What We'll Cover
Something happened to your house. A pipe burst, a windstorm took down a tree, water came through the ceiling, a fire moved through one of the rooms. The adjuster came out, walked the damage, and gave you a number. Now you're looking at that number and it feels too low for what the repair is going to require. You're probably right. This guide covers why those estimates routinely miss real costs, what coverage you may already have that the adjuster didn't walk you through, and how the supplement process works in Washington.
The Estimate Gap
Insurance damage estimates are built quickly, by people using software priced for an average house with average conditions. The estimate that lands in your inbox is rarely the result of someone walking your specific property and thinking through what the repair requires. It's the result of a process designed to standardize claim handling across thousands of properties, not to reflect what it costs to put your particular house back together.
This is a structural feature of how the industry estimates losses, not a conspiracy. The same software is used by most carriers in the country, and it produces a consistent number based on consistent inputs. The problem is that real damage doesn't come in consistent inputs.
The system is built to allow for revisions. Once you (or a contractor walking the property with you) document what the repair requires, the carrier can pay more. They just usually don't pay more until somebody asks.
What this means for you: The first number is rarely the final number on a damage claim. The carrier expects to receive supplemental documentation as the repair gets defined. The homeowners who end up under-paid are usually the ones who treated the first estimate as the final word.
How Adjuster Estimates Get Built
Most residential damage estimates are written in a software package called Xactimate, made by Verisk. Industry sources put its share of the residential claim market at roughly 75 to 80 percent of estimates. If you're looking at an estimate from your insurance carrier, there's a strong chance it was generated in Xactimate.
The way it works: the adjuster walks the property, identifies the damaged areas and items, and selects line items from a regional price list. The software multiplies measurements by ZIP-code-specific labor and material rates and produces a total.
What the software does well
Standardized work in standardized conditions. Replacing 200 square feet of drywall on a ground-floor wall with normal access produces a reasonable estimate from Xactimate's defaults.
What the software doesn't see
Anything specific to your property that isn't in the line item list. The kitchen on the second floor of a 1960s split-level isn't the same as a kitchen on the ground floor of a modern ranch. A condo on the 15th floor with no freight elevator isn't the same as a single-story home with a driveway. The software doesn't know how materials get to the job site, what protection adjacent spaces need, or what code requires when the wall opens up.
An adjuster who has been on those job sites can override the defaults and add line items the software missed. Many do. Some don't, either because they're moving fast, they're inexperienced, or the claim is large enough that small additions feel like rounding errors. The result is the same either way: an estimate that's missing scope.
What Adjuster Estimates Commonly Miss
Here are the categories that come up most often when a contractor reviews an adjuster's scope. They're standard parts of the work that routinely get left out.
Detach and reset
When a floor is replaced, the cabinets, trim, and fixtures sitting on it have to come off and go back on. Adjuster estimates regularly cover the floor but not the labor to detach and reset everything attached to it.
Demolition and debris removal
Tearing out the damaged material is real labor. Hauling it away costs dumpster fees. These often show up under-quantified or get tangled up with the mitigation phase, leaving a gap in what gets paid.
Containment and protection
Poly walls to keep dust out of the rest of the house, floor protection, masking, negative-air machines. All required on an occupied home, all real cost.
Access labor
Materials going up to a 15th-floor condo cost more in labor than materials going through a garage. Stairs, tight sites, no elevator access, building rules about work hours and freight: the software prices the line item but not the difficulty of getting it there.
Code-required upgrades
When a 1970s wall opens up for repair, current code may require things the original wall didn't have: GFCI outlets, AFCI breakers, smoke and CO detectors, fire blocking, tempered glass, egress window dimensions. These are covered by a separate part of most policies (see the next section), but only if someone itemizes them.
Overhead and profit on multi-trade jobs
When a project requires three or more trades, contractors include overhead and profit (typically 10% and 10%, often called “O&P”). Carriers don't add this by default. On a $50,000 repair, that's roughly $10,000 the adjuster didn't include.
Permit and engineering fees
Significant repairs in King and Snohomish County require permits, and structural work often requires an engineer's stamp. Both have hard costs. Adjuster estimates often leave them out, especially on the first pass.
Matching
When part of a roof, siding run, or floor is replaced, the new material may not match the existing. Whether the carrier owes for replacing the unmatched portion is contested in Washington and depends on policy language, but it's worth raising rather than absorbing as a homeowner cost.
Sales tax on materials
Easy to miss, real money on a large claim. Worth checking the line items.
The Code Upgrade Coverage You Probably Have
This is one of the most consistent gaps between what homeowners are owed and what they get paid: a coverage called “Ordinance or Law” (sometimes “Law and Ordinance” or just “L&O”). It's included on most homeowners policies, listed as a sub-limit on the declarations page, and rarely mentioned out loud.
