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A public adjuster is a licensed insurance professional who represents the policyholder — you — in a property insurance claim. The insurance company has trained adjusters working on its side of your claim; a public adjuster is the licensed equivalent working exclusively on yours: documenting the loss, valuing it independently and negotiating the settlement.

A percentage of your insurance recovery, regulated by Illinois law — agreed in writing before we start, paid out of the settlement, never out of pocket. No recovery, no fee. The policy review and initial claim assessment are free.

The insurance company’s. Staff adjusters and the "independent" adjusters carriers hire are both paid by the carrier and work within its guidelines. They may be perfectly pleasant — but their job is to settle your claim within the company’s numbers. A public adjuster is the only adjuster licensed to work for you.

You can — the way you can represent yourself in court. The claim process is built by carriers, staffed by professionals and priced by software you don’t have. Policyholders with professional representation consistently recover more; a Florida state study (OPPAGA, 2010) found settlements up to 747% higher on hurricane claims with a public adjuster involved.

Usually not. Denials get overturned and settlements get supplemented all the time — with new documentation, re-inspection, engineer reports or appraisal. Bring us the denial letter and the policy; the review costs nothing.

Before you file, ideally — the claim is set up right from the first phone call to the carrier. But we take over at any stage: mid-claim, after a low offer, after a denial. The earlier we’re in, the more we can usually recover.

Illinois law prohibits carriers from cancelling mid-term over a first claim, and weather-related claims across a region affect rates regardless of whether you personally file. Leaving a real loss unclaimed doesn’t protect you — it just donates your settlement back to the carrier.

Yes — residential and commercial both. Retail, office, multi-family, industrial: the process is the same, the stakes are usually higher, and business-interruption coverage adds a layer most owners never fully claim.

Straightforward claims settle in weeks; contested or catastrophic ones take months. What we control is momentum: complete documentation up front, deadlines enforced, and no week lost to an unanswered letter. Illinois regulations require carriers to act on claims within set timeframes — we hold them to it.

State Restoration Services is our construction partner — a licensed Illinois roofing and exterior contractor. Illinois law draws a clean line: contractors build, licensed public adjusters negotiate claims. We handle your claim; if you want, SRS can handle the rebuild. One team, each side doing what it’s licensed to do.

Make it safe, stop further damage (tarp, shut off water), and photograph everything before touching it. Keep receipts for every emergency expense. Then — before giving the carrier a recorded statement — get a professional read on the claim. That first call shapes everything after it.

Yes — State Adjusting Services is a licensed Illinois public adjuster, representing policyholders across the state since 2019. Licensing for public adjusters in Illinois is regulated by the Illinois Department of Insurance.