The Insurance Adjuster Inspection

What does the insurance adjuster look for?

The adjuster is the insurance company's representative sent to verify the damage and write the company's estimate. Their job is to answer three questions: is there damage, did a covered peril (like wind or hail) cause it, and what will it cost to fix?

On the roof

• Hail hits — bruises where granules were knocked off and the shingle mat is soft or fractured underneath. Adjusters typically chalk off "test squares" (10-foot-by-10-foot sections on each slope) and count hits per square to judge whether damage is widespread enough to warrant replacement.
• Wind damage — missing, torn, or creased shingles and broken seals between courses.
• Collateral indicators — dents on soft metals like vents, flashing, and ridge caps, which confirm hail actually struck the roof.
• Damage they'll try to rule out — wear and tear (age-related deterioration), blistering, and "mechanical damage" (marks attributed to foot traffic or tools rather than the storm). These labels matter because they're the vocabulary of denials.

Around the property

A thorough adjuster also circles the house checking gutters and downspouts, siding, window wraps and screens, the AC unit's fins, fences, and sheds and detached garages — plus any interior water damage you report.

Everything they accept goes into a scope of loss — the itemized estimate, usually written in Xactimate pricing software, that becomes the basis of your payment. Getting damage into that scope is the whole game; anything missed has to be added later by supplement.

Should my contractor meet with the adjuster?

Yes — it's smart, common, and completely normal. A knowledgeable contractor at the inspection is the difference between an adjuster finding what's easy to find and an adjuster being shown everything.

What your contractor can legitimately do at the inspection:

• Walk the roof alongside the adjuster and point out damage — hail bruises the adjuster's test square happened to miss, creased shingles, damaged flashing and vents
• Share their own photo documentation and inspection findings
• Provide their estimate and discuss the scope and pricing of the repair work — including items commonly left out like drip edge, ice and water shield, starter strip, and detach-and-reset items
• Answer technical questions about repairability, brittleness, and matching

What a contractor cannot do in Illinois: negotiate, adjust, or settle the claim on your behalf. Under Illinois law, only a licensed public adjuster or an attorney may negotiate an insurance claim for the insured. The line is real: discussing what a proper repair requires and what it costs is contractor territory; arguing with the carrier about what your claim should pay is not.

Practical tip: when the insurer calls to schedule the inspection, coordinate the time with your contractor so both can attend. Adjusters expect it; good contractors plan for it.

What should I say to the adjuster?

Stick to facts, be complete about the damage, and treat the visit as a cooperative walkthrough rather than an interrogation. Adjusters handle dozens of claims a week; a homeowner who is organized and factual makes the file easy to document well.

Worth saying

• The storm date and what you observed: "The hailstorm came through on June 14 — here are photos from that evening." If you have NOAA or news reports confirming the storm, offer them.
• Every area of damage you know about: roof, gutters, siding, screens, fence, shed, interior stains. Walk them to each one — adjusters can only scope what they see, and a written list you hand them makes omissions less likely.
• Your documentation: dated photos, your contractor's inspection report, receipts for emergency tarping or repairs.
• Questions — good ones include: "Will you send me the full scope of loss?" "Is my policy RCV or ACV?" "What's my deductible on this claim?" "What's the process if more damage is found during the repair?" You're entitled to a copy of the estimate; ask for it directly.

Get the adjuster's name, direct phone, and email before they leave, and write down your claim number if you haven't already. Most follow-up friction on claims is just lost contact information.

Above all, be accurate. Everything you say becomes part of the claim file, which is exactly why the next question — what not to say — matters just as much.

What shouldn't I say?

Nothing here is about hiding anything — never conceal or misstate facts, which is the one genuine way to wreck a claim and your policy along with it. This is about not guessing, because casual guesses get written into the file as statements of fact.

Don't speculate about cause

"Honestly, the roof's pretty old, this might just be wear and tear" — you've just offered the insurer's denial language for them, and you're not qualified to make that call (neither is the adjuster until they've inspected). If you don't know what caused the damage, "that's what I'd like your inspection to determine" is a complete answer.

Don't guess dates

If you're not sure exactly when the damage happened, don't invent a date. Say when you first noticed it and which storm you believe caused it, and let documented weather records anchor the date of loss. A guessed date that contradicts the weather data creates a problem the truth never would have.

Don't minimize

"It's probably nothing," "just a few shingles," "we hardly ever go up there" — homeowners naturally downplay out of politeness. Describe damage neutrally and completely, and let the inspection determine how serious it is.

Don't editorialize or over-share

Long, chatty narratives invite off-topic admissions. Answer what's asked, accurately and briefly. If a question seems to reach beyond this loss — prior claims on a different issue, unrelated home conditions — you can simply say you'd rather answer in writing after checking your records. That's accuracy, not evasion.

Can I disagree with the adjuster?

Absolutely. The adjuster's report is the insurance company's opinion of your loss — an important one, but not a verdict. Policies and Illinois practice give you several ways to push back, escalating from free and simple to formal.

1. Get the scope of loss in writing. You can't dispute what you haven't read. If anything was denied, ask for the specific reason in writing too.
2. Counter with documentation. Your contractor's estimate and photos often show exactly what the scope missed — from whole slopes to line items like drip edge, flashing, and detach-and-reset. Missed items get submitted as a supplement; disputed damage gets rebutted with photos.
3. Request a re-inspection — see the next question.
4. Invoke the appraisal clause if the dispute is about the amount of the loss (not whether it's covered). Each side hires an independent appraiser, the appraisers pick an umpire, and agreement of any two binds both sides. It's a standard policy provision, not a lawsuit.
5. Hire a licensed public adjuster — licensed by the Illinois Department of Insurance, they work for you for a percentage of the settlement. Best for large or badly underpaid claims; verify licenses at idoi.illinois.gov.
6. File a complaint with the Illinois Department of Insurance (idoi.illinois.gov, hotline 866-445-5364) — free, and carriers must respond.
7. Consult an attorney for outright denials or unreasonable delay. Illinois law (215 ILCS 5/155) provides a remedy when an insurer's delay or denial is vexatious and unreasonable.

