The playing field of handling a property claim is not what any insured expects. The insurance company has career adjusters advocating for its interests. Those adjusters retain “hired-gun” estimators to confirm the carrier’s positions and valuations of a loss. The burden of proof to establish the valuation of damages falls squarely on the insured. If the insured is unable to overcome that burden of proof, they will get paid what the carrier wishes to pay, not necessarily the fair value of the claim. Insureds need their own professional representation advocating for their interests. Public adjusters are those advocates!  Preparing and filing a claim requires complying with policy requirements, and it takes hours upon hours to ensure that it's done properly. Sill's team of experts help to relieve the policy holder of the responsibilities of documenting and filing your claims, allowing them to focus on rebuilding their life.

Dealing with a property insurance claim following a disaster is stressful and horribly time-consuming. Your first demand is to  review and understand your insurance policy to determine whether or not the loss is covered under the terms of the policy, and to determine  if there are any limitations and/or exclusions to the coverage(s) or amounts. Sill’s adjusters and attorneys have decades of experience reviewing insurance policies and can quickly determine what is covered under the policy, including often uncovering extensions of coverage that are not readily apparent. Coincident with the policy review, Sill’s team will begin documenting the proof of damages to your building and personal property, and the loss to your business income to submit to the insurance company to ensure that you meet your burden of proving your damages.

To put it bluntly - immediately! We see time and time again how insurance companies use the time immediately following a disaster to capitalize on the chaos and get the policyholders to  either compromise their claims or agree to partial settlements that are far below what they are actually owed. By hiring Sill public insurance adjusting firm, you ensure that your claim is in the hands of an expert and experienced  team, who will work throughout the claim and in all areas of the claim in your best interest to get you the maximum settlement for your policy. Equally important, offloading the claim to Sill allows you the time and energy  to focus on restoring your life and / or business.

Experience, expertise, professionalism, integrity, and licensing in the type and size of loss you suffered in the state of your jurisdiction! Ask the Public Adjuster to see a list of references of similar companies which have suffered similar losses. Ask to let you contact their references.  Any public insurance claim adjuster you choose to work with should have years of experience handling a similar type and size of claim,  and should have their own employed complete team of dedicated staff - including adjusters,  building estimators, contents appraisers,  certified public accountants, and in-house attorneys. A small public adjusting firm will not be able to devote the time and attention to all of their claims needed for successful recoveries. Do you want your claim to be the one without the needed attention and pro-activity? You may only have one major claim in your lifetime, why not use the very best public adjuster in the industry?

Insurance policies, just like all legal documents,, should be reviewed only by attorneys and adjusters trained in property insurance policies. Policies are intentionally drafted vaguely, leaving them open to interpretation by your insurance company-most always in their favor. The policy is the roadmap that dictates how and how much a claim may be settled for. If you are not expert in property policies, it is almost certain that you will badly compromise your claim by failing to recognize coverages that exist or by failing to convince a skilled adjuster, who has been hired by the carrier to represent its interests, as to your interpretation of the policy. Furthermore, it will be nearly impossible for you to meet your burden of proof of damages without a detailed, line by line itemization of damages to your building, contents, or business loss.

You work with an insurance agent to acquire an insurance policy. Period. They are not trained in claims adjusting. And certainly do not have any the knowledge or ability to prepare an Xactimate building estimate (required by insurance carriers).  Finally, your insurance agent may have a conflict of interest in connection with your claim, as he or she may receive bonus compensation from carriers at the end of each year based upon their claims’ ratios. Your insurance agent may be able to recommend a public insurance claims adjuster, but do not rely on them to help handle your claim.

In order to meet your burden of proof, you may need all or part of the following:

• Detailed unit cost appraisal estimate prepared using the universal Xactimate software for any building damage replacements and repairs
• Detailed, line by line, with pricing support, of physical inventory and damage appraisal of all furniture, fixtures, equipment, and stock
• Identification and evaluation of any insurable interests in any of the betterments and improvements
• Valuation and appraisal needed for any co-insurance requirements
• Determination of salvage disposal
• Physical depreciation schedules for all property
• Income loss analysis for any business interruption claim

Public adjusters work exclusively and only for the best interest of the policy holder - not the insurance company. For this reason, we only get paid if you get paid, and the fees for services are generally a small percentage of the insurance settlement. Most of our past clients have seen such significant success with the settlements Sill has been able to procure that the fee is fully absorbed by the final settlement amount.