22 Mar Roof Inspection Services: Improving the Roof Claims Experience
Did you know that storms cause over $19 billion dollars annually in damage to property, and that hail claims represent about a sixth of that number with $3 billion dollars in damage annually? Because of those numbers, roof claims are on the rise. Insurance companies aren’t just dealing with homeowners, they are interacting with roofing contractors, ladder assists, independent adjusters, public adjusters, engineers, and roof consultants during the claims process. With so many parties involved in the process and their roof inspection services, claims have become more litigious and certainly more contentious. Homeowners have become leery of the insurance adjuster sent from their insurance company, and as a result, the claims experience is suffering. Insurance companies are scrambling to make the entire experience including, roof inspection services and customer relations, better.
Roof Inspection Services: How You Can Improve The Roof Claims Experience
When it comes to your customers’ roof claims experience, here are 3 things adjusters can implement to improve it:
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Better Communication with the Insured
The roof inspection services experts at Alliance Consulting & Testing have handled thousands of roof claims and one of the biggest things we hear from homeowners is how poor communication is between them, their insurance carrier, and the experts they hire. Many of the homeowners say they never hear from their adjuster, especially when contacted multiple times. The experts they hire, ladder assists and engineers, tend to be worse. They seldom let the homeowner/property owner know when they will inspect their roof, and when the homeowner happens to be home, the engineer or ladder assists don’t talk to them. They act more like a hired gun versus an independent expert who is willing to speak with the homeowner.
Because of this careless approach to communication, roofing contractors and public adjusters are further inciting the homeowner to escalate their claim. Simple communication, like check-ins via a phone call or email, updating the homeowner on the status of their roof inspection and the claim can alleviate this issue.
2. Get Good Help When an Expert is Needed
As an insurance adjuster, you’re dealing with several things on your plate. Finding the right help can be a challenge when assessing whether a roofing system has sustained physical damage due to hail impact. Unfortunately, the pool of experts that provide roof inspection services has become diluted with a myriad of experts and there can be misgivings about many of them.
- Engineers are strong from a technical standpoint and their ability to perform a forensic inspection. Additionally, they have the professional certifications to act as expert witnesses. However, their communication skills tend to be less than ideal and their turnaround time on reports is typically slow.
- Ladder assists, on the other hand, suffer from not being true experts in roofing. Many ladder assists have multiple professions, the ladder assist that was on the roof may not the same one who writes the report, and many ladder assists are shot-gunned through a “certification” program with an engineering firm in a course that lasts three days and they take an open-book test—this hardly counts as qualifications to inspect a roof.
- Expert roof consultants though tend to be members of RCI (Roof Consultants Institute), go through strenuous roofing science and technology courses, have court-tested certifications in the RRO and RRC designation. The full-time job of roof consultants is performing roof inspection services. They have the ability to be truly independent and can communicate with the homeowner in a positive way, and they will write the reports for the roofs they inspect.
3. Treat People the Way They Want to be Treated
Often, we see homeowners or property owners frustrated because they don’t feel they were treated fairly. Much of this stems from poor communication and not getting the right help at the start of the claim (see points above). However, there is a greater need to make sure people are treated fairly and well.
Technology is changing the way we communicate and many of us have become lazy. Putting in the extra human touch in a technology-driven world goes a long way. The company that decides that they will be a technology company AND a people company will win in the 21st century. This is paramount to the success of the claims experience because consumers now have a powerful tool on their side: social media. Word-of-mouth used to be from person-to-person, now it is from smartphone-to-smartphone. You can be filmed in an instant and your negative claims experience can be shared with the world in minutes with a convenient tag to let everyone know that your company is the one that screwed up.
Partnering with Alliance To Improve Your Claims Experience
At Alliance Consulting & Testing, we partner with insurance professionals every day to assist them through independent, expert roof inspection services. With an emphasis on communication and unbiased information, we can help you improve your organization’s image while maintaining a high level of professionalism. Do you want help creating a better claims experience for your customers? Submit your insurance project to get started today!
