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Hey Alex,
I appreciate your post. I'm one of those guys trying to decide to put a ladder on my truck and come on out there. Not only, that I'm a newbie.

Just saw a reporter in New Jersey standing in the street stomping through the mud from the sand that was blown from the beach. He made it sound so terrible! But you could see all the houses behind him were all intact.

No comparison to a Galveston type Hurricane. It was so bad in the 1900's they had to raise the island 3 feet. That was a tragedy. With that said, I'm glad the storm wasn't any worse and that the officials did a great job of preparing for the worst. Katrina taught everyone a lesson, except for maybe the mayor of Atlantic City, (it's always a mayor) nobody wants to see that again.

I thought at the time that Irene wasn't too bad but later found out some new guys did alright with it. Spent about 45 days and made out OK for a new guy.

At any rate, thanks again for your post and keeping your boots on the ground.

Hey, Scopedog. Most cat adjusters do not think too much before going, they get a call and off they go. It's more of a problem for a guy that used to be an adjuster and now has a regular job or a guy like me who is on salary now, but would consider switching back to cat.

I drove around today. a few trees down, couple of missing shingles. I say, this is not going to be a huge event. Unless manhattan flooding kicks in and bunch of BI claims pop up due to power interruption.

Unfortunately, this forum, being, probably, closest to real adjuster's forum is a quite peculiar one. Real, smart, working guys who you can learn something from, are too busy to post or do not care, hence pages of arrogance, bickering and general bull.

Alex,

Thanks for the heads up, I'm sure you'll stay busy. Next time in Manhattan, have a corned beef at Katz's, Houston Street. I miss that place!

From a native N.Y.er

Posted By Alex_Chernov on 30 Oct 2012 08:34 PM
Hey, Scopedog. Most cat adjusters do not think too much before going, they get a call and off they go. It's more of a problem for a guy that used to be an adjuster and now has a regular job or a guy like me who is on salary now, but would consider switching back to cat.

I drove around today. a few trees down, couple of missing shingles. I say, this is not going to be a huge event. Unless manhattan flooding kicks in and bunch of BI claims pop up due to power interruption.

Unfortunately, this forum, being, probably, closest to real adjuster's forum is a quite peculiar one. Real, smart, working guys who you can learn something from, are too busy to post or do not care, hence pages of arrogance, bickering and general bull.

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

Well hello Mr. Chernov, long time it has indeed been! Yes we of course bicker, but sometimes some of the things I say are actually true!!! Haha!

In any case, I am happy to see you are working a staff gig. Whilst not as much money as an independent, you will make a livable wage and a bit to sock away. The best part is no more roller coaster, no feast or famine and that is worth its weight in gold.

Some areas sustained some significant wind damage and many places suffered severe flood damage.

Nevertheless Alex, I must say me and my bride sat in front of the tv riveted as breaking news on CNN carried the headline thousands trapped in their homes and hear the reporter point to two people casually sitting on their porch, "OMG, there's more of them. We are watching a dramatic rescue, she cries!!! I then watched these people carried on some cop's shoulders as he deposits them in an inflatable boat. Alas the boat itself is.....STUCK!!!!!!!!!!Oh the humanity!! Why is this rescue craft disabled??????? Uhm could it be that everyone was standing in "ANKLE DEEP WATER?????" and as such when the folks were put in the boat, being that it was in oh so trecherous 6 inches,"although those 6 inches are very angry!!" deep????? the rubber dingy (IE rescue vessel)boat was sitting on the ...ground?? 

Locality is a two way street …
Firms and carriers that are losing IA’s on the daily claims side to Sandy’s call in the North East.. Perhaps a revision of your paying IA’s only 60% of the fee schedule might be in order… call it an early Christmas bonus.

I had a conversation with a claim manager just yesterday and he asked me what my assessment of the situation was here in NJ.  I think there are quite a few people trying to get a grasp on potential claim volume.   I honestly don't know because I haven't been out on the roads much, but I can tell you this;  while the wind had some strong gusts and most likely caused damage, it wasn't catastrophic.  And the houses in NJ are old, weather resistent and quite use to nor'easter type wind.  And the rain expectation for most of the state wasn't even close to the predictions. I heard predictions in the range of 10 inches and some areas never got to 1 or 2.   The Jersey shore was most definitely hit hard with the storm surge and there will be many flood claims.  For the adjusters willing to tackle the logistics of traffic, bridges, tunnels, islands, etc.,  there will be work.  Areas that I'm not hearing much about on the news include Delaware and Maryland and there could be a lot of work there,  Baltimore received about 6 inches of rain.  That's a lot of basement flooding.

