Updated On: September 12, 2011
What do you do when your home or property is damaged or lost due to fire or flood? After your initial reaction from shock the first thought usually is where do I start first. The first thing you need to do is get your insurance company to send out an Adjuster as soon as possible to inspect the damage as fast as you can. A public Adjuster can take a lot of the stress from you in dealing with the Insurance Company; but you cannot start work with Disaster Recovery Services until the Insurance Adjuster has inspected the damage.
You need a company that only specializes in Disaster Recovery Services; while you may look at the chaos and feel at a complete loss these companies will be of a great service to you and your family it doesn’t have to be a total loss. With the specialized restoration skills they have for fire and flood you may be surprised just how much of your property and belongings can be restored.
There are local services available to you, such as maid services carpet cleaners to name a few that deal specifically with fire or water damaged problems some even offer sewage clean up. Disaster Recovery Services can often cover a wide range of services. The main concern is to minimize your loss, relieve your stress and get your life back to normal as soon as possible. This is all attainable by hiring people who are not only understanding and sympathetic to your problems but offer a professional service and are knowledgeable and experienced in restoration.
You need to get your home dried out as soon as you can to prevent further damage such as mold, it is also imperative that you get an adjuster out to view the damage before you start any work as it can be a catch 22. If you wait too long for the adjuster from the Insurance Company to come out, you may find the Insurance Company will only pay for a portion of the damage due to the fact that you didn’t protect the property adequately by getting the problem taken care of more quickly. If on the other hand you get someone in immediately to repair or restore the damage to prevent further problems you then may have the problem that the Insurance Company doesn’t want to pay because their adjuster didn’t see the damage prior to any Disaster Recovery Services.
I have faced the exact same scenario with an Insurance Company. I was advised by the Insurance Company not to start Disaster Recovery Services until their Adjuster had an opportunity to inspect the damage. By the time he came out and submitted his report the Insurance declined the claim saying I had waited too long to repair the damage. I found myself between a rock and a hard place exactly where the Insurance Company wanted me. If I had had a Public Adjuster on my side I am sure I would not have found myself in that position.