How ASQS Will Handle Your Insurance Claims & Cash Pay-out Offers Frequently Asked Questions
Aaron Dalton (MNZIQS) & Lester Bryant Asset Sure Quantity Surveyors Ltd 96E Disraeli St, Sydenham, Christchurch Tel: (03) 281 7703 Website: www.asqs.co.nz Email: info@asqs.co.nz
Contents 1 Insurance Claim Work
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1.1 Does ASQS Ltd use only construction qualified professionals?
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1.2 Does ASQS Ltd operate to a code of conduct?
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1.3 Does ASQS Ltd have professional insurance coverage?
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1.4 Does ASQS Ltd have an idea of how much my job will cost?
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1.5 My insurer’s offer and file looks big, can it be trusted?
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1.6 Should the insurer’s pay-out offer and reports be set aside and completely ignored?
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1.7 Are the professional fees I pay ASQS Ltd likely to be recouped or even exceeded?
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1.8 How quickly can you do my job?
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1.9 What information should the insurer have made available within their report?
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2 Insurance Company Offers
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2.1 Does ASQS Ltd conduct its work in reference to the insurer’s information?
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2.2 Can the reports from the insurer be relied on for professional accuracy?
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2.3 If ASQS Ltd didn’t have to read these reports, would the job be quicker?
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2.4 Does anything in the insurer’s reports advantage the claimant and should it be retained to benefit the claimant?
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2.5 What bits of the puzzle are missing for a complete picture of what is required to be able to establish true costs of repair or rebuild?
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2.6 Should ASQS Ltd act as an agent for the claimant and organise other professionals on behalf of the claimant to complete works required to make a professional claim?
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2.7 How detailed should the reports be?
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2.8 Will a lawyer be required?
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2.9 Can ASQS Ltd help me when I have settled?
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3 How Costs Are Arrived At
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3.1 Does ASQS Ltd charge a success fee or take a percentage of my claim?
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3.2 How often should ASQS Ltd engage with their clients or the client’s advisors during the job?
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3.3 At what times will ASQS Ltd apply charges to their clients for payment?
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3.4 What work will ASQS Ltd do for no additional charge?
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3.5 Is there anything I can do to reduce my charges?
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3.6 Cost indication
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1 Insurance Claim Work 1.1 Does ASQS Ltd use only construction qualified professionals? Yes, we have a very good pedigree and professional level of staff. Could anyone else do this? Yes, but their results would be highly contestable. 1.2 Does ASQS Ltd operate to a code of conduct? Yes, we operate within the NZIQS Code of Ethics. Could anyone else do this? Only other professional quantity surveying firms. 1.3 Does ASQS Ltd have professional insurance coverage? Yes, we have a comprehensive professional indemnity package. Could anyone else do this? Only other professional quantity surveying firms. 1.4 Does ASQS Ltd have an idea of how much my job will cost? Probably not. This is why we will usually suggest a price band. We sometimes get a general feel. After we have done the suggested $1000-$2000 file and job review we will have a better idea and will let you know. When unpredictable discoveries occur they may cause our costs to increase. This usually also means that the claim amount is likely to increase and benefit you even more. Could anyone else do this? Only other professional quantity surveying firms. 1.5 My insurer’s offer and file looks big, can it be trusted? Probably not. We have reviewed many offer files and have no found one yet that is complete and trustworthy. Some insurers seem to be closer to completion than others. Could anyone else do this? Only other professional quantity surveying firms.
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1.6 Should the insurer’s pay-out offer and reports be set aside and completely ignored? No, they are necessary insights into the insurer’s current position and strength. Could anyone else do this? Only people with construction, legal and real building experience should attempt to review these files. 1.7 Are the professional fees I pay ASQS Ltd likely to be recouped or even exceeded? Yes. It is unlikely that the insurer has presented you with your full entitlement within their offer to an “as new” condition. And the additional value of the project as well as the professional fees we include will be likely to make your settlement worth every penny. Could anyone else do this? Only people with construction, legal and real building experience should attempt this.
