When To Hire A Public Adjuster

By Taylor Grant, licensed public adjuster · Published January 20, 2021 · Updated September 24, 2026

Six situations where it changes the outcome, three where it does not, and the timing question that costs people the most money.

Not every claim needs a public adjuster, and anybody who tells you otherwise is selling. Here is the honest version.

Hire one when

1. The claim was denied and the reason does not survive contact with the evidence. Denials are written from what is in the carrier's file. Frequently their own photographs show damage the letter says is not there. Answering that takes the file, a real re-inspection and a written rebuttal with a line-item scope attached. How a denial gets answered.

2. Whole trades are missing from the estimate. Not "the number feels low" - specifics. No gutters when the gutters are dented. No code upgrades when the jurisdiction requires ice-and-water shield. No overhead and profit on a job with five trades. No interior when there is a stain on the ceiling. Missing categories, not missing dollars, is the signal.

3. It is a commercial, multi-family, HOA, school or municipal building. These carry coverages consumer policies do not: business income, extra expense, loss of rents, ordinance or law at meaningful limits, blanket versus scheduled limits, coinsurance. Every one of those is a place a fast estimate leaves money behind, and the sums are large enough that the fee question answers itself.

4. It is a large or total loss. Above a certain size nobody holds the scope in their head. Total losses also raise questions - actual cash value versus replacement cost, code upgrades, debris removal, whether the policy responds on a replacement-cost basis at all - that take a specialist.

5. The file has gone quiet. No return calls, reassignment to a third adjuster, a promised payment that has not arrived. Colorado has statutes addressing unreasonable delay in paying benefits, and a file that has stalled needs documented, dated pressure rather than more voicemails.

6. You are out of your depth or out of time. Running a business, managing a portfolio, or simply living through the loss. That is a legitimate reason all by itself and it does not require the carrier to have done anything wrong.

Do not hire one when

The claim is agreed and the estimate is complete. Carrier accepted it, scope covers what you can see, number is fair. Take the money.

The loss is small. On a claim around or below the deductible, or a few thousand over it, the fee and the effort do not make sense for anyone.

The peril is genuinely excluded. Flood on a policy without flood coverage, earth movement, long-term seepage that was not sudden. No amount of advocacy creates coverage that is not there, and a decent public adjuster will say so on the first call instead of after the fee agreement.

The timing question

Earliest is best. A public adjuster involved before the first inspection can document the property properly, be on site when the carrier's adjuster is, and get the scope right the first time - rather than spending months adding things back to a scope that was built without them.

But there is no cliff, and people worry about this more than they should:

• After the estimate arrives - normal. Most of our files start here.
• After a payment has been accepted - usually fine. Payment is not closure, and claims are supplemented and reopened routinely.
• After a denial - normal, and one of the main reasons people call.
• After a full release is signed - now it is hard.
• After the policy's suit limitation has run - now it is over. That is commonly one or two years from the date of loss in Colorado, so check yours rather than assuming.

The genuine cost of waiting is not a rule. It is that evidence decays, memories fade, the roof gets replaced, and the person who inspected your property has left the company.

How to decide in ten minutes

Get the declarations page and the carrier's estimate in front of you. Ask:

• Does the estimate list every area I photographed?
• Are gutters, vents, flashing, screens and the condenser on it?
• Is there a line for code upgrades, and does my policy have ordinance or law coverage?
• Is there overhead and profit, and does this job need three or more trades?
• Has the recoverable depreciation been identified, and do I know how to claim it?
• If the answer was no, does the letter state a specific provision and specific facts?

Two or more uncomfortable answers is worth a phone call. Ours is free, and if the answer is that your claim is fine, that is what we will tell you.

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