Water damage from a broken pipe. Actually in a condo, and pipe was in a unit above this one, but I don’t think that affects the basic question. Insurance company adjuster provided an estimate of what needs to be done and the cost. Suppose owner agrees, but cannot find a contractor willing to do the work at that price. What happens? (Further assume that costs would not exceed any limits in the policy.) Thanks
You challenge the adjuster that that price is insufficient and challenge them to provide a contractor to do the work at that price. Worst case you sue, but generally speaking the insurer doesn’t want that lawsuit bc if they lose the judge will throw the book at them if they were being unreasonable.
If you have contractor estimates coming in above the carrier’s estimate, provide the contractor estimates back to the adjuster and ask how they’d like to proceed.
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Upfront price estimate from an adjuster is not a cap. It’s an estimate. They then ‘adjust’ the estimate/payment as actual costs become evident. It’s quite literally the job title.
Part of the job is indeed mitigating unnecessary costs, but that’s between the insurance company and the contractor imo.
The one and only one time I had an HO claim, they paid me a check on the estimate. I paid the contractor of my choice to do the work, which came in slightly higher than my check (like 115% of the estimate). I submitted the final bill to the insurance company and I got a check for the difference, making me whole [ETA: after properly accounting for my deductible, of course]
Not sure if it’s different up here, but I was able to have the work done by the preferred provider of my insurer (who coincidentally matched who we had independently decided to do the work), and I just paid my deductible to them up front, and they billed the insurer and I never found out the final cost or anything. Just had to sign a certificate of completion when the work was done.
This is common practice. Many insurers will write an upfront check for Actual Cash Value, and once repairs are completed settle for the full replacement cost. It’s a way to make sure the repairs actually get done as opposed to people pocketing the upfront money.