Sedgwick Building Services insurance claim

OnlyGuyWhoLikesTwix

I just had my claim passed to Sedgwick Building Services and shocked that I cannot find a single positive review for them online. The manner seems to be that they try to use any means necessary to deny the claim or undercut the costs.

Just to say where I'm at, my builder noticed a leak behind a tiled surface and had been leaking for quite a while apparently. It was not noticeable at all from the outside. He was concerned as it could have gotten to the joists and either way needs insurance work. He was not in a position to say the extent of the problem and that it needs investigating properly (it was outside the remit of what he was doing). 

How best should I arm myself? They are going to contact me in the next couple of days so I assume they will send someone to assess the damage, but I'm worried that they will either try to deny the claim outright or offer me a settlement which is far below what it's actually going to cost to fix. My first thought is to get a builder to come out and estimate given what they can access but I'm worried if someone else pokes around, that could be grounds for denying the claim. I'm figuring if it's rotten joists or even worse, dry rot, the entire area will need to be rebuilt.

Sandtree

OnlyGuyWhoLikesTwix said:

I just had my claim passed to Sedgwick Building Services and shocked that I cannot find a single positive review for them online. The manner seems to be that they try to use any means necessary to deny the claim or undercut the costs.

Thats odd as when searching for them there are lots of positive reviews, though as a contractor rather than loss adjuster. 

Their role is to assess the claim and ensure appropriate values are paid. These types of services are paid by the insurer either on a Time and Materials basis or on a stepped fee based on settled claim. In either path they will get more fees by agreeing more work as covered by your insurance than by denying your claim with the only possible exception being a full repudiation. 

That all said, you mention rot which is typically excluded from cover as is gradually acting issues subject to where the water has been coming from.

OnlyGuyWhoLikesTwix

That's good to know, maybe I'm getting paranoid about nothing that hasn't even happened yet.

There was a bath tub that was tiled in and access was not readily available. Apparently that waste was leaking and we didn't know about it, the floor was also tiled so nothing was evident. My builder found it when he was doing some work in the room adjacent. He has fixed the leak for me but obviously there's now other damage. He is concerned that the joists may have taken damage which is why the claim.

I should also say, I'm no builder so I only say rot as a worse case scenario. In reality I don't really know what I'm talking about.