I am an independent insurance adjuster; I work with several different insurance companies. As an adjuster I am called upon to know many, many things. Do I know everything there is to know? No, I do not, and therefore I need to call on and consult with others who possess the knowledge, background, and experience that I do not have, so that we can get the insurance company to do what we want them to do and pay the claim.

We help them understand the cost involved in reconstructing a home that has been damaged by fire or flood, or a large tree falling on the property. We make the person who owns the home whole again, and help them recover from the disaster that has befallen them.

Jim Campbell is one of the first people I would call when a new loss reaches me. He possesses the knowledge to put together an appraisal and estimate that shows the insurance company, in an itemized way, what it is going to cost and WHY it’s going to cost that amount. A lot of contractors can say “we can do this, and we should do that” and “this is our bottom line price of “x”.

You have no idea how they arrived at “x”! When Jim does the job, he produces an estimate that can be used by the insurance company which explains line by line by line, exactly what the work is, why it is needed, and what the cost is. The insurance company never comes back to me and says “what is this?” or “what is this for?”.

Jim always provides an itemized, very detailed estimate of the project. That is how Jim and I have come to work together. We have handled all kinds of claims from a little leak in someone’s kitchen or bathroom, to a $2M building that exploded and needed to be reconstructed. The insurance company has to understand the costs and approve the costs that we are recommending. Jim would be one of the first people I would call, because he speaks their language.

We have to be able to explain the claim and get the insurance company to go along with the claim and understand how we can greatly improve this situation – can we straighten it out? We are the guy on the white horse who rides in and says, “Hey, I can help you! I can make things better for you! I have people who will work on your situation and improve your situation and make it better.”

That’s a great thing to be able to do; I enjoy my work and when I have someone like Jim to count on, who doesn’t say “ah, we’ll get to it eventually” but says “No, we’re going to get to it now. We will put it on paper, in writing, so that the insurance company can see exactly what we are talking about, and what it’s going to cost, and why it is going to cost that amount.”

Jim is very, very adept at doing that. It’s a wonderful talent to possess. He is extremely knowledgeable about this process, he knows the steps to take, and he is very valuable to his clients. This is true on small claims and large claims. We had a flood that affected seventeen floors in a high-rise in Chicago. Can you imagine the number of units that were damaged?

I turned that claim over to Jim and he was able to manage the claim efficiently and effectively, producing a detailed, itemized document for the insurance companies. Because of the quality of Jim’s work there were no complaints from the insurance adjusters, only compliments.