Insurance appraisal and umpire services
When an insured and a carrier cannot agree on the amount of loss, most property policies provide an appraisal process to resolve it without litigation. That process works well when the people conducting it actually know construction, and badly when they do not.
A construction dispute settled by construction people
Under a typical appraisal clause, each side names a competent and impartial appraiser. The two appraisers select an umpire. If the two appraisers agree on the amount of loss, that agreement is binding. If they cannot agree, they submit their differences to the umpire, and an award signed by any two of the three sets the amount of loss.
Appraisal decides the amount of the loss. It does not decide coverage. That distinction is frequently misunderstood, and getting it wrong wastes months.
The reason appraisal so often fails to resolve anything is that the panel lacks anyone who can actually price construction. Two people trading spreadsheets neither of them built is not a resolution process. A panel member who can walk the building, write the scope and defend each line changes the dynamic immediately.
Roles we accept
- Party appraiser for a policyholder
- Party appraiser for a carrier
- Neutral umpire selected by the appraisers or appointed by the court
- Consulting expert to a party appraiser on construction scope and cost
- Independent scope and estimate reviewer prior to invoking appraisal
Published rates. Acting as appraiser and acting as umpire are both listed on our fee schedule, so all parties know the cost before the panel is formed.
Claim support before the dispute hardens
Most disagreements about the amount of loss are avoidable. They arise because the original scope was incomplete, not because anyone acted in bad faith.
Independent scope review
Line by line review of the carrier estimate against actual site conditions, identifying omitted scope, understated quantities and unit costs that do not apply to this building.
Supplemental claim development
Documentation of concealed damage discovered during demolition, presented in the format carriers require so supplements are approved rather than argued.
Code upgrade analysis
Identification of building code requirements triggered by the scope of repair, and the documentation needed to establish them under ordinance or law coverage.
Scope reconciliation
Working directly between the insured's contractor and the carrier's estimator to isolate where two estimates actually differ, which is usually far narrower than the totals suggest.
Replacement cost analysis
Evaluation of whether a policy limit reflects the true cost to rebuild the structure, before a loss reveals that it does not.
Coverage litigation support
Where appraisal is not available or has failed, expert testimony on scope, cost and cause in first party coverage litigation.
What competent and impartial actually requires
Policies require that a party appraiser be competent and impartial. Those words carry real weight, and an appraiser who treats the role as advocacy can put an entire award at risk.
Competent means capable of independently determining the amount of loss, which requires the ability to develop a scope and price it. Impartial means the appraiser reaches their own conclusion, even when that conclusion is not what the party who named them hoped for.
This firm accepts appraiser assignments from both policyholders and carriers, and umpire assignments from panels and from courts. That balance is not incidental. It is what makes the appointments possible.
An appraiser who cannot reach a conclusion adverse to the party that named them is not an appraiser. They are an advocate holding the wrong title.
On the Appraisal RoleAppraisal panel needing a construction qualified member?
We accept party appraiser assignments from both sides and umpire assignments from panels and from courts. Rates are published.
- Direct(619) 464-3997
- Toll Free(800) 619-4833
- Office7777 Alvarado Road, Suite 408A
La Mesa, CA 91942 - LicenseCSLB #345079