf of the carriers. He takes care of his clients. Some times this is to his own detriment. He doesn’t give in to this idea that we have to negotiate every little thing on every single claim.
Guess what? The founders of this group understand on a deep level that it wasn’t broke to start out with. We didn’t break this thing (the insurance industry). I am tired of us just standing by as things get more and more broken.
There are folks in leadership positions today (in the restoration industry) who were there at the beginning. I was just coming up. They were there every step of the way. They lead organizations and associations at every level of this industry. They didn’t do anything then. They’re still not doing anything. We’ve watched the erosion of influence and power of the
contractor in the restoration world. There’s people that have been
sitting by and letting that happen.
This group is standing up and saying “not on my watch” and “all right, that’s enough.” We are going to take our businesses, our industry, and our clients back. We’re going to treat them well. We’re going to treat our clients like customers.
We’re going to tell their insurers what to pay. We’re going to do it because it’s the right thing to do. We’re not “trying to retire” on every single job. We’re just trying to make a living. We’re trying to make people whole. That’s why we’re here in the first place. You don’t exist in the Restoration Industry unless some part of you enjoys making people whole. Some part of you enjoys being of service.
So that’s what it means to me to be a Restoration Rebel. That’s what I’m going to hold you to. If you’re watching this or you’re on the rebel page as a member. You have to make the hard decisions. Do you make decisions that are probably short-term to your detriment but long-term better for the entire industry? Are you even capable of making that type of decision?
What is up, rebels? Mr. McCabe here. Hey, I want to get together next year. And I’m thinking, Boulder, Colorado because that seems to be our theme for the last two years or three years, whatever it is.
I want to tell you a story though.
I had a phone call today and an appraisal meeting today. Me, the umpire, and the opposing.
This file was sent to appraisal by Safeco in June. Safeco did not like one of our members. He’s a member of OUR group in Camas, Washington. Safeco didn’t like their mitigation bill $15,000.
The gist of it was seven days of stabilization while they’re waiting for asbestos results, and four days of drying. $15,000 worth of demo that was done. Not an unreasonable amount.
So it goes to appraisal. I get called in. I charge the homeowner 2500 bucks or so. Six months later, I’m still dealing with these Yahoos. And today, guess what we decided? We decided that the original $15,000 was reasonable.
Shocker (Yes, that is sarcasm).
The mitigation estimate I came up with (based on the information given to me) was $33,000. But here’s the kicker… neither the umpire NOR the opposing appraiser wanted anything to do with my number. And this is why this industry drives me to drink.
I get SO angry because of the injustice level and the unfairness. Here’s an insured. They don’t know anything except for they’re pretty sure they don’t want to go with the vendor that Safeco recommended. So they go find their own vendor. They find a quality vendor. He knows what he’s doing. A guy that documents the hell out of his shit. A guy that’s in THIS group.
He does a bang up job. Not ONLY does he do the mitigation and not get paid for it. He does the repairs. And they’re beautiful. He hasn’t been paid yet. But here we are SIX MONTHS later in the appraisal process. And all Safeco is going to have to pay is the ORIGINAL invoice of 15 grand. The homeowner is OUT. The restoration guy is OUT. He’s had to wait on this money. You know this is dead money to him at this point. Not only did we decide that $15,000 was the right number. The panel (not me) decided that there was “no additional accommodations to be made for my fees.”
This is what’s wrong with the industry today. The fox is guarding the henhouse. The insurance companies are buying lawyers and buying judges and buying legislators and lobbying and submitting legislation for their own purposes. Who’s doing it for US? Nobody. Yeah, talk to me about the IGA layer. Alright, DM me. Here’s the bottom line. The only way this is going to change is if we come together and we act as one.
Time: 3:59
The MINUTE someone goes across the line and says, “Oh, I had a friend who was an adjuster who asked me to give him a number” we’re all in trouble. Don’t give that number. Don’t be the pet contractor. Don’t give these comp bids. Your contractor, not a consultant. You’re not a building consultant. You’re not an adjuster.
I know you got friends in the industry. They aren’t all bad people. I get that. I understand that. But the bottom line is this: a carrier is NOT here to make people whole. The carrier is here to make money.
Stop giving comp bids. Don’t do it ever again. And here’s the reason I want you to give to the adjusters. So here’s what I want you to tell the next adjuster that calls you. He’ll say, “I got this crazy contractor that’s giving me wild numbers. I need you to come give me a comp bit.” I want you to tell them that you’re NOT an adjuster, and you’re NOT a claims consultant. You’re a contractor.
If the insurance company wants to hire you to do that work, you’re more than happy to come give them a number. Otherwise, shut the fuck up and get out of my face. Contractors that give comp bids are eroding the credibility and power of EVERYONE else in this industry.
So stop doing it. I understand WHY you did it. I want you to STOP RIGHT NOW.
All right. Can we agree on that?
I get so emotionally involved in every claim that I’m in. Because I understand at a deep level that the vast majority of my clients cannot afford to have this loss. The vast majority of my clients would not rebuild. If they didn’t have insurance, they would move away (and that happens from time to time).
We can do better. But we can ONLY do it TOGETHER. We can ONLY do it RIGHT HERE. So let’s start RIGHT HERE in the Restoration Rebels Facebook Page. Let’s start here.
Hey, I came up with a new logo. Alright, new logo for the Rebels. Love it, hate it. I don’t know, whatever. But if you like the rebels and what we stand for, change your Facebook profile, your LinkedIn profile to the logo. Let’s make a statement. Even if it’s for the next three weeks, through December, change back to normal in January. I don’t care. We need to send a signal that we are not blind to what’s happening in this industry EVERY SINGLE DAY. And we’re NOT okay with it. Can you do that? I hope we can.
Hope you’re doing well. Have a great day and go get them.
