Insurance Company Estimate Too Low?
When the dispute is over how much a covered property loss is worth, insurance appraisal provides a process for determining the amount of loss.
Loss Recovery Experts inspects the property, documents the repair scope, prepares the valuation and represents your position through appraisal.
Residential | Commercial | Large Loss | Hurricane
Send us your policy and the insurer's estimate. We will review the dispute and tell you whether appraisal fits.
What the Difference Looked Like
Past results do not predict future outcomes.
More than 100 appraisals completed by Nathan Sheppard.
Experience With Claims Involving Major Property Insurers
Carrier logos identify insurers involved in property claims and do not imply affiliation or endorsement.
Does your claim look like this?
Appraisal might fit your claim if:
- Your insurer accepted the loss but the amount is too low.
- Your contractor and insurance company disagree about what needs to be repaired.
- Important damage, materials, labor, matching, access, code work, or repair sequencing is missing from the estimate.
- You have two estimates that are nowhere close.
- Your claim involves a large residential or commercial loss where small estimating mistakes become large dollar differences.
Does appraisal fit your claim?
Answer five questions. The result tells you whether an appraisal review fits your claim.
Your answers stay on this page. Nothing is sent anywhere until you request a review.
Use the review when the central problem is value:
- The insurer accepted or paid part of a covered loss, but the amount is too low.
- The estimates disagree on scope, quantities, repair method, or price.
- The property has systems or finishes a template estimate does not capture.
- The disputed amount is large enough to justify the time and expense of the process.
- You need an independent valuation record the panel can test item by item.
What appraisal does
Appraisal resolves disagreements over the amount of a covered property loss.
That often includes disputes over scope, quantities, repair methods and pricing.
It does not decide whether your insurance policy provides coverage for a loss. That distinction matters.
An Appraisal Is More Than Comparing Two Estimates
Nathan serves as the appraiser you select. His job is to approach the loss with an open mind, independently evaluate the amount of loss, and support the valuation with evidence, construction knowledge, documentation, and professional judgment.
The work includes:
- A physical inspection of the damaged property.
- Measurements, photographs, moisture readings, and system inventories where relevant.
- A repair method for each disputed item, not just a unit price.
- Attention to access, demolition, sequencing, matching, continuity, and code-triggered work.
- A line-by-line comparison with the insurer's estimate.
- Clear support for the items the appraisers agree on and the items that remain disputed.
See how insurance appraisal works
The Estimate Has to Match the Way the Property Is Actually Repaired
An estimate can look complete and still miss the work that makes a property whole. It may price a roof covering without the damaged assembly below it. It may count a wall finish without the access needed to reach the damage. It may use a software price that does not reflect how the repair has to be sequenced in the real building.
Loss Recovery Experts starts with the property. We inspect it, measure it, document the systems involved, and determine what restoration actually requires. Appraisal is the process in which that construction knowledge becomes a documented amount of loss.
Residential and commercial losses need different evidence
A home turns on roof assemblies, interior finishes, matching, moisture migration, and the detach and reset work needed to make repairs. A commercial property adds roof systems, electrical distribution, tenant improvements, leases, operating records, and restoration time.
One focus: property insurance appraisal.
More appraisal experience: Hotels · Apartments · Storage Facilities · Business Interruption · Hurricane Losses · Warehouses and Industrial
Meet the appraiser
Nathan Sheppard Property Insurance Appraiser
17 years of property claim experience 100+ completed appraisals CPIA | CPAU | OSHA Florida License #P193861 FAPIA Member
He understands what a property actually costs to restore because the valuation starts with repair methodology, construction sequencing, access, materials, systems, and the work hidden behind finished surfaces.
Construction methodology first. Estimate second.
Matching receives the same policy-first treatment. The review checks for a matching exclusion or a conditioned matching endorsement before treating continuity as settled.
Straight answers
Does appraisal decide coverage? Appraisal primarily determines the amount of a covered loss, including disputed scope and repair valuation when those issues fall within the policy's appraisal provision. Pure coverage disputes remain outside the panel's authority.
Who pays the appraisal costs? A typical provision requires each party to pay its selected appraiser and share the umpire's expense. Your policy controls. Loss Recovery Experts bills by the hour. The total reflects the hours the assignment takes and cannot be known until the appraisal is complete.
How fast will I hear back? We typically respond by the next business day.
Start with documents, not a sales call
Send us the policy and insurance company estimate.
If available, include contractor estimates, photographs, expert reports and payment letters.
We review the appraisal provision and the competing valuations and tell you whether appraisal deserves a closer look.
Office
Office: 3823 Tamiami Trail E Unit 213, Naples, FL 34112
Phone: 239.633.0894