Op here. Thanks for the replies all.

I finally received an estimate from the adjuster and it's so far off from my contractor's estimate that I don't see us coming to an agreement easily.

Can anyone recommend a public adjuster? Thank you.

After a basement flood, my insurance adjuster recommend people to do the work. The drywall guys turned out to be my adjuster's wife's brother! The plumber turned out to be my adjuster's father! My adjuster even did some of the plumbing work personally under the watchful eye of his father (the plumber).


How's that?

Anonymous wrote:We have USAA and had some vandalism at our home. Seems it was a back to school ritual locally to smash things. Anyway, needed front door and window replacement. The front door alone was over $10,000 and insurance never quibbled. Contractors were more than fabulous. No problems from USAA or the work performed. Absolutely love USAA as a company. Can't be beat if you ask me!!!

What kind of damage is 10k front door

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had a major tree incident several years back. We went with the insurance contractor (we have USAA). IT was definitely easier because they speak the sam language as the insurance company. We got an estimate from another contractor who didn't understand what the insurance company needed to know and didn't itemize in the way the insurance company does it.

The work was fine. It was not high budget but our house wasn't high budget. Everything looked and functioned well when it was finished.

We have USAA as well. Was the work done in a relatively timely fashion? Did USAA give you any problems during the entire ordeal?

Not this PP, but another USAA customer. We've twice dealt with USAA claims when we've had tree damage. Both times we used recommended contractors/specialists (Paul Davis Restoration and then that company subcontracted arborist). Relatively speaking, the trees didn't do significant damage (crushed a small portion of a backyard fence and in other incidence, falling limb broke gutter and roof framing) but USAA didn't mess around.

Currently in the midst of a flooded kitchen/dishwasher leak USAA claim and it has been a different story. Agonizingly slow and complicated.

I'm the first poster with USAA. I think we also used Paul Davis Restoration but I'm not 100% certain. USAA was fabulous on our claim. We were living out of town and our house was rented out. The tenants had to leave because the house was condemned due to the extent of the damage and a possible gas leak (which didn't exist). The reconstruction took about 6 months and USAA paid us the amount the renters would have paid. The contractor (because it's their contractor) has to get it done on schedule or they are fined, so it was done on time. DH went through and ok'd the work at the end, before it was deemed complete. It was an easy process. My only quibble was that a few things were different after the rebuild, but I think it was because the contractor didn't know how they had been and we weren't there to tell them. They also didn't tell us the paint color they used, so it was a pain when we needed to touch up, but those were really minor issues. Overall, we were very happy.

The same thing happened to us. We actually did use their suggested contractor for the tree removal and drying the interior rooms that were damanged, but they left us hanging when it came time to give us a quote for the renovation work. So we dumped them and went with a guy we knew. It was just a little more work on my part, since he hadn't worked with an insurance company before, but it turned out ok.

Ended up having to go out of pocket on some things so that they'd look better (i.e. replacing an entire floor of carpeting vs. just the one room damaged, replacing a $4K bay window because they discovered wood rot when the damaged siding was removed), but the house looks great now.

We have USAA and had some vandalism at our home. Seems it was a back to school ritual locally to smash things. Anyway, needed front door and window replacement. The front door alone was over $10,000 and insurance never quibbled. Contractors were more than fabulous. No problems from USAA or the work performed. Absolutely love USAA as a company. Can't be beat if you ask me!!!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had a major tree incident several years back. We went with the insurance contractor (we have USAA). IT was definitely easier because they speak the sam language as the insurance company. We got an estimate from another contractor who didn't understand what the insurance company needed to know and didn't itemize in the way the insurance company does it.

The work was fine. It was not high budget but our house wasn't high budget. Everything looked and functioned well when it was finished.

We have USAA as well. Was the work done in a relatively timely fashion? Did USAA give you any problems during the entire ordeal?

Not this PP, but another USAA customer. We've twice dealt with USAA claims when we've had tree damage. Both times we used recommended contractors/specialists (Paul Davis Restoration and then that company subcontracted arborist). Relatively speaking, the trees didn't do significant damage (crushed a small portion of a backyard fence and in other incidence, falling limb broke gutter and roof framing) but USAA didn't mess around.

Currently in the midst of a flooded kitchen/dishwasher leak USAA claim and it has been a different story. Agonizingly slow and complicated.

Anonymous wrote:We had a major tree incident several years back. We went with the insurance contractor (we have USAA). IT was definitely easier because they speak the sam language as the insurance company. We got an estimate from another contractor who didn't understand what the insurance company needed to know and didn't itemize in the way the insurance company does it.

The work was fine. It was not high budget but our house wasn't high budget. Everything looked and functioned well when it was finished.

We have USAA as well. Was the work done in a relatively timely fashion? Did USAA give you any problems during the entire ordeal?

We had a major tree incident several years back. We went with the insurance contractor (we have USAA). IT was definitely easier because they speak the sam language as the insurance company. We got an estimate from another contractor who didn't understand what the insurance company needed to know and didn't itemize in the way the insurance company does it.

The work was fine. It was not high budget but our house wasn't high budget. Everything looked and functioned well when it was finished.

Anonymous wrote:We had a bad experience using the recommended contractor to replace our hardwood floors. We went with their contractor because of the warrenty too. However, when the floors started warping within a few weeks, we were told the warranty only covered errors in installation (not the final result). The floor was determined to have been installed correctly based on a report supplied by the contractor, despite our getting a different opinion from two third party contractors (who would not have been eligible for the repair, since it was under warranty and were therefore neutral)

In the future, we'd use a contractor we know and trust over the recommendation.

This is helpful, thanks (and sorry about your floor.)

If you have a contractor you trust and his bid is in keeping with the adjusters, then I'd push for your preference. Good contractors are hard to find and you want one one your side, not the insurance company's.

We had a bad experience using the recommended contractor to replace our hardwood floors. We went with their contractor because of the warrenty too. However, when the floors started warping within a few weeks, we were told the warranty only covered errors in installation (not the final result). The floor was determined to have been installed correctly based on a report supplied by the contractor, despite our getting a different opinion from two third party contractors (who would not have been eligible for the repair, since it was under warranty and were therefore neutral)

In the future, we'd use a contractor we know and trust over the recommendation.

I'm actually dealing with the exact same thing- tree fell on house, the insurance co. says if we use their contractor that the work will be guaranteed for three years. But it does make me nervous, are the insurance company approved contractors more inclined to cut costs in order to save the company money? Has anyone had an experience (positive or negative) using insurance company-recommended contractors?

Anonymous wrote:A big tree fell on my house Thursday and so far I've spoken with two adjusters. I already have my own contacts to do the work, but each adjuster seems like they're trying to push me to use the companies they recommend and seem offended that I don't. Do they get kickbacks or something?

I don't know. I wouldn't assume that. They are paying for the work, so they want to use someone they trust not to overcharge them.

A big tree fell on my house Thursday and so far I've spoken with two adjusters. I already have my own contacts to do the work, but each adjuster seems like they're trying to push me to use the companies they recommend and seem offended that I don't. Do they get kickbacks or something?