HyreRestore
Working With an Insurance Adjuster
An adjuster assesses what the policy covers and writes an itemised scope. Your contractor writes one too. Where the two differ, the difference is negotiated with evidence rather than simply absorbed by whichever side gives way first. Almost everything useful you can do in a claim is about the quality of that evidence.
HyreRestore Research Desk
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General information, not advice. This page describes how property claims are commonly handled. It is not insurance or legal advice, it predicts no outcome for your claim, and what your policy covers is a matter for your declarations page and your insurer. HyreRestore is an independent information publisher and a platform intended to connect homeowners with local restoration companies. It is not an insurer, not a public adjuster and not a law firm, and it does not act on claims.
Two documents, one building
The centre of a property claim is not a number. It is a pair of itemised estimates — line by line, room by room, with quantities, unit prices and a total — written by two people looking at the same damaged building.
- The adjuster’s scope. The insurer’s position on what the loss damaged and what the policy covers.
- The contractor’s scope. The restoration company’s position on what it will take to put the building back.
They will not match. That is normal, and it is not in itself evidence that anyone is behaving badly. The two estimates are built from different information — the adjuster commonly saw the building before anything was opened up, and the contractor will see what is behind the drywall. Where they differ, the difference is worked through with documentation. That is the actual mechanism, and it is the reason the rest of this page is mostly about photographs, logs and inventories rather than about negotiation technique.
Ask for the adjuster’s full itemised estimate, not a summary figure. You cannot reconcile two documents when you have only been shown the total of one of them. It is a normal request.
Preparing for the inspection
The inspection is the highest-leverage hour of the whole claim. What the adjuster sees and records that day shapes everything downstream, and things that were not looked at are much harder to add later.
Before the day
- Photograph and video everything, before anything moves. Wide shots of each room first, so the location is unambiguous, then close-ups, then the source of the loss. Include undamaged rooms — they establish what the finishes were. If material has already been removed, you want images from before that too, which is why this belongs in the first 24 hours.
- Arrange for your contractor to be there. A joint inspection is the single most effective scope-gap prevention there is. The two estimators discuss the disagreement standing in front of the damage instead of exchanging documents a month later.
- Do not throw anything away. Not damaged contents, not removed building material, not the failed component. If something had to be removed for health or safety reasons — contaminated water is the usual case — photograph it thoroughly first and record what was removed and why.
- Have the paperwork to hand. Claim number, policy number, the emergency invoices so far, the moisture log if drying has started, receipts for anything already spent, and your contents inventory in progress.
- Write the list of what you want looked at. Rooms, ceilings below the loss, cabinetry, the cavity, the subfloor, contents. Hand it over at the start. It is much easier to ask for something to be inspected than to argue later that it should have been.
On the day
- Walk the whole property, not only the obvious rooms. Water travels. Smoke travels further.
- Point at things rather than describing them. "This ceiling was dry before" is weaker than standing under it.
- Say what you do not know. Guessing at a cause or a date and being wrong later costs you credibility you will want.
- Take your own notes. Who attended, what was looked at, what was not, what was said about it, and the time. Date the note.
- Ask two questions at the end. When will the estimate be issued, and what else do you need from me? Both answers are useful and both create a record.
The documentation that actually moves a scope
There is a large difference between documentation that feels thorough and documentation that changes a line item. The second kind is specific, dated, and about a physical thing.
| Evidence | What it settles | What makes it usable |
|---|---|---|
| Photographs and video | What was there, what condition it was in, and how far the damage extended. | Taken before anything moved, then at each stage. Wide then close. Timestamped. Captioned with the room. |
| The moisture log | Which materials were wet, how wet, for how many days — which supports both the removal decisions and the equipment days on the invoice. | Daily readings of named materials at named locations, plus temperature and relative humidity, against a stated drying goal and the dry standard it came from. Ask for it rather than being told about it. |
| Itemised contents inventory | The contents part of the claim, which is commonly the part most under-documented and therefore most under-settled. | Item, description, age, condition, and a photograph. Built room by room. The contents inventory tool gives it structure. |
| Thermal and meter readings at the boundary | Where the loss actually ends, as opposed to where the visible stain ends. | Readings on a sketch, showing affected and unaffected material, taken by someone who can explain the instrument. |
| Discovery photographs | Supplements. What was behind the wall at the moment it was opened. | Taken at the moment of discovery, before anything is cut further, with the room and date recorded. |
| Receipts and invoices | Additional living expenses, emergency work, replacement essentials. | Kept from the first night, including small ones. Filed, not in a drawer. |
| Written correspondence | What was agreed, what was requested, and when. | Email rather than phone for anything that matters. After a phone call, email a short summary of what was said. |
A useful test before sending anything: does this identify a specific line item and attach a specific piece of evidence to it? If it does, it can be acted on. If it says the estimate is too low, it cannot.
Line items worth checking are present
A large share of scope gaps are omissions rather than disagreements — legitimate work that simply is not on the estimate because nobody had seen the need for it yet. These are the categories most commonly missing in a restoration scope. They may or may not apply to your loss; the point is to check rather than to assume.
- Detach and reset — fixtures, fittings and cabinetry that must come off and go back rather than being replaced.
- Containment and negative air where the category of water or the presence of mould requires it. See mould remediation.
- Disposal, which is priced differently for contaminated material than for clean construction debris.
- Access and tear-out to reach a failed component, which is commonly a covered item even where the component is not.
- Contents — moving, cleaning, packing out, storage. A separate scope from the structure. See contents restoration.
- Permits and inspections, where the rebuild requires them.
