About Us

We staff licensed general contractors, home inspectors, mold experts, and public adjusters. We have been in business for over thirty years! We are also proud owners of a non-profit called “UpSkill Educate.” Upskill Educate is to teach policyholders to deal with their insurance claims and damages.

Our FREE ebook, “A Claim Manual” goes into detail on every part of the insurance recovery process, giving insight on what we live to do. Please read it and pass it on to everyone you know. Do not sign with anyone until you understand your coverages and damages. You only get one shot at getting paid. This free book and our website contains many helpful tips for handling your claim on your own. I made it free so the average policyholder stands a chance against their insurance company.

If it is not in writing, it didn’t happen. Phone calls are NOT enough. Whatever you are told by your adjuster, ask them to send that in an email. You can use these emails as a reference tool and as trail in the future. Otherwise, everything is just talk, and there is a lot of room for word games and manipulation! Insurer fraud is real, insurance companies commit insurance fraud all the time to average property owners. You need to keep them accountable. This will help keep your case from having to go to court which nobody wants, not us, you, or your insurance company. You should never lie or falsely present damages that you do not qualify for.

If your home is uninhabitable:

 Go to our Additional Living Expense page

The Insurance Company’s Adjuster

The adjusters from the insurance company sent to visit your home are licensed to represent the insurance company’s interests, not yours! You should know that insurance adjusters are not required by law to know anything about construction or estimating. They are tested and licensed in policy language and interpretation. 

If your insurance company hires an engineer, service provider, or any other person to give an estimate, it is to limit or deny your claim. No one they associate with is there to help you! They have mutual relationships with these services because they get a good deal and the service gets consistent work.

It also should be stated that no one from your insurance is worried about the value of your property. After a loss you have the right to be put back into the place that you were in before the loss. That is why you bought the insurance was to protect your assest. Any suggested repair may fix the issue, but you should consider what the effects may be if you ever decide to sell the property. We take this all into account when preparing our estimate.  

Estimates

This is the official document that both sides of the insurance claim can submit to help determine the payout of an insurance claim. Anyone can make an estimate, but the question should be, “What do they know about construction?”. A licensed contractor would be the best person to write an estimate. For their knowledge on construction is the most accurate on what it should cost to put you back to the place you were in before a loss. He should understand the exposures and liabilities that come from not doing this construction process properly. It is wise to not tell them about your insurance so they do not try to run up the price for their own benefit. The sooner you turn in an estimate the faster your claim will move. 

We host licensed contractors while also being licensed insurance experts. We understand the process and cost of construction on top of understanding how your insurance. This combined with our industry’s most advanced pricing software and equipment we are able to produce the best and most fair estimate one can offer.

Third Party Insurance

Many times, people will use their own insurance when it is the liability of a third party. There is no sense in making a claim on your own policy when it is avoidable. Knowing when it is worth making a claim and who the claim should be made against is a niche. Using your insurance in part affects your annual premiums. Having your own insurance loss expert to help analyze losses and properly distribute the loss to the proper parties saves you in future premium dollars. Insurance claims stay on a policyholders claim record for seven years, it is best to avoid making small or third-party style claims whenever possible. Having a knowledgeable source to contact, designed to protect and utilize insurance products properly, gives you a life advantage and sets you apart from most.

 Public Adjusters

With the exception of a few states, public insurance adjusters are licensed by the state insurance commissioner’s office. They represent policyholders and are supposed to be experts in policy language and interpretation of the policy and its fine print. They are not necessarily good at writing estimates. Adjusters are not trained or educated in estimating and building methods.

In most states they charge a percentage contingency fee, like an attorney but significantly less. Only an attorney and public adjuster can represent loss victims in a claim. Public adjusters are specialized in first party claims and tort law. Adjusters handle insurance claims daily and are generally better in dealing with property damage.

I am willing to offer group meetings at no cost through my nonprofit, UpSkill Educate. If anyone has a location, parking lot, building, Zoom group, or community group, I am willing to speak for free and want to share this critical claim information to the masses. Again, I cannot stress enough the need to read my free E-book.

Attornies

Attorney will all be interested in “helping” you for a fraction of the action! Be careful! An attorney should be your very last resort. We and your insurance company do not want to go to court but sometimes that is how it goes. In the state of Florida your attorney fees are covered by your insurance company if you get a single cent more than your insurance originally offered. 

It is very common to see attorneys who advertise their help for a fee but do little to fight for everything you are owed because as soon as they are signed on your claim they are usually guaranteed 40% of whatever the money is. If you need any attorney, the questions I would ask any attorney before hiring them to help with my claim are:

1. How many times have you been to trial on a property casualty claim?

2. How many bad faith awards has the person acquired?

3. What experts will you hire on my behalf?

4. What will be the cost for the additional experts you plan to hire?

Let their answers guide you. Know that attorneys are not necessarily experts in construction or estimating. They will build teams around them to do the work or at least they should.

E-Book – A Claims Manual – This needs tweaking to title page and last page.