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Richard,
Evidently you do not have a lot of experience as an adjuster, otherwise you would not have to ask about the perceptions, which are as varied as the different personalities of all the parties involved. I coudl give you my perception, but then you would just have my perception. My perception is meaningless, it is the collective perception that matters and if you can figure that out you should become a mathmetician. Much like doctors, attorneys, airline pilots and people who sell hamburgers at McDonalds, there are god ones, mediocre ones and god awful ones. Sort of like adjusters. But if you become one, please strive to be a good one. My best advice for that would be to read Tom Toll's posts on this website.

Public Adjusters come in different flavors.  They're much like the orange barrels in construction zones, in that they are often necessary and useful to those that are in harms way of the indifferent company adjuster.  But then again many times, they (the barrells) are there while you wait in the traffic jam and wonder why.  No troubles, no accidents, coast has been clear & you've called your insured within a day after they reported the loss, just trying your best to do your best for the insured....and BAM!!  Road blocked, and then the insured waits while you wait...because they happen to be the little guy on the PA's list of "things to do".  If someone wants to hire a PA, it doesn't bother me...the damage doesn't change, the coverage doesn't change, the price to repair doesn't change...but if you're the little guy with the modest loss, your claim takes backseat to the higher fee income losses.  That same theory might apply to some IA's that don't have their poop in a group, and that's a good start toward the law of diminishing returns. 

One thing to keep in mind; once you go to the "dark side" the chances of an IA firm (other than CAT) or insurance carrier hiring you is pretty slim.

Not all Public Adjuster's are dishonest, just 90% of them. Of the 47 years I have been an adjuster, I believe I have worked with two PA's that actually wrote an honest to goodness estimate. One was in Texas and the other in Florida. I won't mention names to protect the innocent. I have had offers from a number of PA firms to go to work for them. I turned them down as I felt I could help the insured better by representing his carrier. If you become a PA and want to get back into the IA status, good luck.

The more the merry, they keep the pot stirring for months after the event, someone has to close the file. It might as well be me.

Hello All- I am a Florida Public adjuster and let me say like anything on this earth there are the good the bad and the ugly. I like to think that I am one of the better one's and that just because what ever the damage is - it is. I don't like it when insured's try to tell me that certain damages are Hurricane related, when clearly it isn't and it won't go in my estimate. I think I have a good repor with the adjusters I meet and have been told that I am honest and easy to work with. I know there are alot of PA's that are out for blood for no reason and try to convince the I/A that the kitchen cabinets are damaged by a wind event when there was no opening and it's clear the damages are from a leaky faucet or pipe burst. I can't stand those guys and will never be that type of guy. They just give us a bad name!! I let my clients know exactly why I will not put certain damages in my estimae because they are not related to the claim that I am working. I can advise them what to do as far as opening the claim  for those damages if they are legit. But I do hear that once you cross over it's hard to go back to work for the insurance company unles they know you are one of the good one's. I have been offered many jobs by different I/A firms because they like me and know that I am honest.

I live in south east Florida. I love any PA that can speak Spanish because I can't.