Independent appraisers for buildings, contents and business income.
When you and your insurer disagree on the value of a commercial loss, the appraisal clause in your policy settles it without a lawsuit. We serve as your appraiser, from reading the policy to the signed award.
A flat fee, never a percentage of the award. We take commercial claims in every state but Minnesota.
What the claim is made of, keyed to the drawing
A commercial property policy is built from separate coverages, each with its own limit, its own way of valuing what was lost, and often its own deductible. When a building is damaged, most of them are triggered at once. The appraisal has to value each one, and keep them apart.
A warehouse after Hurricane Gilbert, San Antonio, Texas, 1988. Building and contents in one frame, and business income in every day the doors stay shut. U.S. Air Force photograph, public domain.
| Coverage | What it pays for | Where it is disputed |
|---|---|---|
| Building CP 00 10 | The structure, its systems and its permanently installed fixtures, at replacement cost or actual cash value as the declarations say. | Scope, pricing, repair or replace, and what the code requires. |
| Business personal property CP 00 10 | Furniture, equipment and stock, and a tenant’s improvements and betterments. | The inventory, how stock is valued, and what could be saved. |
| Business income and extra expense CP 00 30 | Net income and continuing expenses for the period of restoration, and the extra cost of staying open. | How long the restoration should take, and what the business would have earned. |
| Ordinance or law CP 04 05 | Code upgrades, demolition of undamaged parts, and the increased cost of construction, where the policy is endorsed for it. | What the building department will require, and when. |
| Additional coverages CP 00 10 | Debris removal, preservation of property, pollutant clean-up and electronic data, each with its own formula or limit. | Whether the costs were captured, and under which line. |
Before anything else, we sort the disagreement. If it is about value or amount, the appraisal clause can settle it. If it is about whether the policy covers the loss, it cannot, and we will say so.
What the repair costs
Building by building, by system and trade.
The scope of the work
Repair or replace, matching, and what the assembly needs once opened.
The value of the property
At the time of loss, stated separately on the award.
Actual cash value
The depreciation taken, and whether it was reasonable.
Business income
Net income and operating expense, under its own clause.
Whether the policy covers the loss
Exclusions, endorsements and any denial.
How the policy is read
Interpretation is law, not valuation.
Bad faith, interest and penalties
And any fees that follow from them.
The deadline to sue
Two years from the loss in the standard commercial conditions, unless state law says otherwise.
Anything the clause does not give the panel
An award that decides it can be set aside.
Two questions that depend on your policy and your state
Not sure which side of the line your disagreement falls on? Send us the carrier’s letter and its estimate, and we will tell you, at no charge. Request a commercial claim review
The appraisal condition of the standard commercial property form, quoted in full. Each mark has its note; the flagged ones are where it parts from a homeowners policy.
2. Appraisal. If we and you disagree on the value of the property or the amount of loss1, either may make written demand2 for an appraisal of the loss. In this event, each party will select a competent and impartial appraiser3. The two appraisers will select an umpire. If they cannot agree, either may request that selection be made by a judge of a court having jurisdiction4. The appraisers will state separately the value of the property and amount of loss5. If they fail to agree, they will submit their differences to the umpire. A decision agreed to by any two will be binding6. Each party will:
a. Pay its chosen appraiser7; and
b. Bear the other expenses of the appraisal and umpire equally.
If there is an appraisal, we will still retain our right to deny the claim8.
Appraisal can settle the property’s value Differs from a homeowners policy
A homeowners clause reaches only the amount of loss. The commercial clause adds the value of the property, the figure the coinsurance condition is measured against.
Either side can demand appraisal in writing
The carrier can demand appraisal as well as you. If it demands first, you still choose your own appraiser.
Your appraiser must be competent and impartial
On a commercial loss, competent means able to price a building by system and trade. Impartial means no stake in the number, which is why we are never paid a percentage of it.
There is no set deadline to name appraisers Differs from a homeowners policy
A homeowners policy allows 20 days to name an appraiser and 15 to agree on an umpire. The commercial form sets no period, though some states add one. The time to sue keeps running, so a demand should not wait.
The award lists value and loss separately Differs from a homeowners policy
The award carries the value of the property and the amount of loss as separate figures, so coinsurance and payment both work from the same signed page.
Two signatures make the award binding
Most items settle between the two appraisers; the umpire decides only what they cannot. An award signed by any two binds both sides on the amount.
Each side pays its own appraiser
The carrier pays its appraiser and you pay yours. The umpire and the other expenses of the appraisal are shared equally.
