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Hello friend,

I echo stormcrow's sentiments. Losing Ray Hall was a big loss, most poignantly to his family, but also to us here on CADO and the industry as a whole.

Although Ray is no longer here, his legacy is and always will be. As with the book he spoke of wanting to finish that you inquired about, all of his posts and unique musings are forever archived here on CADO.

Wanting to help the next generation of claims adjusters was a passion for Ray yet I think was also a source of extreme frustration for him. I say as much because for every 10 newly licensed claims adjusters who came on to CADO shouting from the rooftops that  they are," willing to do what it takes to become a student of the industry and to learn their craft," 9 of them weren't serious and wanted it handed to them.

About a year or so (give or take) before Ray passed, we got together and he wanted to set up a weekend of claims 101for those newly licensed claims adjusters who were serious about getting into the business.

Ray even went so far as to offer up his cabin as the place for the training and even went so far as to offer weekend lodging for up to 8 or 10 of the first folks who signed up in his cabin at NO CHARGE. I was real excited to be a part of that as I also have a passion for helping the new folks (I think you will find that many of the senior guys here on CADO share those same feelings) So I set about promoting this rare opportunity and posted on some of our most popular industry websites (CADO / ClaimSmentor / Claimspages / Dimechimes) for a few weeks. I had envisioned standing room ONLY. Boy was I wrong!! On the Monday preceding the training (Friday night / Saturday / Sunday afternoon) I had to tell Ray that not a single person so much as inquired about the event. Of course he was stoic about it, but deep down I and I'm sure others knew how much that hurt him. Me, well let's just say I am NOT stoic. I was angry and what's more, I was embarrassed for these folks who purported to be willing to do whatever it takes to get their shot. I blasted these folks. It seems these folks only want to wallow in the many overpriced cattle calls that includes learning almost nothing but after the requisite 8 hours receive some shiny new (albeit worthless) certification as they walk out the door. I felt at that time, if somebody wants to get the attention of our rookie sub-set, simply charge them $299.00 for some bulls$%t 8 hour Adjuster 101 course, hand them a shiny little certificate as they walk out the door and they will be breaking down the door to get there. Yet when you offer them some real substantive knowledge and an opportunity to really learn something... at NO COST, nothing but the sound of crickets chirping! 

In any case, like I said his legacy lives on here on CADO. You can spend hours here on CADO reading and absorbing Ray's posts. One other thing, I am not sure if the CADO Chat Room keeps all previous communications or not. Yet one of the things Ray really enjoyed doing was hanging out in the chat room and was willing to mentor anyone willing to ask questions. So if CADO does archive those chat logs, I suggest you look those up as well.

I first came to know Ray in 2008. My first impression of Ray was he was a stubborn old school kind of guy. Further, I thought he was unnecessarily HARSH on the new folks. I think one of my first communications with him was along the lines of," If you are so sick and tired of all these "newbies" asking," I just got my Texas license, what do I do now?", then QUIT hanging out in the "getting started threads!"

I learned very quickly that Ray Hall wasn't harsh on newly licensed claims adjusters. Ray was ONLY harsh on...the wannabes / the Lazy / the folks who assumed receiving their adjuster's license was the end of the learning / and above all was harsh on those who expected to be spoon fed vital information.

I think most of all, Ray wanted the next generation of claims adjusters to understand that there is so much more to OUR industry than adjuster's licenses / IA firms / Fee schedules / XM8 / hurricane(s)

In closing (trust me, many CADO folks are thinking...thank god, its about time I shut the hell up) one of the tasks that Ray would give for motivated rookie adjusters to do as homework:

Ray would tell you to scope your own house, a friend's house, parents, siblings. Assume that a large tree has fallen on the risk with severe damage to the living room / bedroom's 1 / 2 and master bedroom and master bath. Scope the risk, write up an estimate in XM8 (to include getting the tree off of the risk) then submit to Ray for critique and revisions.

Not many folks did so.

So with that, if you (along with any one of our newly licensed brethren) are serious about learning something, go ahead and follow Ray's instructions.

Once completed, submit your work product right here on CADO. If you and others are willing to put in the effort to do so, I guarantee that many of CADO's experienced members would have no problem critiquing your work product and advise you on revisions, what you did right, what you did wrong.

Good luck and god bless!

Robby