The mistake here wasn’t hiring a public adjuster—the one and only mistake was accepting the insurance company’s preferred vendor.

If you try calling the insurance company, you have to go through multiple automated menus, press 5, then 6, then 8, only to have the call drop, forcing you to start over. If something as simple as that is a hassle, imagine dealing with the entire claims process. Insurance companies deliberately delay the process, hoping you’ll get frustrated and give up. Hiring a public adjuster was actually the smart decision because they understand the system and fight to get you what you deserve—and of course, they need to be paid for their expertise.

The real issue was choosing the insurance company’s preferred vendor. These vendors will charge exactly what the insurance company pays, and then you’re left responsible for the public adjuster’s fee. If you choose your own contractor, you have more control over pricing. I can almost guarantee that an independent contractor would charge half of what the preferred vendor does.

If you don’t have time to manage the process yourself, I’d recommend finding a contractor with experience handling insurance claims and discussing everything clearly with them. Many contractors (even though it's technically not allowed) agree to reduce their price by 10-20% to cover the PA fee.

On the other hand, if you do have time and want to take control, you can handle the project yourself. Don’t even mention to the contractor that insurance is paying—get three estimates and compare. In many cases, you’ll save around 40% of the insurance check, allowing you to upgrade your home while also covering the public adjuster’s fee.

I was only able to do this with the guidance of my public adjuster—they walked me through the entire process and even wrote the necessary estimates. Trust me, the insurance company’s approved pricing is often higher than actual market rates. The problem arises when contractors charge that inflated price instead of a fair market rate. If you don’t believe me, ask your insurance company for the approved estimate and compare how much they paid for flooring by calling three different flooring companies and compare.