Fun with coverage caps

[SMRBAP]

No cap on the water side - $15k cap on the mold.

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Now comes the what side does it go on game.

Vacant, main broke, has been wet for a month plus.

In my mind, everything wet is a loss due to the length of time - Hardwoods, subfloor, all drywall from floor to ceiling, insulation, doors trim, cabinets (basically back to sticks) and shouldn't fall to the mold side and eat up any of the mold cap.

All I am writing to the mold side counting towards the cap will be blasting and sealing of the floor joists, studs, attic wood members etc, and related items, air scrubs, ppe, etc. and because the items were pulled due to time wet and not mold - none of the rebuild costs will be placed on the capped side.

Have a feeling the adjuster is going to fight me on that tooth and nail.

Any advice from previous experience to better prepare for that battle. So far I haven't found any solid one liner to win the debate - and we are running into this a lot more lately.

 

[Desk Jockey]

We have a sewage cleanup/mold remediation job being tested right now. Same scenario and we have purposed the same thing to the adjuster, everything that is wet goes towards the water and the rest towards the mold cap of 5K. He was good with it, with the reminder of he can only pay 5K to mold. Shouldn't be an issue for this job only one wall has visible contamination, we will have to see what the protocol says.

Yours sounds much larger than what we have. Whats the adjuster like, is he willing to work with you?

 

[dealtimeman]

I am not known to walk from jobs, but I would really figure out what exactly you can charge know all details before accepting this type of job.

 

[SMRBAP]

Whole house is already torn 4' down. Tubs, commodes, sinks, cabinets, appliances, water heater, furnace, softener... all detached. Basically back to sticks 4' down. 4 guys - 10 hours (love my crew!)

Have to pull the drywall and insulation 4' up now, and the last step is the hardwoods which are right to joists (no subfloor).

Legitimately - everything should go from the water side due to time wet alone. In his mind, it's (4' and up) only coming out due to mold - he communicated that today.

It's going to be a battle I think - I don't think he even wrote it, was waiting on the biggest resty chain (also the slowest and most expensive in the US) to write it to compare it to mine. Took them about a half month to get to it - he never sent the estimate to the custy as he promised for my review as well. My guess is they came in around 6 figures and he scramble to approve my initial scope and quote.

I'm probably going to end up with about $4000-6000 I can't charge for going his way. However the claim in total payout from beginning to rebuild should hit right at about $58k

Now that I have all the numbers run - probably will let the adjuster have it his way, do my best to nail this project ninja fast - and see if I can't get some work from him - though all previous miracles we have pulled off have produced zilch in that area to date...lol.

Indy is PSP land.

 

[Desk Jockey]

We have very few adjusters that request us, most everything we get is because the homeowner ask for us or made the initial call to us.

Still lose a ton to the Preferred Vendor's but we are making some headway.

Nice job!

We are supposed to start an $85,000.00 mold job next week. I just hope it doesn't get too out of hand and we get left with little work should they decide demo is the better option. For now it's still a go.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

How's their FIRE insurance?

 

[Desk Jockey]

Wet for a month it's going to wick up the drywall. BUT around here they would try to crawl out of coverage since it was left unoccupied.

 

[dealtimeman]

I think lee is suggesting to burn it down?

 

[SMRBAP]

Doc, I'll never understand why they are so hell bent on using PSP's and not just leaving it up for bid with a requirement the mitigation portions be completed with a firm that has certifications on their walls - pay the insured and save some $.

This insurer's go to co. is 20-30% above every dead on Xactimate based proposal I have ever written. Mostly bc they tearout as the first option almost always.

I do know a few non-PSP's (and even one PSP) that pull some mega dirty doo to get jobs. Their biggest winner is to tell the insured custy's they will give $20k-30k back on large losses, write those estimates about $60k high - Take a $150k job, get it written to $210k by writing solid doors, stain grade trim, exotic materials etc that were not there - use that as the initial scope estimate, complete the work, then when the custy get's paid that $150k, arrive to collect the check with the good news bad news line.

Bad news is your insurer screwed us on this project and since they short paid by $60k - we can't give you that $20k.
Good news is my boss is an amazing guy and isn't going to come after you for the balance of $60k you should be paying out of pocket.

Complete BS - and they come out looking like a super hero. One local co. here has been pulling that for years.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Yea that's enough to make you sick.

It's not that bad here but they do here as they do there. Rip out and dry is way more expensive than restorative drying. They just don't seem to understand we can save them money. Fortunately most home & business owners understand the savings and the hassle saved them by drying and not replacing.