What it pays for: the additional cost of bringing your house up to current building code when you repair or rebuild after a covered loss. If your 1985 panel needs to come up to current AFCI requirements because the wall is open for water repair, that's an L&O claim, not an out-of-pocket cost.
Typical limits
Most policies include L&O at 10% of your dwelling coverage as a baseline. So if your house is insured for $500,000 in dwelling coverage, you likely have $50,000 of L&O coverage available for code-required upgrades. Endorsements can take this to 25% or 50%, and some homeowners have purchased the higher limit without remembering they did.
What kinds of upgrades it commonly covers
Electrical updates: GFCI outlets in wet areas, AFCI breakers, panel upgrades when a panel is reopened
Egress window dimensions when a bedroom window has to be replaced
Smoke and CO detector requirements throughout the affected dwelling
Fire blocking and structural upgrades inside opened walls
Tempered glass requirements near doors and tubs
Demolition of undamaged portions when a code official requires it
Permit and inspection fees tied to the upgrade scope
Worth checking before your next call with the adjuster: pull out your declarations page and look for an entry titled “Ordinance or Law,” “Law and Ordinance,” or “Coverage D / Building Code Upgrade.” Note the limit. If the adjuster's estimate doesn't separately itemize code-driven work, that money is sitting unused.
The Supplement Process
A supplement is a request for additional payment after the initial estimate. It's a normal, expected part of property claim handling, especially on larger losses where the full scope of the repair is hard to see until walls open and demo begins.
Carriers don't treat supplements as adversarial when they're documented well. What gets a supplement approved is documentation that shows the work the original estimate didn't account for: photos with measurements, a revised estimate in the same software format the adjuster used, code citations for upgrade items, manufacturer specs for non-standard materials, and invoices or photos for hidden damage discovered during demo.
When supplements happen
Before work starts, when a contractor reviews the adjuster's scope and identifies missing line items
During demolition, when hidden damage shows up: rotted subfloor under tile, mold behind drywall, framing damage that wasn't visible from the surface
At code inspection, when the inspector flags items that have to be brought up to current standard
After completion, when the final scope is documented for release of recoverable depreciation
A claim that gets one or two supplements is being managed carefully. The homeowners who end up under-paid are the ones who never asked.
Recoverable Depreciation
One more line item homeowners commonly miss. Most homeowners policies in Washington pay losses at “replacement cost value” (RCV), meaning you get paid the full cost of replacing damaged property with new property. But the carrier issues the first payment at “actual cash value” (ACV), which is RCV minus depreciation for age and wear.
The difference is called “recoverable depreciation,” and you get it back after the work is done and you submit invoices and proof of completion. On a 25-year-old roof, the depreciation withheld from the first check can be tens of thousands of dollars. It's yours; you just have to finish the work and document it to claim it.
The way this gets missed: the first check looks like the whole settlement. Some homeowners cash it, complete a partial repair, and don't realize the second check was ever available. Check your policy declarations for “RCV” vs. “ACV” on the dwelling line. If you have RCV coverage, the depreciation is recoverable.
What We Do (And Don't Do)
We wrote this guide because we've walked into too many homes where the homeowner was about to start a repair on half the budget the work required. The system needs someone with construction knowledge to document what the repair takes, and most homeowners don't have that on staff.
What we do
Walk your property with you, on site, before any work starts
Review the adjuster's scope line by line and identify what's missing
Write a detailed scope of repair with photos, measurements, and code citations
Submit supplements when documentation supports additional scope
Document hidden damage as it's discovered during demo
Pull permits, work with the city or county inspector, handle the code-required upgrades
What we don't do
We don't interpret your policy or argue coverage with your insurance company. Washington law (RCW 48.17) reserves that work for licensed adjusters, including public adjusters that homeowners can hire to represent them on policy questions. Our role is documenting the scope of repair: what the work is, what it costs, what code requires. Whether your policy covers a particular item is between you, your carrier, and (if you've hired one) your public adjuster.
A contractor who tells you they'll “fight your insurance company” is either overstating their role or operating outside their license. The version that fits inside the law is the one we work in: we tell the carrier what the repair costs, with documentation. Whether they pay is a function of your policy and how cleanly the supplement is presented. In most cases, with good documentation, they pay.
Already past the damage and choosing a contractor for the rebuild? Our companion guide on what makes a renovation estimate hold is worth reading before you sign anything.
Read: Why Renovation Estimates MissHave an Adjuster Estimate You Want a Second Look At?
Free walkthrough. We'll review what's in the scope, what's missing, and what supplements your repair likely supports. No pressure, no sales pitch.
Or send us a message