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Last Post 12/06/2011 5:09 PM by  armorbear
A Simsol Flood Adjuster having to use Xacti-nightmare
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Medulus
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03/14/2008 6:14 PM

Don't you dare change that can opener cleaning price, Ray.  Xactimate will put an asterix by the price showing that you changed it and some "supervisor" or "reinspector" who got their license last week will review your work and call you on the carpet for why you changed the price.  They would have never known you changed it if not for the asterix  (that, and also the electronically generated Xactanalysis noncompliance report).  No wonder I saw so many employment ads looking for "general" adjusters with 2 to 5 years (don't bother applying if you have more than 5 --trust me, I tried) to handle "very complex claims".

Steve Ebner CPCU AIC AMIM

"With great power comes great responsibility." (Stanley Martin Lieber, Amazing Fantasy # 15 August 1962)
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HuskerCat
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03/14/2008 9:56 PM

You have touched on something there, Steve.  During a previous life I found that the "general" adjusters assigned or brought in to take over "complex" files were not required to prepare their own software estimate.  Estimates and bills/invoices were collected from the contractors, attached to a report and submitted to the carrier for payment.  They moved merrily on to the next one with the benefits of liberal expense accounts and 50% higher hourly rates, no strings or asterisks attached.  Not a bad deal, huh?   Don't know that I'd find a lot of personal satisfaction doing it that way, but my pockets would enjoy better health.

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Gale Hawkins
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03/15/2008 1:30 AM

Years of experience often is a liability in most new employees hired unless a company is hiring management staff.

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Ray Hall
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03/15/2008 2:12 AM

Yep my day claims business has picked up a bit since I changed my resume to" experienced windstorm adjuster on screen doors and fences" and liability to slip and fall cases.

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katadj
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03/15/2008 5:05 PM

Maybe we all should re-arrange our resumes to befit the inception of our experience to commence with Charley, or Jeanne or Ivan. Maybe even Katarina , Wilma or Rita?

We would then have 3-5 years of experience and be welcomed for our lack of knowledge, our ability to be led by the nose, and possibly get hired as a GA?

"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new... Albert Einstein"
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Ray Hall
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03/16/2008 2:24 PM

Ah yes it takes all us to get the job done. Had a smoke file questioned the other day when I used heavy smoke clean on an electric can opener instead of light and I told the examiner it looked like heavy smoke to me instead of light. She paused for a while as she was looking up the answer to my reply and ask if I thought about sending questions like this to ITEL and my reply was , not really and her response was when the field inspector looks at something and does not knoiw the real answer the article should be sent to ITEL for their opine. I said I would remember next time, but should I use 2 bags if I ran into a loss that had two electric can openers as my supply of ITEL large bag,s would only hold one electric can opener in my opine. She advised she would check with her supervisor and get back to me; however her experience was most houses only had one electric can opener. I agreed, but I think we must be prepaired when working these limited assigments until we get a feel of how much discresion we should use on their assignments. !

( I just made this up.... it's satire) new people please do not take this to heart.

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katadj
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03/16/2008 2:50 PM

Ray,

Satire or not, it smacks of the real truth.

These erstwhile examiers, for the most part, could not tell a 2x4 from a 2x10 without a ruler. Most have never been in the field. A prequisite, IMHO, for any  examiner.

This statement is NOT meant to be construed as an opinion of the true file examiners that have paid their dues, worked the tails off and prefer the comfort of a desk job.

It is meant to apply to the thousands of ill equipped, ill-knowledgeable people that have only a book to follow (yep, it's true), who are hired to examine work done by the professionals, and to question any item that does not fall into their limited knowledge base.

"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new... Albert Einstein"
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okclarryd
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03/16/2008 4:44 PM
Go order parts at Oreillys or any of the other chains.

Chances are, if it's not in their computer, they don't have a clue.

Same deal with some stupidvisors and manglers that somehow have been convinced that they are in the insurance industry.
Larry D Hardin
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HuskerCat
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03/16/2008 10:52 PM

Ray, do you mean to say that you didn't have your smoke guage with you??  Simply hold it up next to the damaged item & snap your photo.  Your files will sail right thru.  If you need one of these guages, I have them for sale @ $22.99 each, or $50 for two.  

Speaking of ITEL, I recall a water damage loss to about 50 yards of 1-month old carpet, drywall & baseboards in a basement family room when a water line froze.  Carpet probably would've been OK if not for the stain bleeding out from the baseboards.  But anyway, the insured still had the original installation invoice & I confirmed the dealer would pull and replace for the same cost as before.  Sent  1st & final report/estimate back via email/fax same day as received, and this was the day after the loss occurred.  10 days later, got a request from the carrier examiner to send a sample to ITEL.  OK, I'd had a hunch and prepared for that and had a 12"x12" sample, so complied with their request.  Guess I should have called about that before I sent in my report, but was familiar enough with local pricing to know it was a no brainer.

About 2 weeks later, I got the ITEL valuation back showing a Rep cost price on the carpet & pad @ close to $30/yard vs. the $18/yard I had originally confirmed and submitted.  Faxed that in to the examiner with a revised estimate for comparison to the original.  Insured called me weekly for a month to check on status of payment, which I had no idea & referred them to the carrier.  Insured told me later they eventually received payment based on my original estimate.

This is not intended in any way to be a slam on ITEL.  Used them countless times with good results, but hated to do so when I felt my own discretion would yield equitable results to the insured and carrier. 