Should be interesting, I think today and tomorrow will give firms a better handling of the claim volume.  I would expect many claims to be fast-tracked internally due to their size.  For guys like me that like to work clean-up, there will be a ton of work for sure, as many (not all)of you southern folk (all due respect ) will be high-tailing it out of here come the colder weather.  It's about 40-45 now,  they type of weather that will chill you to your core along the beach and it only drops from here.  I have a couple of conference calls today and will report what I hear.

Rainfall amounts, post storm: I think the lack of significant rain with this storm will limit the claims for interior wind-driven rain.

-3.85” in Washington D.C., at Reagan National Airport (2.69” in 1885)

-2.68” in Philadelphia (1.72” in 1953)

-4.79” in Atlantic City, N.J. (2.33” in 1908)

-3.79” in Wilmington, Del. (2.56” in 1953)

K ung Fu tzu, thanks for joining. I have received about 15 claims today. All of them commercial. Several were power interruption, BI claims, some were wind claims and some were flood. Some of my insured report water as high as 5 feet inside their home Sea Gate. Large part of Manhattan is still without power.

Governor of New York, declared that homeowners will not have to pay hurricane deductible. Which, or course, if stands would most probably mean that insurance companies will have to forgo percentage deductible on commercial policies. One of our large clients have given us the instruction to write for observable damage and do not take into consideration any of the coverage issues. Another carrier explicitly asked to apply 5% (ouch) deductible, PER LOCATION, PER OCCURENCE (that is for blanket commercial stuff).

I had hard time today on the phone, as everybody wanted me to be there IMMEDIATELY (why not require me to scope and turn in the claim as well, may be?). One of the carrier representative, apparently nice lady somewhere in Ohio, insisted that I meet insured TODAY (it was 3 pm btw). I made an effort to free up time for this "urgent" claim and, oh, irony, queen of the world, insured could not get there because he DID NOT HAVE GAS IN HIS CAR.

Another adjuster stated that they wanted me out there immediately, because storm damaged some boats on marina, and one boat was in, I quote, "PRECARIOUS SITUATION". I wonder if they though that search and rescue was my second specialty.

More news tomorrow. But, my prediction is this is going to be interesting storm, but probably not for people with a ladder, hoping to burn 5 claims a day.

Hey Alex,

I spoke with my brother in Ohio, his TV news today was showing a roofer with 40 guys in the field tarping roofs. There seems to be more wind damage in that area. Interesting to say the least.

I remember Hurricane Rita created many a blue roof in Louisiana, many were blue for over a year and there was no snow to contend with.

Right now I'm waiting for deployment orders to either Ohio or PA. Hopefully my ladder will be needed.

But I'm alright with not thinking about it too much, currently in wait and see mode. First green light and I'm gone.  

Posted By ScopeDog on 01 Nov 2012 08:53 PM

Hey Alex,

I spoke with my brother in Ohio, his TV news today was showing a roofer with 40 guys in the field tarping roofs. There seems to be more wind damage in that area. Interesting to say the least.

I remember Hurricane Rita created many a blue roof in Louisiana, many were blue for over a year and there was no snow to contend with.

Right now I'm waiting for deployment orders to either Ohio or PA. Hopefully my ladder will be needed.

But I'm alright with not thinking about it too much, currently in wait and see mode. First green light and I'm gone.  

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

ScopeDog, thank goodness you haven't left yet. I am going to deploy over the weekend to Jersey. They initially were real hell bent on me and of course thousands of other flood adjusters being on scene yesterday. I assumed when I told them no way, what do you possibly think that would have ANY logical reason to have me be there staged when most insureds haven't even been let back in the area, that they would say OK then see ya!! Fortunately they didn't and I anticipate a Monday arrival, possibly Tuesday. That being said, I have a large contingent of my rookie members already in Pittsburgh and have been there since Tuesday the day after Sandy . WHY??????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Other idiotic IA firms have tons of adjusters sitting in hotels doing NOTHING!!! I am already getting these angry emails about carriers not telling IA firms anything yet, A wait and see! All I can say to those rookie adjusters is live and learn. Sad thing is half these guys also got burned from Isaac. In all reality to those folks, fool me once shame on you, fool me twice... shame on me!!

