David J. Dybdahl

The fortunes of every restoration firm are inextricably linked to the fortunes of insurance companies.

Over the last few years, contents cleaning and restoration has become an important service for restoration and remediation contractors to provide. Not only can it be profitable, it also offers contractors the opportunity to set themselves apart from their competitors.

As the green cleaning trend ramps up, I’m sure many of you are considering implementing this as a service offered by your company. It seems like a no-brainer. 

I was recently chatting with a restorer and trying to explain why his insurance needed to be customized to cover the risks he faced in doing work assigned under master services agreements. 

There are significant changes in the insurance marketplace in store for restoration contractors in 2019. These changes will adversely affect many restoration firms, some a lot more than others.

Managing the risks associated with master services agreements with insurance companies for remediation services requires attention to detail when reviewing the contract. If a restorer misses a detail in the contract, the indemnity agreement in these contracts can leave the restorer in the position of being the insurance company of a big insurance company.

Last month, we talked about the issue with claims frequency. However, I don’t want any of this information to scare you away from making a claim when you need to. In this article, you’ll find a list of situations that should always be reported as a claim.

When should you report a claim to your insurance company? Every claims adjuster will tell you “report all possible claims to us as soon as you can.” However, following their advice will usually turn out badly for a restoration firm. 

In December, you read about six factors to consider to be sure you get paid for commercial category 3 water jobs. It was part of an ongoing conversation about a shift in coverage on these claims.

This is the third in a series of articles on how to get paid for insured restoration work. The first two articles focused on accelerating payments from insurance companies and from banks holding two party checks in escrow, mostly in homeowners insurance claims.