A public adjuster is a licensed professional you hire and pay to represent you in an insurance claim. They work for you rather than for the carrier, typically on a percentage of the settlement, and Colorado licenses and regulates them.
Water damage
There are three kinds of adjuster and it helps to know which is which.
A public adjuster reviews your policy, inspects and documents the loss, prepares their own scope and estimate, and negotiates the settlement with the carrier on your behalf. On a large or contested claim that can be genuinely valuable.
They are not attorneys and cannot give legal advice or represent you in litigation. If a claim reaches that point, it is a lawyer you need.
Colorado Springs
Yes, and the requirements are specific — which makes them checkable.
Colorado regulates public insurance adjusters under C.R.S. § 10-2-417, covering licensing, financial responsibility and standards of conduct. To hold a licence, a public adjuster must:
The Colorado Division of Insurance also maintains specific contract and record-retention rules for public adjusters.
Verify the licence before signing anything. The Division of Insurance can confirm whether an individual holds a current Colorado public adjuster licence. Anyone soliciting this work without one is operating outside the law, and after a large hail event that is not a hypothetical concern.
Water damage
This is the single most useful thing on this page and almost nobody knows it.
Under Colorado’s rules for public adjuster contracts, the insured has the right to rescind the contract within 72 hours of signing. The rescission must be in writing, addressed to the public adjuster at the address given in the contract, and to your insurer.
If you rescind, anything of value you gave under the contract must be returned within 15 business days of the public adjuster receiving your cancellation notice.
Why this matters practically: public adjusters sometimes solicit door to door after a significant storm, at exactly the moment a homeowner is stressed and least equipped to evaluate a contract. A 72-hour rescission right is a real protection — but only if you know it exists and you act in writing, promptly, to both parties.
If you have signed something you now regret, check the date. You may still be inside the window.
Tell us where it came from and how long it has been there. We will give you a time, not a window.
24/7 — Colorado Springs and El Paso County
Colorado Springs
A percentage of the settlement, and the range is wide.
Colorado public adjusters typically charge somewhere between 5% and 15% of the final settlement amount, depending on the size and complexity of the claim.
During a declared catastrophic disaster, Colorado caps the fee at 10% of the settlement. That cap exists precisely because disasters produce the conditions in which people sign things they have not read.
Questions to ask about the fee before signing:
That first question matters enormously. A fee on the whole settlement is very different from a fee on the improvement — and on a claim the carrier was always going to pay in large part, the difference is substantial.
Water damage
Being straight about this cuts both ways, and we have no stake in the answer.
Worth considering when:
Probably not worth it when:
Try the free steps before paying a percentage. A well-documented re-inspection request supported by moisture readings and photographs reverses a surprising number of positions without anyone paying a fee.
Colorado Springs
Four things, and the first is the most common in this market.
1. Post-storm door-knocking. Colorado Springs is a hail market, and after a significant event the region fills with people offering claim help. Some are licensed and competent. Some are neither. Never sign anything on the doorstep, whatever the urgency implied.
2. Pressure to sign immediately. There is no legitimate reason a contract cannot wait until tomorrow. If someone tells you the claim will be lost otherwise, that is the signal to stop.
3. A fee structure you cannot restate in one sentence. If you cannot explain what you will pay and on what basis, do not sign it.
4. Anyone who is both adjusting and repairing. A single party representing you on the claim and profiting from the repair scope has an obvious conflict. In many states there are restrictions on this combination. Ask directly.
Water damage
Different roles, and the boundary is a legal one rather than a preference.
A restoration contractor — us — assesses the physical damage, produces a scope of the work required, documents moisture conditions, performs mitigation and reconstruction, and can discuss that scope with your adjuster. We can explain what is wet, why it needs to come out, and what it takes to dry and rebuild.
A public adjuster interprets your policy, evaluates coverage, prepares the claim, and negotiates the settlement as your representative. That is claims work, it requires a licence, and we do not do it.
Where the line sits in practice: we can tell you the subfloor metered at 22% against a 9% baseline and therefore has to come out. We cannot tell you whether your policy will pay for it. Anyone who blurs those two things is either confused or operating outside their licence.
That distinction is also why the useful rule from elsewhere on this site applies here: get coverage confirmations from your carrier in writing, not from whoever is holding the moisture meter.
Colorado Springs
Work through these before paying a percentage of your settlement.
Colorado also provides a statutory remedy for unreasonable delay or denial of first-party benefits under C.R.S. §§ 10-3-1115 and 10-3-1116, allowing recovery of two times the covered benefit plus reasonable attorney fees and costs. On a claim where the conduct is genuinely unreasonable, that may make an attorney a better route than a percentage fee.
Water damage
Stated plainly, because the boundary matters.
We can: inspect and meter the loss · produce a line-item scope · document moisture conditions daily · photograph what is behind the wall once it is open · speak to your adjuster about the physical scope · give you a copy of everything, whether or not we do the work · tell you honestly when a scope you have been given looks reasonable.
We cannot: interpret your policy · tell you what is covered · negotiate your settlement · represent you in a claim · advise you on whether to file.
We will not: take a percentage of your settlement · charge you for the documentation we produce during mitigation · accept a referral fee for pointing you at anyone on this page.
Contact us on (719) 618-9013 if you want a restoration scope, a second opinion, or a straight answer about what is actually wet.
Frequently asked
IICRC-certified. We meter before we quote, and you get the readings.
24/7 — Colorado Springs and El Paso County