Why this is happening again is amazing to me. All I can think of is that possibly many IA firms on preferred vendors lists with carriers are claiming thousands of available adjusters when they are soliciting for the carriers business. Claiming to have thousands and in reality only have 25% of promised numbers seems to me the IA firm would much rather screw the adjusters than to not be able to deliver the promised numbers and lose the carrier's business

i should probably qualify that statement.

It is apparent that Sandy is NO Isaac, I believe everyone deployed is going to work. Nevertheless I think the lion's share of claims will go to us NFIP certified adjusters.

Only time will tell, but I honestly think the carriers and some IA firms are exploiting the availability and eagerness of rookie adjusters willing to do anything if only for a handful of claims. IMHO 

Update; Actually I have no update other than the holding pattern continues. Flood claims are coming in, but gas lines are enormous and residents haven't been let onto the barrier islands yet, hopefully by tomorrow but it will only be residents. Monday will be critical mass day for sure.

@ CatAdjusterX = You nailed it

Robbie, your ETA is better than most, too many arrived early and are sitting in gas lines for 2+ hrs. I arrived yesterday and set myself in those lines. I was one of the ones on ISSAC burned by Allcat Claims. Many of us went elsewhere this round, the burn we got last time from Allcat taught us. The other thing is there ridiculous 60% split, that is later lowered to 55% once claims start to slow down. cant make money on those percentages especially on denials.

I feel for the newbies and more so for the insureds that get an inexperienced adjuster, its a disservice all around. Allcat has sent emails advising they need anyone thats avail for Hartford Ins as they dont require certification, so no experience is required!! I have a sister in law that went, she has no experience, has never used xactimate or even been on a roof. Allcat told her buy a laptop and they will add xactimate on site for her. The orientation Allcat put on in VA she said they were showing the whole room what a shingle gauge was, what 3 tab versus laminated was, its scary as hell. This boils down to firms simply wanting more and more regardless of the cost to the insureds, carriers and adjusters.

FYI start booking room now as many hotels booked.

I'm in commercial roofing (sales). The owner wants me to go up there, but I'm needing to know where to go exactly. I don't want to throw a dart at the storm area and hope I hit an area that has a lot of damaged commerical roofs. It's going to be like a roofer's convention so I'm really needing to work smart here. Any information, advice, &/or connections would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I am driving out and taking several days to do it. Like Robbie, I will not be arriving until Monday or Tuesday. And I am not going at the request of one of those companies that brings in hundreds of adjusters for two weeks work. I seem to have learned a thing or three since my early days. In 1998 a company deployed me before the Hurricane hit and told me to head down to North Carolina. Half way there it dawned on me that I was driving into the path of a hurricane on purpose. I stopped and stayed with friends on the way to slow down my arrival. I was still too early to start work right away, and the total workload consited of 21 claims apiece when we all arrived on scene.

I haven't made the trip out yet... I was offered the first wave, but still just a little hesitant.

First off, I'm not sure that there are enough wind claims to keep me busy long enough to justify the trip from Oklahoma. Secondly, I was on our conference call yesterday... one of the adjusters already on scene says he had to have a police escort to get back to his vehicle after an inspection (Atlantic City). He said it was a close call, and fortunate that there was a police officer on patrol. If you're not a cop or a delivery driver, you don't fit in. I guess it's illegal to carry a concealed weapon, and you can do jail time if caught - with or without a permit from what I've heard. I would't want to be on the front lines with a can of hornet spray as my only defense.

Maybe the area is just a little to shaky for me, but I would like to get a piece of the work somewhere in the region. From what I'm hearing, most of the damage is for the NFIP assessment. I had an offer to work FEMA inspections ($57.50 per inspection) and turned them down - I've done that before and found it to be a cluster.

Anyway, most of the guys out there working are not going to take the time to read this forum. Just wondering if there are more like Medulus that are on their way out there. I'd like to get some input before agreeing to accept my invitation to head out there. I always like to give it a few days for the dust to settle after a storm, and in this case for the gas station lines to shorten. Just would like to know more about the volume of work that might be available and any other safety on the streets issues.

Although I will miss this event a note to all adjusters. Be safe, do not take chances and the best of luck. This will be a challanging assignment.

Come on guys, especially you Steve, realism will ruin the experience for the newbies. Out of work for years, 6 figure income, whats a little snow, cold and the power out. Drag a 5th wheel into New York and go to work.

Pilot has had claims reps on scene for a week.