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mxr618,

I'm gonna wade in on this against my better judgement.

I've been a staffy guy, an independent daily guy, a cat adjuster guy, and worn a lot of hats in each of these endeavors. I've never had a problem getting work and have learned the hard way who to work for and who to ignore.

In the cat world, I've always made more money on the smaller events, the hail storms, the wind storms, the ice storms. The other side of the coin,...........I know several guys that were in the right place at the right time and made lots and lots of money working "slab" claims on the coast. That door never opened for me for whatever reason. I'm a little jealous but I've gotten over it. For several years, my phone would ring and I'd be sent to "BFE" by myself to work a small event that would last for 60 to 90 days and would report to a supervisor that might be several states away. I'm not sure that I'm that good an adjuster but I am sure that I would go wherever, whenever they called and do my best.

The most I've ever made was in Detroit (who would'a thought it) working ice dam claims. I was one of just a few adjusters that would even GO to Detroit, let alone work with minimal supervision. (I'm not going back to South Chicago, no matter what) The claims were easy, no roofs, no BS, just lots and lots of interior damage that included lots of plaster repair. The sliding fee schedule I was working under was adequate and, like I said, I made a lot of money. I did this by closing a lot of claims. THAT STAYED CLOSED!! And the firm I was working for, Pilot Catastrophe, takes money very seriously. They took care of mine and theirs with equal interest.

The point I'm trying to make, I think, is find a company that treats you with respect, treats your money with respect, and is willing to put you to work. You, and I, need to be able to go wherever, whenever with no drama and do a pretty darn good job when you get there. And, be willing to stay until the assignment is completed. Once you have this rapport established with your employer, you will have work whenever there IS work.

Ya just have to be a duck...........talk like a duck, walk like a duck and be the duck. There's lots of ponds out there.

Happy Trails

Larry - 

I can dig it. I've got a 200 mile radius around Chicago that I run day claims in. I know this is a cat website but I think I'd rather do day claims. Being home for the Mrs. is probably the best motivator at the moment.

I lived in Atlanta in 2009 / 2010 working storm damage restoration. Loved the work, loved Atlanta, loved the money, didn't love seeing my wife one weekend a month. It would have been the same deal as an 'in house catastrophe adjuster' working for 50-70k per year + bennies with some of the companies I interviewed with in January / February. I think I can make a little more than that and be home most nights. Also, if a short deployment to a second or third tier Midwestern city comes up and I can run three, maybe four claims per day for a month it just helps my bottom line and I can handle it. 

Here's an interesting observation: I'm amazed at how much I've learned since I started running claims. I'm also amazed at how much I didn't know. I can't fathom green adjusters fresh from training hitting the ground with three days of adjuster school, three days of SF training, and two days of Xactimate and getting handed thirty + claims. That's mildly horrifying.

I have to do South Chicago...no choice!

MXR

Well said, Larry.

Quack, quack.

Man you guys are making out the adjustment world to be a pretty tough gig. I think AMCAT USA apparently sends you to catastrophe areas, but take forever to pay you. Any recommendations on getting into the industry? I live near Irving, so I wanted to take their courses.

Posted By stormcrow on 11 Apr 2012 11:54 AM 
... Understand that evertime a few thousand money hungry under trainned adjsuters hit the ground in a major event, we all pay the price down the road...

Yeah, but the clean-up pays well.  I had four months of well-paid work re-doing some unbelieveably screwed-up claims after Irene.  Had to do damage control with the homeowners, but most accepted my explanation of why they got a doofus for their first adjuster.

I understand what you are saying ddreisbach, however I try to refrain from disparaging others and just try to reinforce to the insured's that I am now present to address all of their issues. I love working clean-up.

Every time you do clean up of major screwups we become lower then pond scum or even the sludge on the bottom of the pond. You can make good money on that type of clean up, but our value to the companies goes down, if it can get lower. Remember a claim over paid by telephone can be recovered in increased premiums, but paying adjusters twice to do a claim costs policies lost  due to poor customer service and the adjusting costs can not be used to justify a rate increase.

Posted By AaronA on 18 Apr 2012 11:08 AM
Man you guys are making out the adjustment world to be a pretty tough gig. I think AMCAT USA apparently sends you to catastrophe areas, but take forever to pay you. Any recommendations on getting into the industry? I live near Irving, so I wanted to take their courses.

.....................

I cannot speak for working for them because I never have, however they are indeed a top notch school. You must understand that the knowledge necessary to obtain your Texas license is not the end of the learning experience, it is only the beginning. If you take the combo course(licensing/XM8/Adjuster101), understand that again, the knowledge gleaned from these courses are NOT designed to prepare you to begin working claims upon, "graduation". These courses merely give you rudimentary knowledge of the industry and the preferred estimating software of the CAT industry.. XM8. They give you a solid foundation upon which you can add to as you continue to learn the industry

Posted By stormcrow on 30 Apr 2012 11:58 PM
Every time you do clean up of major screwups we become lower then pond scum or even the sludge on the bottom of the pond. You can make good money on that type of clean up, but our value to the companies goes down, if it can get lower. Remember a claim over paid by telephone can be recovered in increased premiums, but paying adjusters twice to do a claim costs policies lost  due to poor customer service and the adjusting costs can not be used to justify a rate increase.

I can only address the work that I do once assigned.  How can I prevent poor claims handling unless I were a vendor or carrier?

I often do clean up, and we can not control that. My point was we all pay in the long run as the value of cat adjusters tanks.