Need help haggling with liberty mutual after a hail storm (Long) - iwyLSUiwy shoutout pg 2

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(this is my first house, so i was trying to save money)

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So you are trying to get O&P to use it towards your deductible.

You may need to call a real roofer who doesn't outsource roof claims.

How many estimates did you get?

Did you talk to Doug?

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Damage to roof, as well as window beading (which can cause water damage if not fixed), the hail guard on my brand new ac condenser unit was trashed, and my deck was beat to shite.

I was under the impression that any time you were working with a roofer or a general contractor that was outsourcing other types of work to third parties, they were entitled to Overhead and Profit to compensate them for their time to manage all the moving parts.

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Liberty mutual typically requires 4 different trades to warrant O&P.

So you have 1) Roofing 2) Carpentry for the window trim 3) HVAC for you AC cover and 4) Painter for your deck stain (I'm assuming it was stained). That's enough for O&P.

You also should have labor minimums applied to it as well. They might give you $50 for some window beads, but they need to pay you at least a flat labor minimum for a carpenter/window installer to install them. Same for your deck. A lot of times they will just pay you for the stain and not the labor minimum requred for a painter to come out and paint. Those things add up to a decent amount of money.

I'm a contractor and deal with this daily. My brother is currently on the phone right now arguing with Farm Bureau

I'd say that your roofer needs to be arguing with the insurance adjuster/company, not you. That's his responsibility if he wants to get those things done.

But honestly, if you don't plan on doing them, and he is not going to be coordinating any of those things, he he shouldn't get the O&P because he will not be doing the work that O&P is meant to be paid for. O&P is not meant to go towards your deductible. That being said, I've never seen them take things off of an estimate.

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so even if hiring a lawyer costs somewhat more than it saves me, it might be worth it to me.

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No lawyer is going to take it. There's not nearly enough money in it for them and they would never win the case anyway. The best thing you can do is threaten to file a department of insurance claim against them. They hate that, and that can get them to get off their arse and make some changes.

Did you use the secret code?

Liberty Biberty

She’s protecting her bonus. If she can short the most claims in a month she gets to go to Cancun 3 days 2 nights resort. Drinks not included.

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Was your plan to get the check for the O&P, and have the roofer just do the roof and you pocket the rest and add those repairs to your honey-do-list for later? Or did your roofer inflate the invoice for the insurance company, and will bill you a lesser amount?

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Based on the OP, I'm assuming his plan is to try and get money for the extra trades and the O&P, which would total up to a few thousand I'm sure, and just apply that money towards his deductible so he is not out of pocket $5300.

If he actually told the Liberty Mutual adjuster that is why he needed the O&P I see why it's no longer on his estimate. That's insurance fraud. Happens all the time, but it's still insurance fraud.

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What are my options? This is not a huge claim, maybe $12-14k total, but I have a $5300 deductible (this is my first house, so i was trying to save money). So not getting O&P means I’m going to have to pay that entire deductible

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The whole point of a deductible is that your premium is priced on the calculation that you are going to bear the first portion of the loss (your deductible). Trying to pad the claim so you don’t have to pay what you contractually agreed would be your portion is what contributes to higher premiums. Pay your deductible and let your roofer/contractor get everything fixed. An insurance claim should not be a money-making (or deductible-avoiding) endeavor for you.

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If he actually told the Liberty Mutual adjuster that is why he needed the O&P I see why it's no longer on his estimate. That's insurance fraud. Happens all the time, but it's still insurance fraud.

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definitely did NOT say that to her lol. All I said to her was, "this has been really frustrating, I was told my roofer could handle all this stuff with you guys, but now I'm having to get involved and I really don't have time for this. You're also leaving out the parts of the claim that WOULD require you to grant O&P."

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his plan is to try and get money for the extra trades and the O&P, which would total up to a few thousand I'm sure, and just apply that money towards his deductible so he is not out of pocket $5300.

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If the money being paid for those trades is to fix damage that I am willing to accept, how is that any different that receiving an insurance check to fix your car and just keeping the check, or doing the work yourself?

The policy coverage is to compensate the owner to restore the the property to the state it was in prior to the incident, no? Shouldn't I have the choice to either accept something being shitty or use the money to get it fixed?