Your home has just gotten damaged from a fire, water or other hazard. How will you address it? Where do you seek help navigating cleanup and properly filing a claim on your homeowner’s policy to get it paid for? Who can you trust?
When you experience a disaster in your home, you need someone you can turn to quickly who you can rely on to be there right away to help you take care of it.
You have a variety of professionals to potentially work with: insurance company, independent adjuster, public adjuster, attorney or restoration contractor. They all don’t provide you the same services, however. So, which professional do you need?
Differences Between Disaster and Restoration Professionals
It’s imperative to understand the differences between all these professionals, so you know who you need to call and when. Here’s more on those differences.
Insurance Adjuster
Simply put, insurance adjusters–also known as claims adjusters, claims representatives, claim specialists and independent claims analysts–evaluate insurance claims. An insurance company may have its own in-house claims adjusters they use, while others will hire out to an independent adjuster. Independent adjusters tend to have less authority to settle cases and need approval to do so.
You are not obligated to use the adjuster your insurance company arranges. You can choose your own claims adjuster to hire or use a public adjuster through your state or city government (see below.)
The downside of using an insurance adjuster is they don’t work for you; they work for the insurance company. They’re not interested in your best interest; they’re interested in making their employers happy by contributing to their bottom line.
Public Adjuster
A public adjuster is a type of insurance adjuster provided through certain state or large city governments. Unlike insurance adjusters, public adjusters work for the client–or claimant–rather than the insurance company.
So, like an attorney, public adjusters work for you and represent your interests; but, also like with an attorney, you must pay their fee regardless of the outcome. While this usually lower, a public adjuster may have to hire an attorney to help get the claim settled. Then, you’ll be paying an attorney’s fee on top of your public adjuster’s fee.
You can read adjuster reviews online to see which ones other homeowners found satisfied their needs.
Attorney
An attorney is an expert in the law and licensed to provide legal counsel to others and represent others in legal matters.
An attorney will definitely represent your interests and yours alone. However, you’ll have to pay the attorney regardless of the outcome; even if they don’t settle your claim as desired or get your damages fixed.
Restoration Contractor
Restoration Companies are typically the first responders after a home has experienced major damage from fires and floods, sewage backup, water damage and other significant events. A restoration company’s role is to clean up from the disaster in order to protect and preserve the house and its contents from further damage.
If it is state licensed to perform improvements, a restoration company can also repair your home, but you and they must have a separate contract drawn up specifically for those home repairs.
Restoration contractors have specialized skills and equipment for dealing with disasters that general contractors typically don’t have. They also differ significantly from other professionals you might contact after a disaster in your home, including many who perform duties restoration contractors can also perform or facilitate.
Unlike adjusters, restoration contractors work for you. Unlike attorneys and public adjusters, they don’t get paid until and unless they actually repair your home as promised, can directly submit their estimate to your insurance company and speak with your insurance adjuster about the scope of the repairs; they can even help you with the adjuster’s negotiation process with your liability insurance provider.
Restoration contractors must be physically, personally involved in conducting the restoration services in order to be paid. Likewise, if you have a separate contract with a restoration company to handle repairs, the restoration contractor must be personally, physically involved in making those repairs in order to be paid on that contract.
Restoration contractors, therefore, have a personal stake in putting your interests front and center. They have no incentive to give poor advice or underbid on a project only to charge more later; they want to warrantee the work they did for you and remain in business. That makes them much easier to put your faith in.
Advantages of Restoration Contractors
Working with a restoration contractor comes with several key benefits you won’t find with the other types of professionals described above.
24/7 Emergency Response
Restoration contractors generally respond immediately to emergency calls at any hour. They also commonly work with damage specialists, like for fire and water damage, and can offer free consultations and quick solutions to emergencies that arise.
Insurance Company Matters
Restoration contractors handle insurance claims and paperwork for you. They work closely with insurance companies to ensure your property is property restored and all related claims are appropriately filed.
Security Services
A disaster can leave your home exposed and vulnerable to further damage, such as from flooding, burglary or vandalism. Restoration contractors will show up to provide the necessary cleaning and board-up services to protect your home and surviving contents. This allows the contractor all the time needed to properly repair the property without concern for those problems.
Items Restoration and Cleaning
Restoration contractors will do their best to restore belongings damaged by smoke, water, fire and so on. This includes heirlooms, electronic devices, legal documents, certificates of accomplishment (like diplomas or certifications) and media.
Mold and Mildew Remediation
General contractors often won’t work in environments requiring mildew and mold remediation or sewage cleanup; restoration contractors, however, will. With experience specifically handling disaster cleanup and restoration, restoration contractors are skilled specialists in working in environments that present possible health concerns.
Questions to Ask a Restoration Professional
It’s always good to interview the professionals you’re thinking of hiring, especially when it comes to restoring your home from damage. Here are some questions to ask any legal, insurance or restoration professional to determine whether to trust them with your claim and your home.
- Will you be repairing my home and warrantying it yourself?
- Will you be working directly for me only or do you serve an employer or other entity?
- Is your sole interest in getting my home fixed correctly?
- Will you get paid for doing the repairs, and how?
Important Things to Remember About Restoration Contractors
Your insurance company may call a restoration company on your behalf, but you are under no obligation to use the company they choose. You can select whatever restoration company you prefer to perform the cleanup. Of course, time will be of the essence to protect your home and property from additional damage.
If you have a problem with a restoration company’s services, you’ll have to take it up with them, not with your insurance company. Note as well that your insurance company will not necessarily cover every cleaning and restoration service your chosen restoration company performs.
Tips for Hiring and Working With Restoration Contractors
When trying to figure out which restoration company to use, pick a well-reputed one. Find out if a company has received Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC.)
Read your contract with the restoration company thoroughly before you sign it, and hold on to a copy for your records to refer to if questions or problems occur. Contact the company immediately if you discover an issue with one of their restoration contractors’ work.
Find out ahead of time what restoration services your insurance company covers. This will better prepare you for what services to request in your contract with the company. Be aware of which services you want that you’ll have to pay for out of pocket.
Be aware ahead of time, as well, what procedures you must follow after a significant loss. Your restoration company may help filing your claim and contact the insurance company on your behalf, but it’s still helpful to know what they’ll be doing, so you can make sure everything that must be done is done to ensure claims are properly filed with the highest chances of approval.
Speak with your claims adjuster if you have any questions about your insurance coverage, and be sure to request the answers in writing. Depending on the answer you get, you can also review your adjuster online to help other homeowners decide whether or not to use a particular adjuster. You can rate your adjuster with the company itself in order to provide quality-of-service feedback.
If a disaster occurs in your home, it is essential to start repairs as promptly as possible. Response time is critical for preventing mold, mildew and other additional damage that can occur every second you leave it without remediation. That means your costs for restoration, salvage and reconstruction all continue going up.
That’s why you should consider identifying a restoration company now, before any incident has occurred to your home and property. That way, if one ever does occur, you don’t have to search for who to contact; you know who to contact right away. This allows you to get the problem addressed sooner and, therefore, better mitigate the damage.