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Ray Hall
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03/17/2008 12:36 AM

Well I kinda put my foot in my big mouth again, the supervisor called me back instead of the adjuster and said they are use to these questions from some of their new vendors. Addditionaly, If I would have thought this out  two electric can openers in the same house would have the same amount of smoke on both electric can openers and it would be a waste of money to send both electric can openers into ITEL and as long as I was the field inspector on their claims in this area to call their smoke and water remediation contractor with a national contract when I had a question like this and they could resolve the light clean or the heavy clean question possibly without sending in the Electric can opener ;but, if it was necessary you could get the differance back or write a supplement on the contract we have with your vender. By the way this file was assigned to you 68 hours ago and has not be resolved yet and the dead line is 72 hours for the Recommendation for settlement.

 

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Gale Hawkins
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03/17/2008 11:00 PM
In fact we are seeing some dumbing down of experience on resumes sometimes. I guess like some of you they have gathered more experience is deeded as the desire for higher pay so to get an interview it makes sense to dumb down their resume. The big thing from my understanding is that most hiring adjusters knowing some grossed $300,000 (this info is directly from vendors who used the services of Cat adjusters) in 2005 just assume they will cut out for the next big one. Females can get away with a gap in history better than guys because they can just put down "homemaker" and that stops questions about those years.
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okclarryd
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03/21/2008 7:47 PM
Ray,

Regarding your time line for your reports...........

I was leaving church a few weeks/months ago and got a call from a supervisor on my cell phone demanding that I submit my report within the next hour or two. This was around 11AM on a Sunday morning. We go to early service at the church of our choice.

That was the last loss I worked for them.

My choice, not theirs.
Larry D Hardin
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Doug
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03/26/2008 6:41 PM

Posted By Gale Hawkins on 03/17/2008 11:00 PM
. The big thing from my understanding is that most hiring adjusters knowing some grossed $300,000 (this info is directly from vendors who used the services of Cat adjusters) in 2005 just assume they will cut out for the next big one. 

 

 

 

 

So i guess the next time i go to a staff job interview, i shouldn't take the Ferrari.  Probably a good idea to leave the Rolex, the $600 shades and the pinkie ring on the desk at home too.  (satire)

But if your in TX or OK, wearing a pair of $500 exotic western boots anywhere you go for whatever reason gets a pass -- even if you just work at a gas station (priorities)

 

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Doug
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03/26/2008 6:52 PM
Perhaps this should be in a different thread, but for the companies that allow any type of estimating software to be used , how is continuity assured between estimates? (between the pricing of one adjuster's work to another's with different software)

This is not flood specific, but in any loss, there can be significant differences in pricing for similar items. And as it pertains to flood claims, what is the bottom line going to be on a custom home that was inundated with - oh, 20-24" of water. I am curious what the difference would if the same adjuster wrote the same estimate twice with the only difference being the software used
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johnpostava
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03/27/2008 10:16 AM
Doug,
Besides differences in pricing among the software programs there is a differnce in what is and what is not included in certain line items. For example, when you select "Replace Drywall" in our software we do not include any texturing which is a separate line item. Another software program does. The biggest problem we see in comparing simsol estimates to brand X (are largest competitor) is the fact many X users simply do not fully understand the specifications for the items in the X database. The way the program is designed, users have to click down two levels to see the full spec. Many users only go down one level (if at all). We have found through our testiing that if the same adjuster enters the same scope of repair and selects the proper items with the proper specifications using simsol and X the resulting esitmates are within a couple of percentage points high or low.
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Michigan Claims
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12/04/2008 6:28 PM
We just handled 200 claims in Galveston using Simsol. It is an efficient user friendly program and yes John, we do even use it for writing auto estimates. Who's to know ? The Nationwide claims that required us to to use Exactimate were a nightmare. The EX program cannot hold a candle to Sim. That's our 2 cents . / Will
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yumadj
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05/16/2009 2:22 PM
There was an example above that discussed texture. What is the norm for texturing? Just the area of damage, the entire wall damaged, or all the walls?  Same question for ceilings re area of damage or entire ceiling.
 
I find the contractors use all three depending on the contractor, or whether they remember to include it. Any feedback would be appreciated.
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Joeblack
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05/17/2009 10:23 PM
In my area of the country, the most common texture on ceilings is the "popcorn" texture sprayed on. My standard approach to repairing damage to sheetrock ceilings with popcorn texture is to repair the sheetrock area as needed, and then to scrape the texture from the entire ceiling, and then spray the entire ceiling with new texture. That way, there is no issue with regard to matching the texture.
 
I have seen actual repairs that were only "spot sprayed" in the repaired area, leaving the original texture on the rest of the ceiling, and then the entire ceiling painted, that looked real good. But to give the repair the best chance of looking like the original, I prefer to R&R all of the texture.
 
There are different thicknesses of texture: fine, medium, coarse; and there are different types of texture, and different spray hoppers spray differently, so there is no guarantee of a match without R&R'ing it all, in my opinion. 
 
There are other types of texture, such as a swirl, or knock down, which still have issues with regard to matching, but generally I try to match those on a "spot" basis.
 
Just my approach.
 
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katadj
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05/18/2009 2:11 PM
 In many decades of adjusting , i have yet to find anyone that can match texture of any kind. It is an art unto its own. Like faux painting.
 
The proper way to repair any texture is to remove it completely, if only the ceiling, then thats the work area. If other areas are involved that becomes the work area.
 
You cannot properly respray wet mud over dried mud as it will loosen the underlying product causing it to blister.
 
Scrape all of the old popcorn or texture ( There are many descriptions, depending on the area of the country, (knock down, orange peel, etc.)
 
Properly prime the surface to be reworked, allow the primer to dry adequately and have the same person apply the new product to the areas that have to be repaired. To do any thing other, is to invite disatisfacion.
.
  Just my 2 cents
"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new... Albert Einstein"
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Ray Hall
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05/19/2009 12:20 PM
I agree 100%, just stop at the line of sight like carpet.
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