Yes, a public adjuster can help with a denied claim. It is most of what we do. A denial is where most of our work starts, because the carrier has already said no and a homeowner has nowhere left to go on their own.
We should say up front that no one can honestly promise you a result on an insurance claim, and you should be suspicious of anyone who does. What we can promise is that we will tell you whether yours looks worth fighting.
What "denied" usually means
When a homeowner tells us "my claim was denied," it nearly always falls into one of five buckets.
- Wear and tear. The carrier says the roof is old and the damage is age, not hail.
- Below the deductible. The carrier found some damage, but less than your deductible, so the payment is $0. We wrote about this in our post on "below your deductible" letters.
- Cosmetic. The carrier admits the hail hit the roof but says it did not hurt the roof's function. Cosmetic exclusions are usually written for metal roofing and get misapplied to other materials.
- Pre-existing damage. The carrier says the damage is from a storm years ago, or from before you owned the house.
- No storm event. The carrier says it cannot tie the damage to a storm on the date of loss.
Each of those is a claim about evidence, and evidence is something we can go get.
What we do differently
The first thing we do after you sign is get the full policy. The carrier usually takes about two weeks to send it, and we take a week to read it. Expect three weeks where it looks like nothing is happening. We do not argue a claim until we have read the policy, because the last thing anyone wants is a roof approved and then a limitation nobody knew about cuts the payment.
After that, our work looks like this.
- Document the damage. Photos, measurements, and test squares, with notes on directionality and the type of hits.
- Pull weather data. NOAA storm data is public, and it shows whether hail fell near your address on the date of loss.
- Find a pre-purchase inspection report. If a home inspector looked at your roof when you bought the house and found no damage, that is strong evidence against "pre-existing." We ask every homeowner about it.
- Demand the cited provision. Minnesota law requires a denial to reference the specific policy provision. If the letter does not, we ask for it in writing.
- Request a reinspection. Often with a different adjuster, and with our evidence in hand.
- Escalate. Management, a written demand, a Department of Commerce complaint, and if needed, a referral to appraisal or an attorney.
We touch every file twice a week and you are copied on every email. If the carrier calls you, you say "talk to my public adjuster."
A denied claim, with real numbers
A homeowner we worked with received a first offer of $0 on a roof claim. The carrier called the damage wear and tear. The final number was $115,896.
That gap came from evidence, not a trick. The roof had real hail hits, the weather data supported the date, and the carrier's original inspection missed what a closer look found. It took many rounds of email. We are describing a result, not a typical one, and yours could land very differently.
Here are the only figures we publish about our results across all claims. Of 69 claims where the carrier had already made a real first offer, 100% closed higher. The median increase was $18,840 per claim. Median means the middle claim, not the average.
What we cannot do
We cannot force an insurance company to pay. We are not a court and we are not appraisal. We are the first step: document, present, negotiate, escalate. Appraisal and attorneys are the levels beyond us.
We also cannot guarantee anything, and we cannot change what your policy says. If the policy excludes the damage, no amount of paperwork fixes that. And we cannot predict timelines. Most of our claims take months of back and forth, and some take a year.
We're public adjusters, not attorneys. For legal questions, including whether to sue, talk to a Minnesota attorney. If you are comparing options, our post on public adjusters, attorneys, and appraisal explains the differences.
When we say no
We turn down claims, and this is the part homeowners appreciate most later.
- The estimate is close to your deductible. If the repair cost is $3,100 and your deductible is $2,500, there is not enough room for our fee to make sense.
- An actual cash value policy on an old roof. After depreciation the payment may be small.
- No storm to tie it to. If the damage came from a leak at failed flashing or a bad install, it is a contractor problem.
On Minnesota residential claims we charge a $200 initial claim review and documentation fee. It covers the on-site inspection, getting your full policy, reviewing every coverage, and a go or no-go answer. If we take the claim and win, it is credited toward our final fee. The consultation itself is free. Our fee is a percentage of the approved value of each trade we take on for you (roof, siding, and so on), and we only charge it on a trade if we get the insurance company to approve more than it already had. The exact percentage is in the written agreement.
If you are not sure what to do first, start with our overview of your options after a denial.
The honest answer
A public adjuster can help with a denied claim when there is real damage, a real storm, and a gap big enough to justify the fee. We cannot make a carrier pay and we cannot promise a result. We can tell you, on the first call, whether yours looks worth the fight, and our FAQ covers how that call works.