- Matching and continuity of flooring, trim or finishes across a boundary, including whether a discontinued material can be obtained at all. How this is handled varies by policy and by state.
- Final cleaning and post-remediation verification where it applies.
- Equipment days against the moisture log, on the mitigation invoice.
The is this estimate fair tool walks the structure of a restoration bill, and what drives restoration cost explains why each of these lines exists, which is what lets you check the one in front of you.
Supplements are normal
The original scope is written before anything has been opened up. Then a wall comes off and there is rot in the framing, or the subfloor fails once the flooring is lifted, or wiring cannot be reused. A supplement is the documented addition to the agreed scope that covers it.
On restoration work this is routine. It is not evidence that the contractor lowballed, and it is not evidence that the adjuster missed something culpably. It is the consequence of estimating a building you cannot see inside of. What matters is how a supplement is handled:
- Photographed at the moment of discovery, before anything else is cut.
- Priced the same way as the original scope, not on a different basis.
- Submitted in writing with the evidence attached.
- Approved before that work proceeds, so nobody is arguing about a bill for work already done.
A contractor who is discovering large supplements weekly, without photographs, and continuing work regardless of approval, is a different problem — that is covered in avoiding restoration scams.
When you disagree
Disagreement about scope is ordinary and there is a sequence for it. Work it in order. Each step is cheaper, faster and more likely to resolve the matter than the one after it, and skipping to the end rarely helps.
- Get the full itemised estimate. Not a summary. You cannot dispute what you have not been shown.
- Identify the specific lines. Put the adjuster’s estimate next to your contractor’s and mark the differences: missing items, quantity differences, unit price differences, replace-versus-clean disagreements. Most gaps turn out to be two or three categories, not a hundred small ones.
- Put it in writing, item by item, with evidence attached. Photographs, readings, the contractor’s corresponding line, and a clear statement of what you are asking for. Keep it factual. Tone is not the variable that decides this.
- Request a reinspection with your contractor present. For anything that turns on what is physically there, this resolves more than correspondence does.
- Use the insurer’s internal review or complaint process. Insurers have one. Ask for it by name, in writing, and ask for the reference number.
- Check your policy for an appraisal clause. Many property policies contain a provision for resolving disputes about the amount of loss — as distinct from whether something is covered — through appraisers and an umpire. Whether it applies to your dispute and what invoking it involves is a question for your policy wording and your insurer.
- Contact your state department of insurance. Every state has one; it regulates insurers licensed in that state and accepts consumer complaints. The NAIC directory below links to all of them. Many states also publish claim-handling deadlines, which give you specific, checkable points to raise.
- Consider a public adjuster, or take legal advice. See below. This site cannot advise you on either, and does not act on claims.
Public adjusters
A public adjuster is a licensed professional you hire and pay, who represents you rather than the insurer and who prepares, documents and negotiates the claim on your behalf. They are the only one of the three adjuster types working for the policyholder.
| Question | What is generally the case |
|---|---|
| Who pays them? | You do. |
| How much? | Commonly a percentage of the claim settlement. Both licensing and fee limits vary by state, and some states cap fees, particularly following a declared disaster. |
| Are they licensed? | Public adjusters are licensed by states. Verify the licence with your state department of insurance before signing anything. |
| When do people engage one? | Most commonly on large or complex losses, where a claim has stalled, or where the homeowner cannot do the documentation work themselves. |
| What should you read first? | The contract: the fee basis, what it applies to, whether it covers amounts already offered before they were engaged, and the cancellation terms. |
| Do they guarantee a better outcome? | No one can, and a promise of a specific result is a reason to be careful rather than reassured. |
HyreRestore is not a public adjuster, does not employ them, does not refer to them and performs no part of that role.
Things not to do
- Do not discard damaged property until the adjuster has seen it or released you in writing. This remains the most common self-inflicted reduction in a settlement.
- Do not guess at facts. Dates, causes and durations that turn out to be wrong cost you more than saying you do not know.
- Do not let the rebuild start on a wet structure. Closing a wall over material that has not reached the drying goal is how a water loss becomes a mould problem later. Ask for the final readings. See structural drying.
- Do not rely on verbal approvals. If something was agreed on a call, email a summary the same day.
- Do not sign anything transferring claim rights to get past a disagreement. See assignment of benefits.
- Do not inflate anything. Beyond being wrong, it hands the insurer a reason to examine everything else you have submitted.
Related reading
- How a restoration claim works — the whole sequence and who each person is.
- What is commonly covered, peril by peril.
- Assignment of benefits.
- How restoration works — what the physical job is doing while the claim runs.
- Reconstruction — the phase where scopes are compared most closely.
- Water damage restoration and sewage cleanup.
- Claim timeline, contents inventory and is this estimate fair.
- Choosing a restoration company and how we vet.
- Find a restoration company — Get Help With Your Restoration Project.
Sources
- Settling insurance claims after a disaster — Insurance Information Institute. Checked September 18, 2026.
- How to file a homeowners claim — Insurance Information Institute. Checked September 18, 2026.
- Creating a home inventory — Insurance Information Institute. Checked September 18, 2026.
- State insurance department contacts and consumer complaint routes — National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Checked September 18, 2026.
- File your flood insurance claim — FEMA — FloodSmart. Checked September 18, 2026.
- IICRC standards, including S500 for professional water damage restoration — Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification. Checked September 18, 2026.
Claim-handling rules, adjuster licensing and complaint routes vary by state. Your state department of insurance, listed via the NAIC directory above, is the authority for where you live.