The Material-Handling Line Item Is in the November Lists. Here’s How to Use It.
In September, RIA formally asked Verisk for a dedicated material-handling line item in Xactimate. We covered the ask when it
Insurance Claims
Navigating property damage insurance claims, adjuster negotiations, Xactimate documentation, and maximizing claim outcomes.
The Carrier Already Has Photos of the Roof
Donegal’s ZestyAI expansion means the carrier arrives at roof claims with a dated, scored, pre-loss record. What that does to condition disputes, ACV math, and supplement fights — and the field-documentation standard that stands up next to it.
Fewer, Bigger, Slower: The New Claims Mix — and the Puget Sound Read
Sourced from Verisk’s Q2 property report and Sedgwick’s Loss Adjusting Insights, corroborated independently, with Washington’s layer from the OIC. National
Scope the Storm That Actually Hit: Treefall, Pull-Off, and the 25 Percent Rule
Isaias left six different jobs on the Panhandle: treefall punctures, roof pull-off, deck-and-diaphragm losses, cladding and window failure, weathertight buildings on dead power, and floor-line water that runs east, not west. The scope taxonomy — and the 25 percent rule read with its 2007-code exception.
The Standing House Gets a Clearance File
AB 1642 and AB 1795, signed September 15, 2026, build the standing-structure smoke claim a clearance file: a rebuttable presumption, an interim lead-and-asbestos standard, ALE until clearance, and a 30-day inspection clock — operative January 1, 2027, for claims that occur on or after that date.
The Dry-Out Is Yours. The Rebuild Is About to Need a License.
Rhode Island’s chapter 5-65.4 has been law since July 2025; the rule that defines structural remodeling is only proposed. The dry-out stays on registration; the rebuild gets a personal license from January 1, 2028 — and comments close November 1.
Five Business Days: Writing a Mitigation Scope Washington Insurers Must Answer
WAC 284-30-330(20) gives the insurer five business days to approve your client’s mitigation scope or hand back an approved one — and rejections must be dollar-itemized. What the new Washington claims standards demand from your documentation.
Puget Sound Restoration: Washington’s New Claims Rules at Metro Scale
Washington rewrote its claims-handling rules this year, and the rewrite took effect October 18, 2026. The state-level playbook is published
Restoration in Greater Houston: Water, Mold, and the Paper Trail
Houston does not have a storm season problem. It has a water calendar — a repeating schedule of flood, wind,
Busy Is Not Solvent: The Restorer’s 90-Day Problem
This fall, a British Columbia restoration company went into receivership. Not a startup, not a shop that couldn’t get work
Every Adjustment Needs a Paper Trail
Direct answer. Adjusting an Xactimate estimate is not what gets estimators in trouble — courts and carriers both know real
Three Adjusters, Three Economies
Direct answer. The word “adjuster” covers three different jobs that run on three different economies, and most friction between restorers