How much are you willing to pay? Spell out some terms. I will ride along with you, in your vehicle, if the pay and per dem is good enough. After about a year you should be trained well enough to go it on your on.

I live in East Texas, and I am a new Adjuster. I have a company that is willing to hire me after I ride with someone for a week or two. So....is there anyone out there that would like a free worker for a couple of weeks??? I would be willing to carry your ladder, measure your roofs (I am very experienced in this), or anything else that you need. Please contact me at james_p_r@yahoo.com

Hey Downer Denton, thanks for the encouragement. It would really take you a year to mentor someone? Of course it would because you are working 14 hour days 7 days a week and years at a time form what you have posted in other forums on this site. Hey how about some real help and not some sarcastic answer. They probably will kick me out of this forum when good old boys like you should be. I guess I can start my own blog for newbies with some positive help and leadership.
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Macwoody, my thoughts are about the same as ddreisbach expressed. Except I don't generally do "newbie" type claims. But, if you got the money, I got the time. We'ill take your newbie claims, your gear, your truck and I will ride along with you.

Worley is paying for inside work, so find out what they are paying, add the Conus per diem rate and hit me up.

Oh, my work comes with a guarantee. I guarantee that you will learn something.

I have had many people beg me to let them tag along. They are always enthused when I say "come on , you can sleep on the floor". "You can tote my ladder, and within a week or two, I will probably supervise you as you inspect and write a few estimates". It always happens, they always ask,

" How much are you gonna pay me?" and then get offended when I say "If you are an asset to me and increase my production that day, I will buy you dinner"

I look at it this way, my wife and I married young, went in the service to get the G.I. bill, took our core courses and worked while I was in the service, had a son, then went to college, got the GI bill, worked 2 and 3 jobs and got a Bachelors degree. Then my wife got a Masters degree. And my son got a E.E. degree. Nobody helped us we just worked and made sensible decisions. First I was an industrial engineer, then I got on with GAB and have been an insurance adjuster for 35 years. There is a reason I am listed as a "Life Member" on this forum.

If you want me to teach you the secrets of being a successful adjuster and I can teach you if you are willing to learn, then there has to be something in the process for me.

Most people went to high school but they did not make good grades, they did not go to college, but if they did, when they got out, no job, and if they got a job, it paid less than 35T a year. Starting school teachers, some with Masters degrees make less than 35T, and they have debt or some body gave them the money.

Here I am, the equivalent of a PHD, by the way I have passed the New York General Adjusters Exam, offering to teach. Teach my methods, methods that I developed while attending the school of hard knocks, of being successful at catastrophe insurance adjusting where there is money to be made far in excess of the amount paid to beginning nurses, physical therapists and school teachers. What do I get, I get labeled "Downer Denton" The insulting thing is that the goof that wrote that didn't have sense enough to spell my name correctly.

The funny thing is I actually like Chuck. He is a smart guy and is pretty nice. I am not always the best but Chuck does have a valid point. THe least expensive way to learn is to go work for a contractor. He will teach you how to scope. But you still might not have experience. I have a great idea on how to earn a lot of money as an adjuster. But not gonna share it on this forum.

I am available, come to Little Rock, get a place to stay, come over here and we will start. There are several buildings going up in my neighborhood, residential and commercial, we will take your vehicle and your tools and go inspect. The rest of the time we will talk policy language. After about a month of 18 hour days you should be ready to apply for licenses and be a newbie on storm.

Contact me thru this forum and we will discuss terms. Keep in mind that average adjusting firms charge about 65 USD per hour. I prefer to work on a retainer.

People who expect others to take them on and try to teach them, for free, or worse still pay them are dreaming. Once in a while someone with experience will help out but that is rare.

Schools that purport to teach insurance adjusting are expensive.

Come to Chuck's School of Hard Knocks and learn to make a living. There's no such thing as a "free" lunch.

"nice" isn't a part of it, you can either haul the mail or you can't.

E.A.Renfroe and Pilot both have a "trainee" program that will put a new adjuster with an experienced adjuster for 30 days. You will work as the ground person on a 2 story team working State Farm claims. You will gain a lot of experience and get paid a decent wage for 30 days. At the end of that time you are evaluated and if you pass the evaluation you will get claims of your own. This only applies to a "cat" situation so get your resume in to them & be ready if they call.

If you have zero experience you could get a job working for a dryout contractor. Be willing to remove sewage laden carpet and drywall. Beg the boss to allow you to write the dryout estimates. Learn sketch. Learn the terminology. Meet the adjusters and ask them questions. Maybe the dryout company will have a relationship with a repair contractor or maybe they ARE a repair contractor. Get certified for water dryout. A similar path would be to work for a roofing contractor.

At the same time you are doing this, you can get an insurance license. If you have the intelligence to be an insurance adjuster, you can easily pass the license test. This will teach you something about policies and coverage. Be a part time agent for a local independent agent. Beg your uncle to let you sell him his new homeowner policy. Read the polices. Go to the library and read insurance books. Buy some used books on Amazon.

Step 2

Now go an get a job as a project manager/estimator/sales person for a restoration contractor if you didn't already get promoted to this position. There are lots of these jobs. The sales part is easy because if the contractor is any good, he will be a prefered vendor of the insurance company. Learn Xactimate inside and out. Meet more adjusters and ask more questions.

Step 3

Now you have a shot at getting catastrophe work, or maybe a beginner job in daily claims. Maybe you could get a job as a property trainee at a homeowner carrier, but if you are the kind of person they wanted and you were willing to work cheap you could have already gotten that job and skipped steps one and two.

At this step you will be more knowedgeable than most people trying to crack into the adjusting world, but you will still have very little knowledge of actual adjusting. If you follow this path you will be strong in estimating knowledge but relatively weak in policy knowldege. But going this way you could avoid the staff adjuster route. The staff adjuster route might be a better career move, but not if you can't get in the door because you are too old/no degree etc.

And at this point you might just decide to stay in construction. At this point you could be working on large residential and commercial jobs, doing only project management (foreman) or maybe sales. You could be making good money and no longer even want to be an adjuster.

But you would be in a strong position to get CAT work with a smaller vendor. Even if your adjusting knowledge is weak, there are lots of CAT vendors who might need a strong estimator to help the other adjusters. You could even get on day rate if you had a contractor's license. You would have a strong negotiating position to partner with another adjuster and split the work. Be prepared to quit your construction job when a big catastrophe hits. Get on the rosters and develop relationships ahead of time.

You could also find a small independent daily property claims company that would train you on daily claims. If you have an insurance license and strong xactimate/construction knowledge, they would be confortable with hiring you, knowing that they don't have to teach you everything, just maybe half of what you need to know. Just be prepared to drop your insurance license or promise not to use it if you start working as an adjuster.

Getting a Texas license at some point would also help a lot.

I'm just outlining a different way to get into adjusting, it is possible to start out in construction first.

But all of it takes work and time.

Very nice, Leland. Very good advice and options.

Happy Trails