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1 Insurance Claim Work (contd.) 1.8 How quickly can you do my job? Most jobs take 6-12 weeks to complete. Large delays are usually the result of poor engineering reports in hand. If your job is very complex it may take longer. Missing information is the biggest complication. Could anyone else do this? Only people with construction, legal and real building experience should attempt this. 1.9 What information should the insurer have made available within their report? ASQS Ltd are the Cost Engineers of the process. We pull together all site and building relevant information and align it with real world building practice. The information about land position, geotechnical conditions, structural engineering requirements, design specifications and practical building methodology all come together to create a picture of what is required. Once these conclusions are assembled we then work out the price. Every part of the above must be organised in a logical fashion. Ultimately your settlement will be looked at in dollar terms and these dollars must be evidenced and justifiable. Could anyone else do this? Only people with construction, legal and real building experience should attempt this. All time estimates are based on current experience. If exceptional circumstances occur, these may be exceeded.
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2 Insurance Company Offers 2.1 Does ASQS Ltd conduct its work in reference to the insurer’s information? Only to establish whether proper professional reports have been relied on in assessing your offer, and that the correct engineering information is available. All of our estimating work is undertaken in a different manner to ensure it is accurate and defendable. The establishment of facts is critical to anchoring the validity of a claim. Could anyone else do this? Unlikely. Time required (under normal circumstances) 0 hours.
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2.2 Can the reports from the insurer be relied on for professional accuracy? To date, we have never seen a reliable set of reports from an insurer. A common omission is the benchmarking of all information back to the wording in the policy. Large savings in construction methodology can be achieved by using the most inferior methods or minimum standards allowable. We also need to establish your desired approach. Has the insurer determined your property is a rebuild or repair? And do you want us to establish the value of a repair or the value of a rebuild? These are separate values. Could anyone else do this? Unlikely. Time required (under normal circumstances) 0 hours. 2.3 If ASQS Ltd didn’t have to read these reports would the job be quicker? Yes, it could be a lot quicker. But if you are at a stage of being made an offer then it may be counter-productive to side step any chance of negotiation. Could anyone else do this? Only other professional quantity surveying firms. Time required (under normal circumstances) 30-40 hours. This is not normally done. 2.4 Does anything in the insurer’s reports advantage the claimant and should it be retained to benefit the claimant? Sometimes we find information that would give the claimant additional entitlements ASQS Ltd compiles a repair/rebuild strategy using best trade practices which the client uses to their own discretion or under advice. Could anyone else do this? Unlikely. Time required (under normal circumstances) 12-24 hours.
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2 Insurance Company Offers (contd.)
2.5 What bits of the puzzle are missing for a complete picture of what is required to be able to establish true costs of repair or rebuild? Every claim is different. Using general information and creating gross factual mistakes may produce scapegoats for the insurer and make it hard to settle the claim. We try to get all the facts right and minimise the use of sums to hide areas not investigated fully. Could anyone else do this? Unlikely. Time required (under normal circumstances) 2-8 hours.
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2.6 Should ASQS act as an agent for the claimant and organise other professionals on behalf of the claimant to complete works required to make a professional claim? The instructions or brief given to the necessary professionals should come from the Cost Engineers (quantity surveyors) to ensure a firm conclusion is arrived at. Could anyone else do this? Lawyer or claimant—but they won’t have the skills to know what’s required. Time required (under normal circumstances) 2-16 hours. 2.7 How detailed should the reports be? Highly detailed, factual and accurate. We are asking laymen to agree with us. To do this, each fact must be laid out in a fashion that can be questioned by non-trade people and understood. The reports should be able to be justified on a line by line basis so that an adjudicator can make final decisions on any one part if it is disputed. This also means your lawyer can trust that his professional witnesses will stand up under questioning and that the insurer’s witnesses will have trouble doing the same. Could anyone else do this? We believe no other professional can achieve this because of the time it would take compared to us. Our specialised software and acquired skills puts us in a unique position of doing highly detailed work at least 4x faster. Time required (under normal circumstances) 10-32 hours.