The insurer can still deny coverage Differs from a homeowners policy
The panel settles figures, not coverage. The commercial form says so in its own words; a homeowners clause does not.
The business income form, CP 00 30, carries the same clause for disagreements about “the amount of Net Income and operating expense or the amount of loss.”
Most commercial policies carry a coinsurance condition, commonly at 80, 90 or 100 percent. If the limit you carried is less than that share of the building’s value at the time of loss, the policy pays only a proportion of the loss, and the business carries the rest.
The value is measured on the policy’s own basis: replacement cost where that coverage applies, actual cash value where it does not. A carrier’s valuation is an estimate like any other, and the commercial clause lets either side put the value to the panel. Move it, and watch what the same loss pays.
If the declarations show an agreed value for the building, the coinsurance condition does not apply to it until that agreed value expires. It is among the first things we look for.
Has the carrier applied a coinsurance penalty? The valuation behind it can often be appraised. Send us the declarations and the calculation
Value of the building at the time of loss
The policy pays
$508,333
Lost to the penalty
$106,667
The four steps are the policy’s own (CP 00 10, Additional Condition F.1). The figures are an illustration, not a record of any claim.
A house is estimated room by room. A commercial building is priced by system and by trade, and the costliest disagreements are rarely about unit prices. They are about whole layers of the building that never made it into the scope.
A low-slope roof is the clearest case. What shows from above is the membrane. What the building depends on is everything under it, and water that gets through the first layer soaks the rest.
An office building after Hurricane Matthew, Florida, 2016. NASA photograph, public domain.
Seven layers and parts, each a line of its own. The carrier’s estimate in this example patched the membrane and stopped there. Point at a layer to find it in the drawing.
Outlined in brass: the 3 layers the carrier’s estimate left out. Thicknesses are exaggerated; the figures are an illustration, not a record of any claim.
Commercial estimates are organized like construction documents, by the divisions of the work. Read that way, two estimates show at a glance where they part. This is the summary page of the same loss.
Estimate summary, Building 1
| Division | Work | The carrier’s estimate | The appraised estimate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 General requirements Supervision, temporary protection, the crane, daily clean-up | $4,200 | $61,400 | |
| 02 Existing conditions Tear-off of the roof assembly, haul and disposal | $12,600 | $37,900 | |
| 07 Thermal and moisture protection Insulation, cover board, membrane, flashing, edge metal | $88,400 | $311,330 | |
| 08 Openings Storefront glazing and framing, three bays | $16,200 | $27,800 | |
| 09 Finishes Ceilings, drywall and flooring below the roof leaks | $19,800 | $34,600 | |
| 23 Heating, ventilating and air conditioning Two rooftop units, curb adapters, start-up | $2,100 | $54,200 | |
| 26 Electrical Disconnects and controls at the rooftop units | $0 | $6,100 | |
| Subtotal | $143,300 | $533,330 | |
| General contractor’s overhead and profit | $0 | $106,670 | |
| Replacement cost, Building 1 | $143,300 | $640,000 | |
Divisions follow the numbering contractors use for commercial work. The figures are an illustration, not a record of any claim; the total is the Building 1 figure used in the valuation above and carried to the award below.
A shopping center loses scope at its storefronts, a warehouse under its membrane, an association at the line between the master policy and the owners. Choose a building to see where we look first.
One roof over many businesses, and the claim has to keep them apart.
Where a carrier’s estimate tends to go short
On the policy. The standard form values a tenant’s improvements and betterments differently depending on whether they are repaired promptly, and pays nothing for them if someone else pays for the repair.
A large low-slope roof hides water a long way from where it came in.
Where a carrier’s estimate tends to go short
On the policy. Stock and equipment are business personal property, usually under a limit of their own. Stock you have sold but not delivered is valued at its selling price, less discounts and expenses.
Interiors are built in layers, and water moves through every one of them.
Where a carrier’s estimate tends to go short
On the policy. Electronic data has a separate and small limit under the standard form: $2,500 a policy year, unless the declarations show more.
The loss is counted unit by unit, and so is the rent.
Where a carrier’s estimate tends to go short
On the policy. For a landlord, lost rent is business income, written as rental value, and it runs for the same period of restoration as the repair.
The master policy, the declaration and every owner’s policy meet at the same walls.
Where a carrier’s estimate tends to go short
On the policy. Wind and hail deductibles on association policies are often a percentage of each building’s value, which makes building-by-building figures essential.
The building is the business, and it earns by the night or by the cover.
