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Can an insurance claimant be his own general contractor?

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Pipan

Active Member
What is the name of your state? TX

Hello

I am a landlord and have recently submitted a claim to insurance company for a damage to my investment house. Can my own construction company take the job as the general contractor or it will be conflict of interest? The investment house is NOT under the same LLC.

Thanks.
Pipan
 


Taxing Matters

Overtaxed Member
What is the name of your state? TX

Hello

I am a landlord and have recently submitted a claim to insurance company for a damage to my investment house. Can my own construction company take the job as the general contractor or it will be conflict of interest? The investment house is NOT under the same LLC.

Thanks.
Pipan
It's not a conflict of interest. But you'd want to be careful as doing this could amount to fraud if you deceive the insurance company about your position in the firm that does the work. Whether the insurance company would pay if it knew all the facts is something I can't predict.
 

quincy

Senior Member
What is the name of your state? TX

Hello

I am a landlord and have recently submitted a claim to insurance company for a damage to my investment house. Can my own construction company take the job as the general contractor or it will be conflict of interest? The investment house is NOT under the same LLC.

Thanks.
Pipan
It would be smart to get estimates from other companies even if you choose in the end to hire your own construction company.
 

adjusterjack

Senior Member
But you'd want to be careful as doing this could amount to fraud if you deceive the insurance company about your position in the firm that does the work. Whether the insurance company would pay if it knew all the facts is something I can't predict.
I've had no objection to that when I was a property claim rep.

I carefully scrutinized the costs.

And I did not pay overhead and profit as I did with GCs hired by an insured.

It would be smart to get estimates from other companies
Might be.

But knowing that a GC acquainted with other GCs could get any figures that he wanted, I would send out one of my own estimators.

I am a landlord and have recently submitted a claim to insurance company for a damage to my investment house. Can my own construction company take the job as the general contractor or it will be conflict of interest? The investment house is NOT under the same LLC.
If your claim rep allowed it, you would not likely be able to pocket excess money beyond the pure cost of repairs.
 

quincy

Senior Member
I've had no objection to that when I was a property claim rep.

I carefully scrutinized the costs.

And I did not pay overhead and profit as I did with GCs hired by an insured.



Might be.

But knowing that a GC acquainted with other GCs could get any figures that he wanted, I would send out one of my own estimators.



If your claim rep allowed it, you would not likely be able to pocket excess money beyond the pure cost of repairs.
I would think that any insurance company would want their own adjuster to examine any presented cost estimate and do a cost-comparison.
 

adjusterjack

Senior Member
That's true.

Exceptions are often made for small claims where the claim rep can eyeball the damage photos and see that the estimates were in the ballpark.

We closed a lot of small claims quickly that way. Happy customers. Happy management. Happy performance rating makes for a happy bonus.
 

quincy

Senior Member
That's true.

Exceptions are often made for small claims where the claim rep can eyeball the damage photos and see that the estimates were in the ballpark.

We closed a lot of small claims quickly that way. Happy customers. Happy management. Happy performance rating makes for a happy bonus.
Happy is good. :)
 

Bluefavorite

Active Member
All. Thanks for your input on my question.
I went through this and I want to add for any reference. A pinhole size hole started spraying water inside mt bathroom wall. Needed all new drywall, new tile, new master carpeting.

They said we could do the repairs and send them the bill willy nilly. They told us they would only pay 400 for a vanity! So we used them for the company to dry it out, they installed our carpet and put in new pipes. We then laid our own tile and refurbished our own vanity with the extra payout.

So, you can take the whole payout yourself and diy, find a contractor or let them handle it. They did give us an option to do the work then submit the bill. Yours may be different but there is only X amt they will pay. If your damage is below that, be sure you count every penny if you do it! But if your job maxes out their payment then it won't matter what little ot lot you spend. Basically, if your repair job is like a bomb exploded in your house, you will get a max pay out and the ins company will decide and if you can do some work yourself cheaper and pocket some money, that is fine. They pay what the adjustor says is a fair price.
 
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