Public Adjusters

When a major loss occurs, property owner may call on their own claims adjuster to represent them with their insurance company. These public adjusters can handle the entire claims process, including damaged property, buildings, insured income, compliance with insurance contract clauses, and more.

To carry out their work, public adjusters, like insurers, enlist various specialists to detail the claim and determine the amounts to be claimed. When it comes to damaged building, the public adjuster must also enlist a damaged building specialized estimator.

For more than 20 years, public adjusters have been the main clients of the Firme d’Experts en Bâtiments Sinistrés Inc. This collaboration has always been extremely beneficial in helping policyholders obtain the compensation they are entitled to under their insurance contract in the event of a loss. We are proud to contribute to this process by providing high-quality building appraisal services and working closely with public adjusters to achieve satisfactory results for the property owner.

Inspection and determination of the work to be carried out

It is common for us to disagree with the insurer’s representatives regarding the extent of the damage or that we discover damage or materials that have not been observed by the insurer’s representatives. An inspection as quickly as possible after the loss could allow us to carry out a more precise counter-expertise at this level. Rest assured that our inspection procedures are among the most thorough and efficient in the industry.

However, it is common for property owners to realize only later in the process that it would be wise to use the services of a public adjuster who will ensure that their interests are protected in the event of an insurance claim. Other times, it’s only when the situation starts to escalate with the insurer’s representatives.

If this is the case, unfortunately a long time has often passed since the loss occurred. Nevertheless, we are usually still able to form an opinion on the extent of the damage based on the documents, photos and information in the file, while asking the right questions to the right people, where possible.

Work description and cost estimation

After assessing the scope of work required to remedy the situation, it is essential to create a detailed list of the work and the corresponding costs. With our extensive experience in the field of post-loss work, where insurers, seeking to control their costs, have set detailed standards for work description and estimates, we are able to produce extremely accurate, detailed and clear estimates. The level of detail in our appraisal reports is rare in the regular construction industry, but it makes it easy for all parties involved to understand.

In addition, we can study the scop of work, estimates and quotes of the various parties in order to carry out a counter-expertise of these documents. We then produce a report with our comments and, if there are discrepancies, we indicate the value of the corresponding work.

Negotiation and agreement on the nature and costs of the work

Following our report in which we comment on the scope of the work as well as the cost estimate, a process of discussion is usually initiated between the parties to reach an agreement that reflects the truth and reality regarding the work required to remedy the situation at the origin of the legal dispute. At this stage, it is crucial to have great expertise, to master the processes and language specific to the field, but above all, to know how to present requests and arguments in a way that facilitates their examination by the representatives of other parties, so that they are more inclined to recognize the legitimacy of these requests or arguments and thus quickly reach a common agreement, or at least significantly reduce the number of contentious points.

Our damages Building experts are undeniably best qualified to support public adjusters and property owners in this process. Our expertise in the field of damage assessment of a loss allows us to provide strong and convincing arguments, supporting the interests of owners and helping them to obtain fair compensation.