Where a carrier’s estimate tends to go short
On the policy. Business income is measured on what the business would likely have earned had there been no loss, so the season the loss fell in matters.
Older buildings, specialist finishes, and a building code that applies the moment work begins.
Where a carrier’s estimate tends to go short
On the policy. Code upgrades depend on ordinance or law coverage. The standard form carries a small allowance for the increased cost of construction; the ordinance or law endorsement provides more, to its own limits.
“If we and you disagree on the amount of Net Income and operating expense or the amount of loss, either may make written demand for an appraisal of the loss.”
The business income form pays the net income the business would have earned, and its continuing expenses, payroll included, for the period of restoration. That period begins 72 hours after the loss and ends when the property should be repaired with reasonable speed and similar quality. Extended business income then covers up to 60 more days while trade recovers, and extra expense applies from the start.
So the building and the income belong in the same appraisal. Leave the rooftop units out of the estimate and the period of restoration shrinks with it, before anyone has opened the books.
A shopping center after Hurricane Isabel, Edenton, North Carolina, 2003. FEMA photograph by Mark Wolfe, public domain.
How business income loss is calculated
Under the standard form, extra time needed to meet a building code is not part of the period unless an endorsement adds it. We read for that endorsement first.
How the repair schedule sets the period of restoration
Period of restoration
15 weeks
Business income for the period
$184,000
Periods from the standard business income form (CP 00 30). Business income here is about $12,300 a week of net income and continuing expenses. The schedule and figures are an illustration, not a record of any claim.
Is the business income figure in dispute? Bring the profit and loss statements, and we will read them against the schedule. Request a commercial claim review
Six phases, each ending in a document you can read. The commercial form sets no days for any of them; we will give you our expectation of timing at the review.
We read the whole policy and the dispute, and tell you plainly whether it is one appraisal settles.
A written answer, before you commit to anything
From youThe complete policy, the carrier’s estimate and its letters
A written demand naming us as your appraiser, or our appointment if the carrier has demanded first.
The demand letter, or our acceptance of the appointment
From youYour authority to appoint us; for an association, the board’s decision
Building by building, usually alongside the carrier’s appraiser, with moisture surveys and core cuts where the roof calls for them.
Inspection notes, measurements and a photo log
From youAccess to every building, roof and system in dispute
Priced division by division in the carrier’s format, and business income built from the books for the period the repair sets.
Our estimate and business income analysis
From youBids, invoices and, for business income, the financial records
Line by line with the carrier’s appraiser. What remains goes to the umpire, with written submissions and, on a large loss, an inspection.
The reconciliation, and an umpire submission if one is needed
From youYour decision on any offer to settle part of the claim
An award signed by any two, every figure stated separately. Payment follows within 30 days of the award and a sworn proof of loss.
The signed award, itemized
From youA sworn proof of loss if asked for, and invoices as the repair proceeds
Replacement cost is paid as the work is done. If you take actual cash value first, the form requires notice within 180 days of the loss that you intend to claim the rest. We give you both dates the day the award is signed.
The award for the loss on this page. Building 1 is the estimate total, its value is the one the panel set, and business income is the fifteen weeks the schedule found.
Appraisal award
Value and amount of loss
We, the undersigned, having been appointed under the appraisal conditions of the policy, have examined the damaged property and determined the value of the property and the amount of loss, stated separately below. This award is made without determination of coverage.5
| Amount of loss | Replacement cost | Actual cash value2 |
|---|---|---|
| Building 1, retail and office1 | $640,000 | $486,200 |
| Building 2, warehouse | $212,400 | $171,900 |
| Business personal property, Building 1 | $96,800 | $74,100 |
| Ordinance or law, increased cost of construction | $58,300 | On completion |
Appraiser for the insured
Appraiser for the insurer
Illustrative figures, not a record of any claim.
Each building is listed separately
Limits apply building by building, and percentage deductibles are figured on each building’s value, so the award keeps them apart.
Replacement cost and actual cash value for every item
Actual cash value is paid now. The rest of the replacement cost follows when the repair is done, as soon as reasonably possible.
The building’s value is stated separately
The figure coinsurance is measured against, so the condition is applied to a number both sides signed.
Business income is listed separately
Appraised under the business income form’s own clause, for the period of restoration the repair sets.
The award does not decide coverage
The award settles amounts. Whether each is covered remains a separate question, as the commercial form provides.
Two signatures make the award binding
An award signed by any two of the three binds both sides on the amount. The umpire signs only if needed.
Under the standard form, the carrier pays within 30 days after it has the sworn proof of loss and the award.