The full playbook, including how to read a denial letter, lives on the denied claims page.

Can I ask for another inspection?

Yes. A re-inspection — a second look at the property, usually by a different or more senior adjuster — is a routine request, and carriers grant them regularly when a homeowner presents a concrete reason.

How to make the request effective:

1. Ask in writing (email is fine), referencing your claim number. Phone requests evaporate; written ones sit in the file.
2. Give a specific reason. "My contractor's inspection found hail damage on the north and west slopes that isn't in the scope — photos attached" beats "I think the adjuster missed stuff." New evidence is the strongest trigger: a contractor's photo report, storm data, an engineer's opinion, or damage discovered after the first visit.
3. Have your contractor attend. A re-inspection where the person who found the damage can physically point to it is far more productive than sending the same adjuster back alone. Coordinate the appointment so both are on the roof together.
4. Ask who's coming. After big storms, first inspections are often done by temporary "catastrophe" adjusters; re-inspections frequently go to senior or in-house staff with more authority to revise a scope.

Re-inspections cost you nothing and don't prejudice your claim — the worst realistic outcome is the same answer twice, at which point you still have every option on the disagreement ladder, including appraisal and a DOI complaint. If the dispute is about the meaning of a few minutes spent on your roof, see the quick-inspection question below.

Can I record the inspection?

You can photograph and video-record freely on your own property — but for audio, Illinois has one of the stricter laws in the country, and it's worth getting right.

Photos and video: yes

It's your home. Take photos of everything the adjuster examines, chalk marks and test squares included, and video of the damage itself. Documenting the condition of your own property is not only allowed, it's exactly what you should be doing throughout the claim.

Audio: get consent first

Illinois is a two-party (all-party) consent state for recording conversations. Recording a private conversation without the consent of everyone in it can violate the Illinois eavesdropping law — a criminal statute, not a technicality. That includes audio captured incidentally on a video of your chat with the adjuster.

The clean way to handle it: ask. "I'd like to record our conversation so I have an accurate record — is that all right?" Most adjusters will agree; some carriers record calls themselves. If the adjuster declines, don't record audio — take written notes instead, and email the adjuster afterward summarizing what was said ("Per our conversation today, you indicated..."). That email becomes your record, and any correction they send becomes part of the file too.

Either way, document the visit

• Note the date, arrival and departure times, and the adjuster's name and contact info
• Photograph what they inspected — and what they didn't
• Ask for the scope of loss and any denial reasons in writing

What can I do if the adjuster only spent a few minutes on my roof?

A drive-by inspection isn't automatically a bad one — obvious, widespread damage can genuinely be confirmed quickly. But if the adjuster never got on the roof, skipped slopes or whole structures, or spent five minutes on a claim that came back "no damage found," you have reasonable grounds to push for a proper look.

Work through it in order:

1. Write down what happened while it's fresh. Date, times, what was and wasn't inspected, whether they got on the roof, whether ladders or drones were used. Photos of an untouched roof (no chalk marks, no test squares) after a supposedly full inspection are telling.
2. Get the scope of loss. Sometimes a fast inspection still produced a fair scope — read it before assuming the worst. If it's thin or a denial, the gap between the paperwork and a real inspection becomes your argument.
3. Get your own documentation. A thorough contractor inspection with photos of specific damage the adjuster never examined is the strongest possible contrast with a cursory visit — see getting an inspection.
4. Request a re-inspection in writing, stating specifically that the first inspection did not include a roof-level examination (or skipped particular slopes/structures) and attaching your evidence.
5. Escalate if needed. Ask for the adjuster's supervisor or the in-house claim examiner. If the carrier won't re-inspect a claim that was never properly inspected, that's exactly the kind of complaint the Illinois Department of Insurance exists to hear (idoi.illinois.gov, 866-445-5364) — and the rest of the disagreement ladder remains available.

Can I request a different adjuster?

You can ask, and in practice it often happens — though the insurance company decides who represents it, so this is a request, not a right you can force. The good news: the system reassigns adjusters all the time.

When a request is most likely to succeed:

• After a cursory or incomplete inspection — re-inspections are frequently assigned to a different, more senior adjuster as a matter of course; see requesting another inspection
• Catastrophe-team turnover — after major storms, carriers deploy temporary out-of-area adjusters who rotate out quickly; your file often lands with permanent staff on any follow-up anyway
• Unresponsiveness — weeks of unreturned calls justify asking the claim department for reassignment or the adjuster's supervisor
• Genuine unprofessionalism — documented rudeness, refusal to inspect reported damage, or misstatements about your policy

How to ask: contact the claims department (not the adjuster) in writing with your claim number, describe the specific problem factually — dates, unreturned calls, what wasn't inspected — and request assignment of a different adjuster or review by a supervisor or claim examiner. Specific, documented complaints get action; "I didn't like him" doesn't.

If the carrier refuses and the underlying problem persists, escalate: a complaint to the Illinois Department of Insurance (idoi.illinois.gov, 866-445-5364) puts the whole file under outside review, and for serious delays, the remedies on the denied claims page apply. Keep in mind the goal isn't a friendlier person — it's a correct scope, and the dispute tools work regardless of who holds the file.