After you report a water loss, the carrier typically assigns an adjuster who inspects the property, documents the damage, and gathers information about cause and origin. Being prepared for that visit is mostly about having your own records organized. Leak Inspector does not attend as your representative and does not advocate for your claim.
Setting the boundary first
This page explains a process. It is not a negotiating guide, because a leak detection company writing a negotiating guide would be edging toward activity that Florida regulates under Statute 626.854. If you want someone in your corner during the adjustment, the people licensed to be there are Florida public adjusters and attorneys.
What we can offer is a plain description of how the visit generally goes and what we will and will not do around it.
Who the adjuster is
The adjuster assigned by your carrier works for the carrier. That is a statement of fact rather than a criticism. Their job is to investigate the loss and document it for the file. Depending on the carrier and the situation you may deal with a desk adjuster handling the file remotely, a field adjuster performing the physical inspection, or an independent adjuster contracted by the carrier. Ask which you are speaking to and note it down, because files frequently change hands.
A public adjuster is a different role entirely: a separately licensed professional a policyholder may hire to represent their own interests. Hiring one is your decision, and we neither recommend for nor against it.
Before the inspection
Preparation is almost entirely organization:
- Have your claim number, policy number, and the adjuster name written down.
- Assemble your photographs in chronological order: before mitigation, during, and after.
- Have your timeline note ready. Discovery date, what you did, when the water was shut off, who you called.
- Gather invoices and receipts, including detection, plumbing, drying equipment, and materials.
- Have any detection report available.
- Make the affected areas physically accessible. Move furniture, clear closets, open crawl access.
- Write down your own questions in advance rather than trying to recall them mid-visit.
See what documentation insurers typically request for the fuller list.
During the inspection
Adjusters generally photograph the affected areas, take their own moisture readings, measure rooms and materials, ask about the discovery timeline, and ask what has been done since. Expect questions about the age of the property, the plumbing, and any prior water events.
Be present if you can. Answer factually, including when the honest answer is that you do not know. Guessing at a date or a cause to fill a silence puts an inaccurate statement in the file, and inaccurate statements are harder to walk back than gaps.
Point out damage that is not obvious. An adjuster who has been in the property for twenty minutes has not lived in it. If water reached a closet interior or a cabinet base, show them.
After the inspection
- Note the date of the visit, who attended, and what was discussed.
- Ask what the next step is and roughly when to expect it.
- Follow up verbal conversations with a short written summary so the record is not purely oral.
- Keep documenting. Conditions change during drying and repair, and the file should reflect that.
- If something is requested of you, respond promptly and keep a copy of what you sent.
Florida sets timeframes for carriers to acknowledge communications and to move a claim along. If your file appears stalled, questions about your rights and remedies belong to a licensed Florida public adjuster or attorney, not to us.
Questions worth asking at the visit
These are process questions, not strategy. Asking them keeps you informed about your own file:
- What is your role on this claim, and who else will be involved?
- What is the best way to reach you, and what response time should I expect?
- What additional information do you need from me, and by when?
- Will anyone else be inspecting the property, and should I be present?
- What is the next step after today, and roughly when does it happen?
- Where should I send documents so they reach the file?
Write the answers down during the visit. Files change hands, and a written record of who said what and when is repeatedly useful later.
Questions about what your policy means, what your claim is worth, or how to respond to a determination are a different category. Those belong to a licensed Florida public adjuster or attorney. If you ask us one of them, we will tell you the same thing.
When several parties are on site at once
Water losses attract a crowd. Adjuster, plumber, restoration contractor, detection technician, sometimes a building representative or an association manager. Each has a different job and a different interest, and it helps to keep track of which is which.
- The adjuster investigates and documents the loss for the carrier.
- The plumber repairs the failed component and has an interest in the repair scope.
- The restoration contractor dries and rebuilds and has an interest in the rebuild scope.
- The detection company locates the source and does neither repair nor rebuild, which is why our findings carry no financial stake.
- A public adjuster, if you hire one, represents you.
Get everything in writing from everyone, keep the invoices, and note who was on site on which date. A verbal assurance from a busy person on a chaotic day is not documentation, however well meant.
Where we stop, precisely
Because homeowners ask us to do more than we can, here is the line drawn explicitly.
We will:
- Perform the detection inspection and produce a factual written report.
- Give that report to you, the customer.
- Answer technical questions about our own findings if you ask us to, such as which detection method we used, what a moisture reading represents, or what a thermal image shows.
- Return to re-inspect if you want verification after a repair.
We will not:
- Tell you whether your claim will be or should be covered.
- Read and interpret your policy for you.
- Estimate what your claim is worth or advise you on a settlement.
- Negotiate with your carrier or communicate with them as your representative.
- Write anything into a report that argues for an outcome rather than describing a finding.
The second list is not reluctance. Those activities are regulated in Florida and performing them without a license is a crime. A detection company that offered them would also be a less useful witness to its own findings.
If you disagree with an outcome
Disagreements happen and there are established routes for them, including internal review with the carrier and the involvement of licensed professionals. Which route fits your situation is exactly the kind of question a licensed Florida public adjuster or attorney exists to answer. We can only tell you what we found in your wall.
Get the facts documented
If the cause of your water loss has not been established, that is the one part of this we can help with. Call Leak Inspector at (941) 214-2222 for water leak detection anywhere in Sarasota, Manatee, Charlotte, Lee, or Collier county. For the full process overview, see water leak insurance claims in Florida, and for our deliverable see what a leak detection report contains.