Choosing Your Appraiser, And What The Umpire Does
Your appraiser is your advocate on the amount. The umpire is nobody's. Confusing the two is the most common way an appraisal goes badly for a property owner.
Appraisal is three people, and getting the three roles straight is most of what decides whether it works for you.
Your appraiser
Named by you, paid by you, and advocating your position on the amount of loss. Not a neutral. The carrier's appraiser is doing exactly the same thing from the other side, and the process assumes both.
What to look for:
They know your property type. A residential roof and a two-hundred-unit apartment complex with business income exposure are not the same work. Ask what they have done that resembles yours.
They can build a scope in the carrier's software. Almost always Xactimate. An appraiser who cannot produce a defensible line-item scope is bringing an opinion to a document fight.
They know the local code. Ordinance or law is frequently the largest single component of an award, and it is jurisdiction-specific.
They have sat through the process before. Appraisal has its own rhythm - inspection, exchange of positions, negotiation between appraisers, umpire if needed. Experience shortens it.
They are independent of the repair work. An appraiser who also wants to build the job has an interest in the number that is not yours.
They are available. Appraisals stall on scheduling more often than on substance.
Ask directly: how many appraisals have you done, on what kind of property, and how many went to the umpire.
The carrier's appraiser
Frequently a staff adjuster, an independent adjuster or a consultant who works largely for insurers. That is allowed. What matters is whether their scope is defensible, and you find that out by comparing line items, not totals.
The umpire
The umpire is not a tiebreaker for your side. The umpire is neutral, selected by the two appraisers jointly, and belongs to neither party.
They come in when the two appraisers cannot agree. They review both positions, usually inspect, and decide. An award signed by any two of the three - the two appraisers, or one appraiser and the umpire - is binding on the amount.
What makes a good umpire: technical competence in that property type, genuine independence from both sides and from the repair trade, and a track record of writing itemised awards rather than splitting the difference. A "split the difference" umpire rewards whichever side inflated hardest, which is bad for everyone who prepared honestly.
If the appraisers cannot agree on one within the policy's window, either side may ask a district court judge in the judicial district where the loss occurred to appoint one. That takes time, so it is worth being reasonable about candidates.
Conflicts, in practice
Ask both proposed umpires and opposing appraisers about:
- Prior engagements with either party, and how many.
- Whether their income comes predominantly from insurers or from policyholders.
- Any relationship with the contractor or the public adjuster on the file.
- Whether they have an interest in the repair work.
Disclosure is normal and expected. A refusal to disclose is the answer.
How to prepare your appraiser
Hand over everything: the policy with endorsements, the declarations page, the carrier's estimate and photographs, your photographs, contractor bids, engineer reports, code citations, the storm record, and your correspondence log. How to document a claim properly.
An appraiser given a complete file argues about the loss. One given a shoebox argues about what happened.
Our two roles
We act as appraiser for policyholders, and we serve as umpire when an impartial third is needed. They are deliberately separate engagements, and on any given claim we do one or the other, never both.
If you have an appraisal coming and need either role filled, tell us which one and what the property is.
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