Every Road Leads Home
Well-known member
I've been in the construction industry in one fashion or another for over 18 years from a laborer all the way up to estimating and project management. Growing up, I remember two guys bought the house two over from ours and lived in their pickups with slide on campers while fixing it up. Once finished they put it up for sale and moved onto the next. It's always stuck with me and it's something I've always wanted to try. Now that I'm planning on living out of a truck and trailer, it might be a way to make income while living this lifestyle. I've flipped three homes on my own over the years and have done well on them. However, they were in the area I lived all my life so I'm very familiar with the area, real estate values, etc. Trying it in a new town in a new state, would certainly require some homework.
In the last three years I've been involved in Public Adjusting. Basically what this is, is an insurance adjuster that a homeowner hires to help settle the claim with their insurance company. So for example, you have a pipe burst, call your insurance company, they send over an adjuster and tell you it's X amount in damage. The homeowner calls a contractor to fix the damage, contractor tells homeowner its going to cost twice as much as the insurance company gave them. They could hire a public insurance adjuster to go after the insurance carrier for the difference. I then charge a percent of the claim...usually 5-10%. That example is a very basic description of the service we provide. It gets a lot more complex in real life situations especially when an entire house burns down. You have to figure out the cost of damage, code coverage upgrades, contents claims, depreciation cost vs replacement costs, commercial claims get into loss of business insurance. Insurance carriers are ruthless in paying as little as possible and in many cases stop working with the homeowner after their initial offer. I can typically settle a claim for 3-4 times their original offer, and in some cases much higher. In most states it requires being licensed. I'm licensed in Mass and Maine at the moment but once licensed, it's not too difficult to get other states most of the time. I worked for one guy who's business was based in Mass but he flew all over the country to handle claims after natural disasters. (He was licensed in 39 states) I flew with him to Oklahoma one year after a hail storm and we settled a lot of roofing claims for homeowners. Another time we flew to St. Louis after a tornado. One thing I noticed while there was how many people follow storms.......roofers, dent repair for cars, insurance adjusters, trash/debris removal, etc. We couldn't even find an available hotel room in st louis, so many people from out of state were arriving to help with storm relief, so having my van to live out of in these areas would give me a leg up on the competiion! So, it's another thing I could pursue while out on the road. Good ole storm chasing.
In the last three years I've been involved in Public Adjusting. Basically what this is, is an insurance adjuster that a homeowner hires to help settle the claim with their insurance company. So for example, you have a pipe burst, call your insurance company, they send over an adjuster and tell you it's X amount in damage. The homeowner calls a contractor to fix the damage, contractor tells homeowner its going to cost twice as much as the insurance company gave them. They could hire a public insurance adjuster to go after the insurance carrier for the difference. I then charge a percent of the claim...usually 5-10%. That example is a very basic description of the service we provide. It gets a lot more complex in real life situations especially when an entire house burns down. You have to figure out the cost of damage, code coverage upgrades, contents claims, depreciation cost vs replacement costs, commercial claims get into loss of business insurance. Insurance carriers are ruthless in paying as little as possible and in many cases stop working with the homeowner after their initial offer. I can typically settle a claim for 3-4 times their original offer, and in some cases much higher. In most states it requires being licensed. I'm licensed in Mass and Maine at the moment but once licensed, it's not too difficult to get other states most of the time. I worked for one guy who's business was based in Mass but he flew all over the country to handle claims after natural disasters. (He was licensed in 39 states) I flew with him to Oklahoma one year after a hail storm and we settled a lot of roofing claims for homeowners. Another time we flew to St. Louis after a tornado. One thing I noticed while there was how many people follow storms.......roofers, dent repair for cars, insurance adjusters, trash/debris removal, etc. We couldn't even find an available hotel room in st louis, so many people from out of state were arriving to help with storm relief, so having my van to live out of in these areas would give me a leg up on the competiion! So, it's another thing I could pursue while out on the road. Good ole storm chasing.
I will give them advice, and help with design... But they are their own contractor. 
