# Anyone ever self contracted your own insurance claim?



## joulian (Dec 9, 2011)

Kitchen caught on fire (dont ask me, ask y wife) , I am rebuiding it now. how do I go abt invoicing insurance company? I usually use RSMeans for general pricing on my day2day work.


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## Inner10 (Mar 12, 2009)

Depends on the insurance company, my neighbor did it when his basement flooded, got quotes, submitted his own and had to suffer a 15% discount or something to that effect.


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## griz (Nov 26, 2009)

You will need to have an approved claim to get paid.

When I did insurance work there was only a lump sum check unless it was a very large job.


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## Insuranceclaims (Aug 31, 2009)

joulian said:


> Kitchen caught on fire (dont ask me, ask y wife) , I am rebuiding it now. how do I go abt invoicing insurance company? I usually use RSMeans for general pricing on my day2day work.



....sharing 18 years of restoration/adjusting background, more times than not you will come out on the short side of the stick for multiple reasons......just to name a few:

1) if water damage was involved, how do you know the mitigation by a vendor or yourself was done properly
2) if you are not experienced in writing a proper scope of work, you will short change the work to be done
3) in many states, homeowners are not paid Profit and Overhead on the scope of work unless a work authorization or contract has been presented to the carrier
4) if the carrier learns that you are doing the work yourself, you will get paid less
5) if you are not experienced in structural drying or fire losses, you most likely would not know enough to ask the right questions or whether you are receiving the right answers.

This is why it is important to speak with someone knowledgeable in handling all aspects of insurance property damage claims.


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## BamBamm5144 (Jul 12, 2008)

Insuranceclaims said:


> ....sharing 18 years of restoration/adjusting background, more times than not you will come out on the short side of the stick for multiple reasons......just to name a few:
> 
> 1) if water damage was involved, how do you know the mitigation by a vendor or yourself was done properly
> 2) if you are not experienced in writing a proper scope of work, you will short change the work to be done
> ...


Okay Question.

So lets say my roof gets totaled and I invoice it through my company. Why would I get any less money than if I did my neighbors?


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## PCI (Jun 8, 2012)

Because you work for your company and an insured cannot benefit from a claim. I have gotten approval to do my own, but no profit, no overhead. So I had my gc friend submit my bid and we went from there


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## TxElectrician (May 21, 2008)

I'm thinking the OP has finished his kitchen by now.


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## Astrix (Feb 23, 2009)

PCI said:


> Because you work for your company and an insured cannot benefit from a claim.


This is correct. 

Usually, when a fire occurs, the HO has to hire a professional contractor to do the repair. The insurance company will pay the contractor's invoice including the O&P that has been built into that bottom dollar amount. The HO has not profited from the claim.

However, in the case where the HO does his own repair, then he cannot profit on this. The reason for this restriction is to prevent the "moral risk" whereby a contractor who is having a very slow year might be tempted to "create" some work for himself. You can get approval from the insurance company to do your own repair (after all it is your home and you would probably trust your own work over another contractor's work). The insurer will agree to pay for materials; but not for your mark-up, profit or your own hours. You may be able to negotiate with the insurer whereby they agree to pay your workers or subs their standard hourly wages.

While the above is the norm, it is sometimes possible to negotiate some mark-up or profit for fixing your own home. The way to present your argument is as follows:

The situation to date is that you offered to do your own repair and the insurer agrees but has refused to pay you profit. You are within your rights to refuse the job, so you tell them to get someone else. Next, several other quotes come in from outside contractors. What's important to recognize is that these quotes will include a profit margin. Before agreeing to a final choice, you present your own quote again which will have to be lower than any other competing quotes from outside contractors. You then have a "delicate" discussion with the insurer whereby you need to convince them to over-ride the "Insured can't profit from the loss rule" because they will save a substantial amount on the claim payment by using you and not an outside contractor. Your broker will be key in helping out in this regard.

I can't guarantee this will work, and most claims where the contractor is also the Insured don't work out this way. However, our brokerage has successfully helped negotiate this type of claims adjustment in the past for our contractor clients, so it can be done if well presented and successfully negotiated with the insurer.


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## Astrix (Feb 23, 2009)

TxElectrician said:


> I'm thinking the OP has finished his kitchen by now.


Darn, got caught by the resurrected old thread monster again. 

Oh well. I'll leave my previous post as others who read it might find it useful for future consideration even though it won't help the OP with his 2011 kitchen fire claim.


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