Stressed About Your Claim? Let’s Take a Look.

No, you don’t have to work with a public adjuster but should you?

You Should Consider Hiring One If

• Your claim is large or complex: Major disasters like a house fire, severe roof damage, or major flooding involve complicated damage assessments and detailed inventory lists that can be overwhelming.
• Your claim is denied or underpaid: If you disagree with the insurance company’s initial offer or face a rejection, an adjuster can step in to re-evaluate and negotiate.
• You lack time or energy: Managing a large claim, meeting deadlines, and filling out dense paperwork takes a lot of work. These are a full time job that requires a lot of training and expertise. It makes sense to have a professional in your corner.
• Communication has broken down: Dealing with an insurance company that won’t answer your calls, stalls your claim, or throws confusing jargon at you is incredibly frustrating. A dedicated representative can take over the hassle and advocate for you.
• You’ve never made a claim before: Insurance policies can be incredibly confusing. If you aren’t sure what’s covered, what your policy limits are or where you stand, a public adjuster can help. After all, the insurance company has their own adjuster on their side, so it only makes sense that you have an expert on yours.

A public adjuster is a licensed insurance claims professional hired by a policyholder to represent their interests in an insurance claim. Unlike an insurance company’s adjuster, who works for the insurer, a public adjuster works for the person or business making the claim.

Public adjusters commonly help homeowners, commercial property owners, and businesses with claims involving roof damage, hurricanes, water damage, fire, and other covered losses. Their job is to document damage, prepare estimates, interpret applicable policy provisions, and negotiate with the insurance company on the policyholder’s behalf.

We advocate for homeowners, commercial property owners, and businesses managing all types of property losses, including:

• Weather Damage: Hurricane, windstorm, flood, lightning, hail, tornado and any other storm driven damage you can think of.
• Internal Destruction: Water, fire, smoke, mold, vandalism, theft, or mold damage caused by any of the weather events above or by internal factors like pipe breaks or cooking accidents. Most sudden, accidental or hidden damages have some level of coverage depending on your policy.
• Catastrophic Events: Fire, smoke, and lightning damage are the obvious causes but cars driving into walls, mud slides, trees falling or wildfire smoke might be included in your policy. A full review is required.

We do not handle bodily injury or liability claims.

At Claims Cafe we take a very customer focused approach. We start with a simple no obligation meeting to review your claim and your policy. Once we (you and us) agree there’s a covered-peril cause of loss and we agree to move forward with the claim, your Claims Cafe public adjuster takes over the stressful documentation, communication and negotiation work by handling four critical steps:

1. Documenting Damage: Conducting comprehensive and possibly forensic inspections of your property loss.
2. Preparing Estimates: Building detailed, accurate repair line items that reflect true market costs.
3. Interpreting Policies: Analyzing complex insurance policy provisions to maximize your covered benefits.
4. Negotiating Settlements: Managing as much of the direct communication and negotiations with your insurance company as you are comfortable with to secure a maximum payout.

In Florida a public adjuster typically costs (and never exceeds) between 10% and 20% of your final insurance settlement.

Because they work on a contingency fee basis, you do not pay anything upfront or out of pocket. Instead, their fee is deducted directly from the money they recover for you from the insurance company. If they do not win you a settlement, you do not owe them a fee.

How the Cost Breaks Down

Standard Property Claims: For everyday damage like pipe bursts, mold, or localized fires, the fee is generally 20%.

Catastrophe & Hurricane Claims: If your damage was caused by a natural disaster that triggered a declared State of Emergency (like a major hurricane), fees are capped by statute at a maximum of 10%. This cap stays in place for one year after the event.

No Double-Dipping: Public adjusters legally cannot charge a fee on money your insurance company already paid or agreed to pay to you before you hired them. They only take a percentage of the additional funds they actively secure for you.

Many property owners try saving money by handling their insurance claim themselves and some are successful. But most leave thousands of dollars on the table.

According to a state government study by OPPAGA, unrepresented policyholders walk away with significantly smaller settlements than those who have an expert in their corner. In fact, the study showed that payouts were up to 747% higher when a public adjuster managed the claim.

When you handle a claim alone, you risk:

• Leaving hidden or secondary damages completely unpaid.

• Accepting a lowball settlement that won’t cover your contractor’s actual bills.

• Paying out of pocket for repairs your insurance policy should have covered.

Because we work strictly on a contingency fee, hiring us costs you nothing upfront, but not hiring us could cost you your home’s full recovery.