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Last Post 11/05/2017 2:32 AM by  adjustingto6figures
Catastrophe Training E-Books / Manuals / Guides
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Peatie
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04/18/2007 9:49 AM

    I am looking for some advice on catastrophe training information (ie. e-books, training guides/manuals) created for newly licensed property adjusters. I have searched this site and other areas of the internet finding three different sources which include:

    K-Squared Catastrophe Training Svs - "OJT Catastrophe Training" E-book $100.00

    Trent  Massey's - "Catastrophe Adjusting" E-book $35.00

    Adjuster Cindy - "Cat Adjuster Power Manual" $169.00

    Just wanted to know if anybody has read any of these training books. I am not concerned about the prices that they are asking as long as it justifies the content. Any feedback on these or any other property adjuster training books from CADO members would be greatly appreciated.

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    kds008
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    04/18/2007 5:47 PM

    A review of the K-Squared book was just recently done on ClaimSmentor.com by one of the members.  He said he found it to be a very good guide.  If you are not already a member of ClaimSmentor.com,  you can sign up and and read the review and have access to the training information in the forums there too.

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    Catsvstrained
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    Posts:62


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    05/14/2007 8:22 AM
    ClaimsMentor comments on the "OJT Catastrophe Training Manual" E-Book:

    Been reading through the book for a few minutes and am starting to learn more and more. I like an approach they take quiet often of telling you what mistakes newbies most often make. Won't give any specific examples (you gotta buy the book) but I suspect the first thirty or so pages list enough money costing mistakes so as to pay for the book!!! And this aint a paid political announcement.

    Ok I have finished the book now, and I must say I believe it is well worth the money. It is jam packed with information well beyond what I have been taught in various training classes. It is divided into these sections.

    A. Storm Tools (some things in here I had never seen before ie a roof coring device)

    B. Site Expectations...what will be expected of you at the site and what you should expect at the site. Shows actual notes given to the author at Site Orientation meetings. How to handle certain things such as steep roofs.

    C. The Assessment of the Policy and Its Application. Included in this section is what educators call a graphic organizer which shows you the various "windows" you go through to get to an accurate claim settlement.

    D. Procedures and How To's on contacting and scheduling.

    E. Roofing Facts. This is pretty well self-explanatory of what it is but I consider this section to be an absolute must if you don't have a background in this area. Roofing terms, measuring and calculating, determining damage and cause. I believe this section helped me the most. Included in this section is commercial roofing.

    F. Building Scope. More information which is absolutely necessary if you don't have a background in construction.

    G. Keys to understanding Xactimate. Lots of Lists which would be good to have printed and tacked up in front of you.

    H. Roof Insepction. Self Explanatory but it is absolutely invaluable. Included in this section is a list of Commonly Overlooked Roofing Estimate Details, and working examples.

    I. Insurance Industry Standards for Estimating Interior Damage. Includes guidelines on virtually everything damaged which is a part of the house.

    J. Contents. Very informative section on how to handle content damage and loss.

    K. A Sample File

    L. Questions, Problems, and Mistakes. First thing with this is hail damge to brick. How do you determine this and what do you do with it.

    M. Practice Exam. 100 Questions. As a former educator the questions seem to be fairly written and not designed to trick you. Multiple Choice, True/False and some math computations.

    N. Answer Key

    O. Finding Employment.



    All and all this is a very well written book, very helpful, not redundant and does not have a lot of things in there filling up space but not giving you any real meat. I really think it would be an excellent text book for some of the adjsuters courses out there. I highly recommend it.
    CatSvs Trained
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    Peatie
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    05/15/2007 7:58 AM
    Thanks kds008 & catsvstrnd, I have purchased the OJT manual and it is very good, a great deal of information that I was completely unaware of. Still have not received any information on Massey's or Adjuster Cindy's training e-books. Will go ahead and purchase Massey's book as well, don't figure I can go wrong at $35.00. Can't believe that I am having such a difficult time getting information on the (only) three training books available for catastrophe adjusters (thought that this was a $100,000+ / year career field / information is king???).
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    mossback
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    05/16/2007 8:06 PM

    I have the manual by Trent Massey and believe it is worth much more than the $35 price.  He appears to have alot of knowledge and experience and does a great job presenting it to newbies.  I bought it after I worked Rita claims and have learned alot that I will do or change next time.  I would recommend this book to anyone.


    Jeremy

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    Kwatt
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    01/23/2008 10:06 AM

    I am a former staff adjuster who was looking for a book that I could use as curriculum for training / helping my brother get into the field of catastrophe claims. I purchased the OJT, this book is an amazing collection of practical claims application instruction and knowledge.

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    Ray Hall
    Senior Member
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    Posts:2443


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    04/12/2008 1:18 PM

    I am one of the old guys who use to hand write an estimate in 3 columns, therefore I did not need a cumputer to do a property loss. However my first estimating program cost $350.00 one time charge in 1989 and I used it to write estimates for many years. Over the years I have used the DOS versions of all programs as well the windows versions. Now to the point of this post. I have switched to exactimate 25 as many of the vendors/carriers I seek work from require it for THEIR reasons, not mine. I am of the opine the training schools can give you a jump start on the production of paper going out the door, if you need to start work NOW.

    If you just want to learn exactimate 25 and have plenty of time to learn..... this method is the one I now use and I will retain this navigation around in xactimate 25. Purchase a one month lease approx $150.00 and then purchase from xactimate the downloaded training program with several examples of claims. Print out the 250 page book(in the disk) and in 30 days of practice each day you should be on top of this game for less than $200.00 and no travel expense, plus you have the instruction book for life. I will say if you do not need this program Simsol and Power Claim can be learned by a person with average computer skills in several hours. MSB is more simple than xmate also. I do not have any experience with Simplistic Systems. I think both Simsol and PowerClaim will give you a free 30 day trial.

    I still recommend the John D. Wagner book, House Framing @ Lowes $19.00 or Amazon for $8.00 which will give you a big jump start on 99% of new dwelling construction in the USA. This book is very easy to read, many charts, and if you can read you can build a house from this book. I do not think you will find estimating dwellings complicated if you do these suggestions.

    You can find another person like yourself and send estimates back and forth to review etc. I will look over some off your work and critique it after you have spend about 200 hours of self training.

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    HenryAdjust
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    06/24/2013 10:22 PM

    I've searched for the Trent Massey's "Catastrophe Adjusting" e-book and also for the Adjuster Cindy "Cat Adjuster Power Manual" and could not find neither one on the Net.  Since the original post was in 2007, have anyone purchased any of these e-books recently?

    The comments I've read seem to be pretty positive and worth the money.  Where can anyone purchase these e-books?

    Thanks for your input!

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    adjustingto6figures
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    11/05/2017 2:32 AM
    Adjuster Resources: http://www.adjustingto6figures.com Adjuster Courses: http://learning.adjustingto6figures.com The Adjuster Shop: http://shop.adjustingto6figures.com
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