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Ray, yet another change in our business that we essentially did to ourselves by overpopulating the business with I hate to say it but incompetent "adjusters"  understanding that "adjusters" is a poor term for many   It is like the lady Anne in another post  not sure why anyone would want to leap into our industry in this economy.  Most carriers now seem content to let their staff do the claims or just have the insd get several bids. The pay schedules I see now are less than I made even in Andrew with considerably more required.  This again smacks in the face of poor adjustment ability that produced less than quality claims.  I have worked with vendors reviewing files and what you get from the field is,  well just ugly. In ten years everyone I know, including me, will be too old to adjust claims in the field and sadly the young ones under us seem to only care about the buck and not producing a quality file. Much of that is due to incompetent staff inside companies who have never worked in the field and worse think with a few years or less inside work know and have the answer for everything. Not having a major cat slam a major city since Katrina has fed that approach. Unless we see a major impact cat either this summer or next  the cat business I grew up with will be non-existent.  Then when a real storm hits there will be few to none with a single clue how to handle a difficult loss to avoid being sued or having so many complaints it becomes impossible to work.

Willis  Isaw my first hurricane claim over 50 years ago and many hail losses since. I guestimate over 22,000 buildings.

In TX. in 2008 IKE changed the roof claims for ever..... windlift..... all carriers in TX. have paid ever IKE roof claim that has reopened  if the homeowner had a contingency roofer. If its not paid then comes "appraisal" and then the lawsuit.

I predict in 20111-12 we will see satellite photos & measurments and a check in the mail. We will see digital photos by the insured of rooms with inside damage(sent by the insured). We will see contractors doing the work direct for the insurance carriers that have never been seen by a storm trooper. The contractor corp. will explode with growth and all the hundreds of small storm  vendors will dry up.

Two reasons the cost of insurance goes up and the carriers make more profit, AND catastrophe claims CANNOT get in the hands of the TV lawyers; as they can "get you tens of thousands more". I never thought I would say this, but the hurricane prone states have been educated by the lawyers.

All the adjuster schools will have to convert to contractor skill schools or PA skills. All you ex contractors know that is a much more difficult biz. than roof thumping storm adjusters.

Good reasonable PA firms should gear up as your PA' xmate estimate will be taken on face value in 50% of the claims.And the other 50% will settled with the re-inspector.

Ray,

Much like you I too have seen many claims with considerable change    Carriers have one drive  save money 

Several years ago I worked with a local carrier who primarily writes foreclosure business but was writing regular business in Md  They underwriters erred by omitting a sewer back up endt required on all forms. They were facing stiff Md DOI penalities. I was asked to handle the claims. I did not hire a single outside IA. We drafted a letter to each insured explaining the situation and what they could do to expedite the claim. Those insureds' took photos, did diagrams and made lists better than any IA we were using at the time. We settled over 1500 claims solely by email, and internet attachments. 

I have a program called I-Measure  it will measure everything at a risk from the internet. It does require a 12" square in one window to build from. Not one insured balked at placing that 12" and taking a digital photo. I worked for a local architect firm doing estimates. That firm had access to a satellite that could literally show every shingle on any roof. but it was not used for that purpose. At the time the air time was stiff  that cost has dropped considerably.

I did some of this on claims for Ike and Dolly for Crawford working with an inside rep from their carrier.  To do this requires experience and not just computer knowledge You must convince an insured it will work and be ready to resolve lots of issues. It also helps to have a cooperative carrier.  The biggest obstacle with any carrier is their belief that unless their insured sees an adjuster face to face it cannot be handled. When that carrier gets buried with claims, which has not happened since Katrina, he is more open to this no contact method as it keeps that insured involved and he sees progress toward a rsolution without a PA or ATTY

Problem is it takes a big cat to convince a carrier to go with it.  I am afraid next storm many adjusters will become or work for PA's to avoid all the crap carriers will be requiring adjusters to do at little or no fee. 

I remember when we started taking recorded statements on the liability claims and settling death and severe permanat injury cases from a desk. I never though it could be done, as I was trained "you had to look them in the eye" wrong. When I was trained as a property adjuster by Firemans Fund I was told by my trainer to work ever claim I could from my desk, this was in 1957. People will fill out any papers you send them to get their claim settled.

How did the settle claims 100 years ago, they did not catch a train, rent a horse and ride out in the wheat field  to look at a barn. Some thing like less than 10% of all claims reported a person needs to look at the loss, but the other 90% can be worked from inside........ any where in the world......