W/D Companies.......What's Your Average?

[rwcarpet]

For a typical home WD claim, be it a water heater, washing machine, sump pump, toilet feed line, frozen pipes....what's your average? Searching online, I found averages from $4000 to $5900. The reason I ask is that the company that I sub for was asked to fill out and estimate a "claim" for purposes of pricing. (They didn't give any square footage, or whether walls were wet.) I won't say what insurance company it was, but they claim that the average should be in the $2000-$2500 range! I guess that doesn't take into consideration carpet extracting, carpet drying, structure drying,(air movers, dehumidifiers) pad replacement (if needed), cleaning and deodorizing the carpet and any upholstery that was wet. Plus travel time to the job to set up, monitor, pull moldings, take readings, deal with upset customers, and return to pull equipment....oh, and get there in 2 hours.

Have you had an audit like this???

 

[dealtimeman]

1800-2500 with residential 8500 commercial

 

[kmdineen]

To dry a one or two room loss, class 1 or 2, a $2200 average is right on.

 

[Desk Jockey]

For us $2,500.00-$3,000.00 but we only mitigation, ( extraction and drying) no put back.

 

["The" Al Bradham]

Why don't you just give them a price list for your services and equipment cost? Air mover $$$, Dehu $$$, After hours call $$$, and so on. There is no way to know the cost of a water loss.

 

[rwcarpet]

Why don't you just give them a price list for your services and equipment cost? Air mover $$$, Dehu $$$, After hours call $$$, and so on. There is no way to know the cost of a water loss.

I agree, Al.......I just sub for this WD company, and they have a price guideline that the insurance company will pay. I can see that average ($2200) on a 1 or 2 room loss, but all the unknowns.......drywall, paneling, upholstery...can add up. One would think that the insurance companies would want the job done right the first time, rather than shop for lowest price.

I've seen them go out and higher the "newby's" in the WD business, just to call us back to correct problems.

 

[dealtimeman]

What does your sub agreement state?

I agree with al, give them a line item cost per each and that way there is no confusion when the invoice is turned in.

Do you sub at a certain percentage?

 

[SMRBAP]

Our average is a bit higher this year, but it's simply due to bigger losses.

Just learn and get Xactimate - there is never any argument in terms of pricing when the invoice or estimate is handed to them output from it.

You can print the price list or export it in pdf format, and send it that way.

The only argument you'll ever get is over some things insurers are trying to avoid paying, such as ESRVD (emergency service call during biz hrs), base service charges, O&P for those that don't complete through rebuild, and sometimes the unit qty for the line items themselves (but never their respective line itemized prices).

Typically, when subs and insurers ask for prices, when you say we use and price to Xactimate standards, nothing more is needed.

 

[rwcarpet]

What does your sub agreement state?

I agree with al, give them a line item cost per each and that way there is no confusion when the invoice is turned in.

Do you sub at a certain percentage?

I sub for an hourly rate for extraction. Many times, I'm the first person on the job and begin trying to minimize the damage by blocking furniture and other items that shouldn't be wet. Then I begin extracting before the WD company arrives. Our insurer wants a 2 hour response time, so many times we drop everything and head for the job.

As for cleaning, I charge what the exactimate will pay....usually a little less so that the WD company can make a few bucks on me for billing and handling the claim. On extreme jobs I charge more for the time spent. Many custys already had dirty or filthy carpet and furniture, and expect miracles for something that isn't even insurance related. We just had to redo a basement yesterday because the custys dog keeps pissing on the carpet, and the custy had piles of moldy clothes laying around, contributing to the odor. Should insurers pay for that? I won't even bill for that job just to make the insurers happy.