A commercial award is read by more people than most: owners, boards, lenders, and sometimes a court. The file behind it is prepared for every one of them.
Reads and interprets the policy
Licensed since 2018
Danielle has managed and interpreted residential and commercial claims in every mainland state and in Canada. She reads a commercial policy as the contract it is, forms, endorsements and schedules together, sorts value from coverage before anything is spent, and notices when a carrier leans on an internal guideline instead of the policy.
Inspects and documents the building
Adjusting since 2004
Joshua spent two decades as a field and desk adjuster and led the specialty documentation teams carriers bring in when a file has to withstand scrutiny. Every appraisal file is prepared to that standard: measured, photographed and recorded so the other side can check it and find it holds.
We work alongside your broker, public adjuster, attorney or accountant, and stay inside the appraiser’s role. More about Joshua and Danielle
A commercial or association appraisal is a flat $10,000, stated in writing before anything starts. It is for our professional time, and it is due regardless of the outcome.
It is never a percentage of the award. The policy requires your appraiser to be impartial, and an appraiser paid a share of the number is not. The same clause settles the rest: the carrier pays its own appraiser, and the umpire is shared equally.
Residential appraisals are a flat $2,500. How we work
What the fee covers
The fee
Check off what you already have. A review can start with the declarations and the carrier’s estimate; we will ask for the rest as we need it.
Or call (945) 248-2554. One of us answers.
Yes, when the disagreement is about value or amount.
The standard commercial property form (ISO CP 00 10) and the business income form (CP 00 30) each carry an appraisal condition, and most carriers’ own commercial forms follow them. If the carrier has accepted the loss but you disagree on what it costs to repair, what the property was worth, or how much income was lost, either side can demand appraisal in writing.
The structure is the same: two appraisers, an umpire if they cannot agree, and an award that binds when any two sign it.
The commercial clause adds three things. The panel can be asked to set the value of the property as well as the loss, the form itself sets no days for naming appraisers, and it says outright that the carrier keeps its right to deny the claim. In practice the files are larger, the estimates are priced by trade, and an umpire on a large loss may inspect the property and take written submissions from both sides.
Yes. The business income form has its own appraisal condition, for disagreements about “the amount of Net Income and operating expense or the amount of loss”. The figure turns on two things: what the business would likely have earned, which comes from its records, and how long the period of restoration should run, which comes from the repair. A building scope that leaves work out also shortens the business income claim, so the two are best appraised together.
It can settle the figure the clause depends on.
Coinsurance compares the limit you carried with the value of the property at the time of loss, and the commercial appraisal condition lets either side put that value to the panel, which states it separately from the amount of loss. Whether a penalty then applies follows from the policy’s own arithmetic. If the property was insured on an agreed value basis, the coinsurance condition does not apply to it until that agreed value expires.
No. The commercial form says it in so many words: “If there is an appraisal, we will still retain our right to deny the claim.” The panel sets values and amounts. Whether the policy covers the loss, how an exclusion or endorsement applies, and whether the carrier acted in bad faith are questions for a court. We will tell you which kind of disagreement you have before you spend anything with us.
It depends on the size of the loss and how much is in dispute.
A single-building roof claim can conclude in a few months; a multi-building loss with business income can take longer, particularly if the umpire is needed. It is still usually faster than litigation. Watch the suit deadline while it runs: the standard commercial conditions allow two years from the date of loss, states can change that, and in most states appraisal does not pause it.
Be careful.
The commercial clause requires each side to select a competent and impartial appraiser, and courts have set aside awards where the policyholder’s appraiser was paid a percentage of the claim or held an assignment of it. A public adjuster paid on a percentage, or the contractor who will perform the repair, has a stake in the number. They can still help with the claim; the appraiser should be someone without that stake.
Usually, yes.
The association is the named insured on the master policy, so the demand is made in its name, normally on a decision of the board under its governing documents. The declaration decides where the association’s responsibility ends and each owner’s begins, and the owners’ own policies have appraisal conditions of their own. Percentage wind and hail deductibles are common on association policies, so the award should state each building separately.
A commercial or association appraisal is a flat $10,000.
$2,000 retains us and opens the file, and the remaining $8,000 is due when the award is signed. The fee is for our professional time and is due regardless of the outcome; it is never a percentage of the award. As the policy provides, the carrier pays its own appraiser and the umpire’s fee is split equally.
Send us the policy and the carrier’s estimate. We will read both, tell you plainly whether appraisal fits the disagreement, and quote the work in writing. There is no charge for the review.
