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Fire restoration estimator

10247 Views 14 Replies 9 Participants Last post by  Jbindahouse
Going to rebuild a home for a client that burnt to the ground. 3200 sq ft of home. Insurance company's guy says he can do it for 240k, (haha).

At a reasonable $119 a sq ft my number is a tad higher.

Insurance company wants a line by line estimate from me. I am sure their guy doesn't have to do this. Problem is plans do not exist for this project as the insurance company won't release any funds yet.

This project is in Southern Indiana.

Any suggestions of what to do in terms of getting a solid estimate without plans for these jokers?
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Insurance contractors write more detailed estimates than any other contractor out there. This does not include architects and engineers lol. 99% of the time, there is something left to piece a drawing/sketch together to get measurements and prepare a close comparison estimate. The insurance company needs to price something similar (like, kind and quality) with what was there. Are there pictures of the house anywhere to go from? Grandma's house, sister's house etc? The clients own statements are sometimes the only thing you have to go from as far as fixture quality and detail.

This type of digging, dancing, wiggling, working, estimating etc goes on everyday for an insurance contractor. Get a grip, the hardest part is everything prior to the new structure going back. Better make sure to have your P's and Q's inline contract wise and agreements with the adjuster. Get permission in writing fromt he client to have your name put on the insurance check. If the client hire's a Public Adjuster for their behalf, don't do any work and run! It's just as bad as them hiring a lawyer.
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Even going to google.com and click on maps. Type in the addy and alot of the time they have street views of the house in question. We will use it to see what we are dealing with when going to look at a roof job.

Not all have them, and some are not very good if they are off the road a ways.
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