  | If you need immediate service, please call us now at (478) 784-7080 or toll free at (877) 368-7991 A live person always answers our phone! |
| If you need immediate service, please call us now at (478) 784-7080 or toll free at (877) 368-7991 A live person always answers our phone! |
| "Preferred" Contractors and Contractor Programs There are two types of contractors that provide fire and water damage repairs: contractors that work for insurance companies, and contractors that work for you. In today's world, it can be hard to tell them apart at first. Here is some information you need to know! Many insurance companies today use what is known as a "Preferred Contractor Program." They are known by many names: State Farm's is called "PSP" (for "Premier Service Provider") while Allstate calls theirs "Alacrity." Crawford & Company, a gigantic insurance adjusting company, has one called "Crawford Connection." Contractor programs were born in the early 1990's as a way for insurance companies to provide an additional service for their customers. At first, these programs referred only the most qualified contractors, but over the years the idea has changed for the worse! Today, many insurance companies "prefer" these companies because they will cut corners and compromise the quality of your work in exchange for another referral down the road! BEWARE! This is particularly true when it comes to emergency service water damage drying! Cutting corners during the emergency service phase of your water damage claim is a great way for an insurer to save money, and most of the time you would never know! Insurance companies quickly discovered that they could use contractor programs as a way to control the cost of their claims. They did this by putting contractors under contract with them, holding them to certain ways of doing things, and most importantly to certain pricing. A good example of this is that many contractor programs will only pay for up to three days of water damage drying. But what if your house is wetter than that? Then either the contractor continues to dry your home for free, or he calls it dry after three days and goes home, leaving you with the possibility of mold and other problems down the road. The end goal of a "preferred" contractor program is for your insurance company to have control of the work in your home, not you and your contractor! If your insurance company wants to send out one of their "Preferred Contractors," ask yourself this question: "If they already have a contract with my insurance company, whose interests are they going to try to serve?" "Will I really be their customer, or will it be my insurance company?" Ethics dictate that this pre-existing contractual relationship be revealed to you upfront, but in many of these programs contractors and adjusters are told not to! So how do you tell the difference between a contractor that works for you and one that works for your insurance company? You can tell the difference by the language that they use. A contractor that works for you might say "In my professional opinion, these are the things that need to be done to restore your home. I can work with your insurer so that they are on board." This contractor writes an estimate for you that they can explain and defend to your insurer. A contractor that works for your insurance company might say "We need to talk to the adjuster and get permission to do the things that are needed." He may then perform only the work that the insurer wants to pay for, not necessarily what is required to restore your home to a "Pre-Loss Condition." At Sentry Construction Company, we always work for you!! | |
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