Helpful Resources

No, you don’t have to work with a public adjuster.

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.
• 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.
• Communication has broken down: If your insurer is unresponsive, dragging out the process, or leaning heavily on technical policy jargon (“legalese”), an independent representative can act as your advocate.
• You’ve never made a claim before: If you don’t have a general understanding of your policy and its coverages you should consider hiring a public adjuster. Your insurance company has an adjuster shouldn’t you be properly represented?

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 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.

At Claims Cafe we take a very customer centric 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 your public adjuster takes over the stressful administrative and negotiation work by handling four critical steps:

1. Documenting Damage: Conducting comprehensive, 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 all direct communication and negotiations with your insurance company to secure a maximum payout.

In Florida a public adjuster typically costs 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 typically capped by state laws at a maximum of 10%.

No Double-Dipping: Public adjusters legally cannot charge a fee on money your insurance company already paid you before you hired them. They only take a percentage of the additional funds or the total settlement 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.