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2 Insurance Company Offers (contd.) 2.8 Will a lawyer be required? From our experience we believe that lawyers are an ever present need in the process of cash pay-out offers. The key areas that they will need to offer advice on are: Insurance Policy interpretation Although most insurance policies appear to be clones of other insurance policies the subtle differences between them can have a large bearing on what you are entitled to. Your lawyer should be able to offer advice on what is achievable and reasonable. They will also help you in understanding why the detail that we create and that goes into forming your claim is critical to any negotiated or litigated outcome. Interim Settlements EQC and your insurer may decide to hand money over to you with little by way of explanation. How you handle this money is important. What is also important is to realise that your claim is not settled until you say it is settled. To avoid making a mistake with regard to these activities we would advise that you have your lawyer scrutinise communications around these payments. Another possibility with regards to interim settlements is for you to request an interim settlement. Your insurer may have conceded that the pay-out could not possibly be less than an amount. If the insurer agrees with this, you should only spend such monies on your property. This spending may extend to employing professionals to finalise your claim details for you. Be aware that your settlement will not be increased to include this spending. But your satisfaction of knowing what full entitlement is will be met. Presenting Your Claim If your lawyer is part of your claim presentation to the insurance company, they are more likely to take your claim seriously. It demonstrates your commitment to get your true entitlement. And if your insurer refuses to be reasonable then they will no doubt be able to force the insurer to account for their inaction.
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2.9 Can ASQS Ltd help me when I have settled? After you have settled you have options available to you. If having your property repaired or rebuilt is what you are exploring then you may wish to use our services. Where a repair is intended, we can help you find a builder and negotiate a fair price. As we already have the details required from the reports that we have done for your claim this will be relatively quick and easy to achieve. Where a rebuild or new build is intended, we can help you determine what the design components should be. This will ensure that the design you are requesting is achievable and within your budget. We can also advise you as to suitable builders for your type of property and location.
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3 How Costs Are Arrived At 3.1 Does ASQS Ltd charge a success fee or take a percentage of my claim? No, we are a professional service firm. We only charge for our services and we do that by the hour. We use a very modern job recording system to ensure that you are only billed for what is actually done in your job. The hourly charge rates that apply can be seen on your Credit Application form or Terms of Trade. Could anyone else do this? Yes 3.2 How often should ASQS Ltd engage with their clients or the client’s advisors during the job? 1) Whenever there is a job clarification required; 2) Whenever the client needs support; 3) Whenever the insurer or other professionals require information; 4) Whenever court proceedings are likely. Could anyone else do this? Unlikely. 3.3 At what times will ASQS Ltd apply charges to their clients for payment? The ASQS Ltd job recording and billing system usually sends invoices on a weekly basis. If any of the following activities have been undertaken you will get an invoice. 1) Job related time billing including requests for variations; 2) Disbursements—photocopying, travel, ChCh Council, etc; 3) Agent engagements—if the client does not engage the other professionals directly; and we do that on your behalf. We also add 10% for administration charges. We prefer you engage with them on our recommendation; 4) Client questions and special sessions to clarify any of the above; 5) Job administration charges at 5% (Accounting, Administration & Receivables). Could anyone else do this? Most professionals should do this.
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3.4 What work will ASQS Ltd do for no additional charge? We will not charge our clients for rework due to any error on our part, or for any clerical errors in administering accounts or for the time in clarifying any of our errors. Could anyone else do this? Most professionals should do this. 3.5 Is there anything I can do to reduce my charges? External Professionals The cost of administering external professionals to undertake work on your behalf can be reduced by 10% if you agree to pay for their work in advance. Meetings and Appointments Whenever an appointment is arranged or a site visit organised which requires your support please be aware that failure to do so may incur further costs and delays. This may be further exacerbated if other professionals were simultaneously engaged. Your Professionals The experience and ability of your appointed professionals such as lawyers, can have a profound effect on the speed and expense of any further outcomes you require. Particularly with regard to negotiations and legally binding contracts. Please ensure your appointments can fulfill your requirements. 3.6 Cost indication So that you have some clarity on the likely costs of arriving at the reports you require, we offer the following indicative price band below. It is usual, however, for us to read and review your current offer first so as to give you a better idea of what is ahead. This review usually costs between $1000-2000 + GST, and this sum comes off the totals you see below.
Total Indicative Costs at $170 + GST per Hour + 5% Administration Charges 26 Hours
$5083
70 Hours
$13,685
Prepared, Copyrighted and Published by ASSET SURE QUANTITY SURVEYORS LIMITED