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Restoration Rebel Roundtable Briefing Summary

Date of Discussion: 12/22/22

Compiled: 10/26/23

This roundtable highlights core strategies for restoration contractors navigating insurance claims: protect your pricing, prioritize transparency with clients, and maintain independence from insurer mandates. The discussion centered on a successful contractor case study that challenged the insurer’s control, reinforced by homeowner support and a well-drafted contract.

Key Themes:

1. Protect the Value of Your Work
2. Rebels stress the importance of not doing free work. "Offering free services only serves to erode the value of similar services industry-wide."
3. Radical Transparency—with Clients, Not Carriers
4. “I never communicate with an adjuster without also communicating with my client.”
5. Community over Competition
6. “Restoration companies in my market are part of my community. It is our unbreakable unity that will create the change that we strive for.”
7. Walk Away When Necessary
8. “No relationship is worth losing money, sleep, or my humanity.”
9. Case Study: ‘100% Non-Fucking Compliant’
10. A contractor refused to comply with the insurer’s process and was paid in full per their client contract. They enforced a signed agreement that specified pricing terms and a 10% markup on subcontractors. Matterport documentation strengthened their position.
11. Contract Law Trumps Insurer Preference
12. “We are implementers of contract law. The only rules we have to follow… is the rule of law.”
13. Matterport as a Differentiator
14. 3D imaging helped secure the job and justify the scope. “People in South Korea could walk through the building and they'd never seen the building.”
15. Refusing to Provide Cost Breakdown
16. “You're not my client. My agreement is with my client.” Back-end data like timecards and subs was withheld, and the client’s legal team backed the contractor’s position.
17. Xactimate Is Not a Contract
18. “Single sheet contracts are not valid… you can’t get all the proper things you need on a cover sheet of an Xactimate PDF.”
19. Homeowner Buy-In Is Essential
20. “If the homeowner will not stand up to their insurance company, you can't stand up for them.”
21. Project Managers Are Critical
22. “My project manager could not have done a better job… ahead of schedule on a $5-6M project.”
23. AI on the Horizon
24. Discussion touched on the future impact of tools like ChatGPT and AI-based estimators like Impartial. There was concern that these could disrupt traditional estimating roles, but skepticism remained about insurer adoption: “The players on the carrier side are easily 10 years behind the technological curve.”

Conclusion:

Contractors must anchor their operations in sound contracts, transparency with clients, and the willingness to challenge insurer narratives. The discussed case shows that success comes from standing firm with a signed agreement, resisting insurer overreach, and equipping clients to advocate for themselves. The Rebel ethos remains clear: know your value, support each other, and never surrender to artificial rules.

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