Insurance companys suck to work with!

1803 Views 8 Replies 6 Participants Last post by doubleaction, Jul 16, 2009

JumboJack

Discussion Starter · Jul 15, 2009

30 min. phone call for him to tell me to email him a proposal...:furious:
Also...He tells me "I only have a allowance of 420.00 for the drywall repair."
I told him I am not going to juggle my prices around to meet his lowball prices.
His painting numbers where hilarious also....But he allowed 220.00 to R/R a toilet
270.00 to R/R a pedestal sink.:blink:...

He already has the numbers that he is going to pay the customer...
What I am thinking he was doing is trying to get me to go lower so he will have to pay out less.

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SLSTech

· #2 · Jul 15, 2009

Gotta love em - those are the numbers their program came up with
A few quick issues to think about when you are talking to them;
you can't buy 25 SF of drywall, its in increments of 32 SF (dittos with carpet, vinyl, etc...);
they break everything down by line item & while your painting price includes prep, protection, prime & 2 coats, they require at least 3 line items to cover all that & they generally leave the prep & protect off;
they don't like adding in OH & P - then they only go with 20%;
your price is your price, if you are the chosen contractor - they need to pay your rate

BuildPinnacle & others can give you a lot more advice as they deal with them all the time, I only handle a few ins. jobs a year - generally they are trying to figure out the price difference to justify the acceptance, in others they believe it is their dime

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maverick17

· #3 · Jul 15, 2009

I do a lot of insurance work, mostly as a sub for a general, but I still rarely get paid until the GC gets his.

I see many different estimates and all I really learned is that standard cost pricing is about the least standard thing ever created.

One guy will clean a door for $22 dollars and the next will clean the door for $22 the door knob for $9 the nameplate for $5 the lockset for $3 and charge a r&r for his trouble of $19.

The name of the game with insurance companies is knowing that you are not going to be paid right away most of the time. If you can swing it, I have found it much more lucrative and the same number of, albeit different, headaches.

Another thing is most insurance adjusters are boarderline retarded. If you tell them the house needs a new "Johnson Rod" and that it costs $1,100 most are thrilled ****less they got you down to $850.

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JumboJack

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jul 15, 2009

SLSTech said:
Gotta love em - those are the numbers their program came up with
A few quick issues to think about when you are talking to them;
you can't buy 25 SF of drywall, its in increments of 32 SF (dittos with carpet, vinyl, etc...);
they break everything down by line item & while your painting price includes prep, protection, prime & 2 coats, they require at least 3 line items to cover all that & they generally leave the prep & protect off;
they don't like adding in OH & P - then they only go with 20%;
your price is your price, if you are the chosen contractor - they need to pay your rate

BuildPinnacle & others can give you a lot more advice as they deal with them all the time, I only handle a few ins. jobs a year - generally they are trying to figure out the price difference to justify the acceptance, in others they believe it is their dime

That is what this guy had allowed.When he was grinding me about the drywall repair he told me 420.00 but did not mention he had 20% allowed for O/P...

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Ed the Roofer

· #5 · Jul 15, 2009

Get a signed contract with YOUR client.

The insurance "Estimate" is just that, an Estimate based on the lowest price data that they were able to negotiate similar jobs for in the past quarter/month, or whenever their last update was made.

Once you have a "Signed Contract" with your client, as long as it is for Liek Kind and Quality, then the Insurance Company is Legally via being Contractually responsible for reimbursing their Contracted Insured for the exact amount of the "Replacement Cost" required to make their Contractually Insurred Client Whole again, minus their duly required deductible.

Work on getting the agreement signed in advance of the Insurance Adjuster torpedoing your relationship with Your Client. You can even put the customer at ease, by having a contingent upon approval agreement written up, just between him and you, that validates the contract once it is approved, but don't let the Insurance Agent, who is trying to mitigate the amount of damages paid for by his employer dictate the work and price of that work that is required to be done.

Ed

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rwa

· #6 · Jul 15, 2009

I've never had a problem w/ an adjuster when using Xactimate ... the key is to get every allowable line item in the estimate ... generally I say we both "the adjuster and myself use the same program, the same price sheet .... so, if we agree on the scope, we should have no disagreement on the price." That being said there are some items, where the price seems low but overall, if I build my estimate correctly, add 10/10, I do quite well.

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doubleaction

· #7 · Jul 15, 2009

rwa said:
I've never had a problem w/ an adjuster when using Xactimate .

Yup and if the adjuster dosnt argue with you about the price you are too low. I do work for a Pest and wildlife company and they get the insurance to pay to Remove and Replace the insulation from **** damage and bat guano. They get 95% of the jobs covered by insurance. These are $12k jobs that take 2 days for a 1500sq ft house. Good money to be had for insurance work.

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rwa

· #8 · Jul 16, 2009 (Edited)

doubleaction said:
Yup and if the adjuster dosnt argue with you about the price you are too low. I do work for a Pest and wildlife company and they get the insurance to pay to Remove and Replace the insulation from **** damage and bat guano. They get 95% of the jobs covered by insurance. These are $12k jobs that take 2 days for a 1500sq ft house. Good money to be had for insurance work.

or you've taken all his arguments away .... so strange that you mentioned insulation ... I thought about giving the example of insulation as one of the prices in xactimate that I thought was low.

Sometimes I forget the majority of the posters here, when referring to adjusters, they are referring to adjusters for Farmers, Allstate, State Farm and other homeowner's policies ... I don't do residential construction so my opinion of "adjuster" is far different ... I do recall the days when I had to deal with home owners insurance and in that market I too became very frustrated with the lack of knowledge of the adjusters I dealt with.

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doubleaction

· #9 · Jul 16, 2009

Yeah they have a guy that deals with insurance companies 24/7 and i have heard some of his conversations with the adjusters. Some where not very pleasant.:furious:

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