2010 turned out to be an extremely difficult year to be in the claims business. Aside from fantastic weather across the country, which lead to an overal reduction in claims volumes, sometimes by as much as 50%, companies were also busy trying to keep their own staff busy and reduce retention.
The excitement of the project I had moved back to Ontario to undertake began to wane in the early days of 2010, and we were forced to shift focus from the original business concept to one where we knew there was a definite need – Ontario Accident Benefits. I can tell you unequivocally that Ontario AB is a very high-pressure, low reward business to be in as an adjuster, and honestly I became disillusioned very quickly. Fortunately for me, through the avails of social media, I was approached about a position at FirstOnSite Restorations, and moved there just before the end of 2010.
It is quite a jump to move from 18 years in the independent adjusting world to working for a restoration contractor. While I do believe that the service is the same – providing a service to the policyholder on behalf of your client – the money comes from a different allocation, the pressures are different, the measurements are different and the expectations are higher. I’m working with a fantastic new team of people, and have put together a plan that will hopefully help our staff re-tool and help to maintain the direction of the company. I’m very excited about the opportunity, and am very thrilled to be trying something so totally new.
One of the things I will be trying to do is increasing the frequency that I post to this blog. WordPress is having a little fun with this as well by challenging their members to become part of a “postaday” or “postaweek” group, so I’m going to strive for the LATTER. I’m a bit of an “outsider looking in” to the contractor side of the industry, despite having handled property claims for most of my career – hopefully I will provide people throughout the insurance world some insight into what it is like to live and play on the vendor side, be it in my former life or in my new one.
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