Bridging the Contractor-Carrier Gap Speeds Weather Claim Resolution

Contractors are facing a rise in weather-related restoration and longer claims cycles, making their jobs increasingly more difficult and frustrating policyholders who are left waiting for repairs.

To build a strong relationship with carriers, contractors must take steps to close the knowledge gap that creates friction with their partners, leading to better communication and customer satisfaction.
To build a strong relationship with carriers, contractors must take steps to close the knowledge gap that creates friction with their partners, leading to better communication and customer satisfaction.
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The increase in extreme weather events is making already arduous processes, such as assessments, adjustments, and repairs, more difficult, creating delays in repairs and longer claims cycles. Data from JD Power shows the average claims cycle has increased by six days in the last two years, going from 17.9 days to 23.9 days, and for claims related to catastrophic weather events, the average repair cycle increases to 34.2 days. 

For restoration contractors, these increased repair times are due to a plethora of challenges, from longer shipping times to labor shortages, and while many roadblocks are beyond control, contractors can control their relationships with insurance carriers and adjusters to accelerate claims cycles and reduce costs.

To build a strong relationship with carriers, contractors must take steps to close the knowledge gap that creates friction with their partners, leading to better communication and customer satisfaction. Only once this bridge is built can both parties move forward with embracing technology to drive change.

The Knowledge Gap and Its Impact on Contractors

The knowledge gap refers to the growing lack of understanding between contractors and carriers around each other’s respective careers and what their roles entail. For example, contractors may lack a deeper knowledge of policies and regulations, while insurance carriers may not fully grasp the impact of the ongoing labor shortage and the rising costs of materials. This breakdown of knowledge sharing and communication can slow restoration work, creating frustration for contractors, carriers, adjusters, and policyholders, leading to a wider gap.

This chasm is especially prevalent within the claims cycle, impacting repair times and payment. Carriers and adjusters lack knowledge about restoration timelines and costs, creating frustration and barriers to working together effectively. The better a contractor understands the billing and claims process, the better they can advocate for homeowners and work with carriers to ensure coverage of repairs.

Additionally, contractors can take the time to educate insurance partners and adjusters on their work and the challenges they face, such as the impending retirement of a large swath of contractors, rising costs for crucial materials, and increased weather-related damages. Internally, restoration leaders can set aside time in recurring staff meetings to get collaborative feedback and cross-train on different strategies and technologies when working with carriers. While learning to work impactfully with insurance professionals comes with experience over time, contractors can take more immediate steps to better communicate with carriers by leveraging technology to identify a single source of visual truth.

Strategies for Effectively Working With Insurance Carriers

Closing the knowledge gap requires contractors to embrace additional strategies to encourage better communication and collaboration with their partners on the insurance and adjusting side. For example, technology enables all parties to get on the same page, but once alignment is reached, communication can still break down. The best way for contractors to avoid this is to over-communicate with the policyholder, adjuster, and subcontractors on all roadblocks, from material delays to additional damage found, ensuring each party is in lockstep. In the same vein, contractors should ensure they are keeping a detailed record of conversations on all sides, creating a clear trail of communication to refer to should concerns arise.

Not only does working more effectively with carriers make contractors' jobs easier, but it also can boost revenue through a positive relationship between contractors and carriers. When contractors can prove themselves as trusted partners to carriers, they can become preferred restoration professionals for carriers to point policyholders toward when disaster strikes. Remaining a preferred partner requires high levels of customer satisfaction as well and while it can be easy to go above and beyond for a homeowner request, individuals should over-document to ensure proof of work in the chance a policyholder demands more.

Promoting education around insurance policies and processes is one strategy that contractors can lean into to better understand carriers and work together. Contractors with a firm grasp on compliance and policy are better equipped to partner with carriers and will find themselves as a preferred partner versus those who do not bridge the knowledge gap. 

Overall, the best methods for working effectively with carriers boils down to strong communication and providing consistency in results. While one bad apple can ruin your business, ensuring consistent training and standard operating procedures (SOPs) for your workflow will keep teams in closer alignment and prevent mistakes. Leveraging standardization tools for documenting and estimating will empower stronger collaboration and market trust as well, keeping carriers, policyholders, adjusters, and subcontractors all on the same page for a faster claims process.

Technology Adoption to Drive Collaboration

Restoration contractors can turn to technology to improve operational efficiency and communication avenues to foster stronger collaboration with partners. Not only does it drive collaboration, but leveraging trusted technology solutions can aid with operating costs, faster decision-making, and smarter pricing strategies. Technology that provides real-time updates through immersive imagery and AI-partnered assessment tools empowers contractors to work quickly and efficiently with adjusters and carriers, ultimately benefiting policyholders as well.

By leveraging immersive imagery technology to provide a single source of truth, contractors can close gaps and share information with adjusters and carriers in real time, accelerating the overall claims cycle as a result. Additionally, 360 imaging technology enables contractors, adjusters, and carriers to view the loss like a forensic claim, digging deeper into the story of the claim to determine what needs to be done. These solutions can help all parties investigate different aspects of the claim, aligning on how the loss can best be remedied.

Contractors should also adopt automation, especially when it comes to documentation, to provide clear imaging and reliable data to accelerate settlements. With this automated documenting technology, contractors can save time spent on sketching and detailing losses, instead accelerating this process to come to a quicker settlement with adjusters and carriers. Ensuring all parties are aligned and referencing the same data expedites the entire restoration process, from negotiating claims to completing the work itself.

Building the Bridge for a Stronger Contractor-Carrier Relationship

Contractors are facing a rise in weather-related restoration and longer claims cycles, making their jobs increasingly more difficult and frustrating for policyholders who are left waiting for repairs. Carriers and adjusters often complicate this process due to a lack of knowledge and understanding, as well as the need for technical solutions to promote collaboration.

By working to close the knowledge gap and bridge the divide with carriers and leaning into emerging technology solutions, contractors can reduce claim cycles - helping carriers to decrease settlement times and policyholders to get back into their homes faster. Through a combination of education, stronger communication, and technology, the contractor-carrier-adjuster trifecta can come together to create a positive impact for policyholders.

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