On the Appraisal tab of the Claim screen. It appears once the claim number is saved; press Start Appraisal and pick the public appraisal company from your list.
Insurance appraisal tracking: the appraisers, the umpire, the fee and the award on one claim
Your appraiserPublic Appraisal Companies, picked on the claim's Appraisal tab
UmpireUmpire Companies, picked on the Umpire tab when the two appraisers disagree
Carrier's appraiserCarrier Appraisal Companies, added to the project contacts
Claim screenThis Project has started APPRAISAL!
When the carrier and the homeowner cannot agree on the amount of a loss, the claim can go to appraisal, and suddenly the file has more people and more money on it. CRM For Claims keeps each appraiser and umpire as a record of its own, marks the claim as in appraisal, and books the award and the appraisal fee where your reports can find them.
Three lists to fill before the first appraisal
Appraisers and umpires are kept like carriers and mortgage companies: entered once, picked on every claim after that. Each list has its own item under the directories menu, and each one opens only for users who have been given that list.
Public Appraisal Companies
- Appraiser name required
- Hourly rate, USD per hour
- Title or position
- Address, phone, email, fax, website
- Status: Active or Inactive required
- Linked contacts
Carrier Appraisal Companies
- Carrier appraiser name required
- Address, phone, email, fax, website
- Status
- Comments
- Linked contacts
Umpire Companies
- Umpire name required
- Hourly rate, USD per hour
- Address, phone, email, fax, website
- Status required
- Linked contacts
Linked contacts are the people at that firm: the appraiser you call, the office manager who sends the invoice. They are ordinary contact records, so the same person shows up wherever else they are used, as described on contact management for claims contractors. The search box in the header looks through public appraisal companies and carrier appraisers too, so a name on a letter can be found without opening the list.
How the claim screen changes as the appraisal starts
The Claim screen adds tabs only when the step before them is done. That keeps an appraisal from being started on a claim nobody has numbered yet.
-
No claim number yetappraisal cannot be opened
ClaimFilesDate of Loss -
Claim number savedAppraisal tab appears, with a Start Appraisal button
ClaimFilesDate of LossAppraisal -
Appraisal company pickedUmpire tab appears next to it
ClaimFilesDate of LossAppraisalUmpire
After Start Appraisal, the public appraisal company is a required pick. Once it is saved, the line above sits in the claim information for everyone who opens the claim, so an estimator does not send a new supplement to an adjuster while the amount is in the hands of the appraisers. On the Umpire tab you pick the umpire company the same way, from its own list.
Every change of the appraisal company is written to the project's Records as a dated line with the user's name, so later you can see when the appraisal started and who changed the appraiser. The rest of the claim screen, from deductible to adjusters, is laid out on insurance claim tracking for contractors.
The award comes in under five appraisal invoice types
When the appraisers sign an award, the money it adds is invoiced under appraisal types, not mixed into the first approval or a supplement. Like the other insurance types, they can only be chosen once the claim number is on the project.
Example award on one roof claim (made-up amounts)
Appraisal ACV
$6,200.00
balance owed
Appraisal Recoverable Depreciation
$2,300.00
balance owed
Appraisal PWI
$0.00
balance owed
Saved with a balance of zero
Appraisal Non-Recoverable Depreciation
$900.00
balance $0.00
Appraisal Roof Payment Schedule (RPS), customer's portion
$0.00
balance $0.00
Appraisal ACV, Appraisal Recoverable Depreciation and Appraisal PWI carry a balance until payments are put against them, so the award shows as money the carrier still owes until it is deposited.
Appraisal Non-Recoverable Depreciation and the appraisal Roof Payment Schedule customer's portion are saved with a balance of zero. They keep the full award on the record without turning the part the carrier will not release into a debt the office chases.
The same three-way split exists for supplement money, which has its own types and report on supplement tracking for insurance claims.
What the appraisal cost, and what the job made after it
An appraisal is not free: your appraiser bills for it, and often an umpire does too. In CRM For Claims that bill is an expense on the project, with the type Appraisal/Arbitration Fee and the public appraiser as the payee. Public appraisers are one of the payee groups the expense form offers, next to vendors, installers and attorneys.
| Total Insurance Income | $27,400.00 | 100% |
| of which Appraisal ACV and Appraisal Recoverable Depreciation | $8,500.00 | |
| Total project expenses | $17,050.00 | 62.23% |
| of which Appraisal/Arbitration Fee, paid to the public appraiser | $1,150.00 | |
| Project profitability | $10,350.00 | 37.77% |
The amounts are invented to show the arithmetic. Income counts invoices paid in full; expenses count those marked Paid.
On the project's own profitability report, paid appraisal invoices are counted with the rest of the insurance income, and the paid appraisal fee with the rest of the project expenses. So the question "was the appraisal worth it on this job" is answered by one report rather than by two spreadsheets. Across all projects, the expense report on the KPI page shows Appraisal/Arbitration Fee as its own line with its share of all expenses. How expenses and income types fit together is covered on claim invoicing built on the insurance estimate.
Appraisal money gets its own line in the monthly numbers
On the Master Report, approvals are split into three lines, so a month with a big award does not look like a month of good first estimates.
- Initial approvals
- ACV, Recoverable Depreciation (RC) and Pay When Incurred (PWI).
- Supplemental Approval
- Supplemental ACV, Supplemental Recoverable Depreciation and Supplemental PWI.
- Appraisal approvals
- Appraisal ACV, Appraisal Recoverable Depreciation and Appraisal PWI.
All three lines count by the day the invoice was created in the CRM, use the invoice amount, and leave out any invoice where the Not Payable Amount Exception was applied. The chevron beside each line opens the projects and invoices behind the total.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Straight answers about who we serve, what we automate, and how to get started.
Yes. Once an appraisal company is saved, an Umpire tab appears beside the Appraisal tab, and you pick the umpire company there.
Under its own types: Appraisal ACV, Appraisal Recoverable Depreciation and Appraisal PWI carry a balance, while Appraisal Non-Recoverable Depreciation and the appraisal Roof Payment Schedule customer's portion are saved at zero.
It is entered as a project expense with the type Appraisal/Arbitration Fee, with the public appraiser as payee. Once paid, it is counted in the project profitability report.
Yes. The Master Report has an Appraisal approvals line next to Initial approvals and Supplemental Approval, counted by the day each invoice was created in the CRM.