The new century has brought about more innovation and change within the insurance loss industry than the past forty years combined. Much of the change has been driven by the demands of the marketplace to expedite the loss processes.

In this new millennium, insurance carriers recognize the need to more swiftly and accurately, document loss information, and provide answers and services for an ever-demanding market. To assist the insurance carriers in defining the many areas of a particular loss site, many of the larger property carriers have developed an approach of managing the claim versus the traditional approach of handling the claim.

We at Texas General have coined the term "Loss Consulting", as the tool by which the insurance carrier decides to engage a knowledgeable contractor to assist in the managing of the claim settlement process. The insurance industry has found many ways to tap into available resources to aid their insured in a fair and quality settlement. This process is now also used by many attorneys, both plaintiff and defense, in helping to determine the cost associated with renovation and restorational rebuilding. The following is a sample of some of the loss consulting processes Texas General has been employed to assist in:

...to build a team of architectural, engineering, and contracting companies to draft and recreate the plans for a fire-destroyed warehousing facility, estimate the reconstruction, and prepare the documents for the carrier's legal counsel - settlement cost, $9,100,000.00

...to build a team of architectural and contracting companies to draft and re-create a West Texas High School totally destroyed by fire for carrier and local independent school district - settlement cost, $9,800,000.00

...to interface on behalf of the insurance carrier, with an Ohio public adjusting firm, in the property loss settlement of a historic church in Indiana, built in 1901 - settlement cost, $1,100,000.00

...to interface on behalf of a Homeowners Association to aid in determining the reconstruction costs of the structural and cosmetic damages to multiple buildings caused by faulty slab installations - settlement cost, $2,400,000.00

In many situations time is of the essence, and the insured desires to employ a local contractor he is comfortable with. However, neither owner nor contractor is sure where to start. Texas General then begins a surgical demolition process of the facility where no gray area exists. Throughout this process we gradually educate the owner's contractor-of-choice on the accepted process of insurance loss settlements, assuring him we are only taking the facility to a recognizable, construction make-ready state. We can then advise the owner's contractor in preparing his estimate for reconstruction, if necessary.