What Does a Public Adjuster Do? A Florida Homeowner's Guide

After a hurricane, a burst pipe, or a sudden roof leak, the last thing you want to fight is your own insurance company. Yet many Florida homeowners discover that the first check they receive does not come close to covering the real cost of repairs. A public adjuster works to close that gap. This guide explains what a public adjuster actually does, how they are paid in Florida, and how to know when hiring one makes sense.

What Is a Public Adjuster?

A public adjuster is a licensed insurance professional who represents you, the policyholder, not the insurance company. The adjuster the carrier sends to your home works for the carrier. A public adjuster works only for you.

In Florida, public adjusters are licensed and regulated by the Department of Financial Services (DFS) under a 3-20 license. Their job is to document your loss thoroughly, interpret your policy, build a fully supported claim, and negotiate with the carrier so you recover what your policy actually owes.

What a Public Adjuster Actually Does

Most of the work happens out of sight, in the details that decide how much you are paid. A public adjuster typically:

• Reads your full policy and identifies every coverage that applies, including ordinance-or-law (code upgrade) coverage that carriers often overlook.
• Documents the damage with photos, measurements, and detailed estimates built on real-world local repair pricing, not an insurer's paper price list.
• Pursues the depreciation holdback. Insurers often pay actual cash value (ACV) first and withhold depreciation. Structural materials like studs, framing, rebar, and concrete effectively do not depreciate, so that holdback is often recoverable with proper documentation.
• Enforces matching. Florida claims should restore your home to a uniform, consistent appearance. If part of your siding, roof, or carpet cannot be matched, the undamaged portion may need replacement too.
• Confirms overhead and profit (a standard 10% and 10%) is included where appropriate, since it should not be quietly withheld upfront.
• Challenges causation on wind-versus-flood disputes, where carriers sometimes blame an excluded flood to deny covered wind damage.

Why Claims Get Underpaid

Underpayment is rarely about one big mistake. It is usually a stack of small reductions. A recent Florida case, Bailetti v. Universal Property (FL 1st DCA, October 2025), found that a carrier can satisfy its ACV duty by paying one reasonable ACV estimate, which shifts the burden onto the policyholder. The practical lesson is clear: document and challenge the carrier's valuation contemporaneously, and do not delay. The longer you wait, the harder your position becomes.

The Deadlines That Protect You

For policies issued on or after the 2022-23 reforms, Florida law sets firm timelines. (Older policies may follow the previous, longer deadlines.) Under the current rules, your insurer generally must:

• Acknowledge your claim within 7 days.
• Begin investigating within 7 days after receiving your proof of loss.
• Conduct any physical inspection within 30 days after proof of loss.
• Pay or deny your claim within 60 days from the date you give notice of the claim (not from the date of loss).

Your own deadlines matter just as much:

• Notice of a new or reopened claim: within 1 year of the loss.
• Notice of a supplemental claim: within 18 months of the loss (a hard deadline).
• Breach-of-contract lawsuit: within 5 years.
• If you have flood damage under an NFIP policy, file that flood claim within 60 days.

How Public Adjusters Are Paid in Florida

Public adjuster fees are capped by Florida law (F.S. 626.854), and reputable firms work on contingency, meaning no recovery, no fee. The current limits are:

• Standard claims: up to 20% of the amount recovered.
• Declared-emergency claims: up to 10% in the first year after the event, then up to 20%.
• Claims at or above policy limits: capped at 1%.
• Payments made before you signed the contract: 0%.

You also have a right to cancel your contract within 10 business days of signing (30 days in a declared emergency). If anyone tells you that you have only 3 days, that is not correct.

A Note on Attorney Fees

Florida law changed significantly here, and it is important to be accurate. The one-way attorney-fee statute (627.428) was repealed for property insurance by HB 837 in 2023. This means policyholders no longer automatically recover attorney fees simply by winning a dispute. A few narrow paths remain, such as an offer of judgment (768.79) or a statutory bad-faith claim (624.155). The takeaway: building a strong, well-documented claim from the start matters more than ever, because the old fee safety net is gone.

When Should You Hire One?

Consider a public adjuster when:

• Your damage is significant and the first offer feels low.
• Your claim was denied or only partially paid.
• The carrier is blaming an excluded cause, such as flood, for wind damage.
• You are overwhelmed by the paperwork, deadlines, or an Examination Under Oath request.

When choosing a public adjuster, watch for red flags: high-pressure sales, rushing you to sign, unclear fees, vague service areas, or no references. Always verify the firm's 3-20 license on the Florida DFS website before signing anything.

Your First Steps After a Loss

1. Photograph everything before you clean up.
2. Keep a daily claim diary of every call and email.
3. Make temporary repairs only; do not make permanent repairs until told.
4. Save all receipts and request a full copy of your policy.
5. Register with FEMA and file your NFIP flood claim within 60 days if flooding is involved.
6. Never accept an early lowball offer.

How Care Claims Adjusting Helps

Care Claims Adjusting is a Florida DFS Licensed Public Adjusting Firm (#G114979) serving all Florida counties. We work on contingency, so there is no recovery, no fee. Our team has recovered $47M+ for Florida homeowners and holds a 4.9-star rating across 41 reviews. If you are unsure whether your claim was handled fairly, we offer a free policy review. Call us at (352) 782-2617 and we will help you understand exactly what your policy owes.

This article is general information for Florida policyholders, not legal advice. Statutory timelines apply to policies issued on or after the 2022–2023 reforms; older policies may follow prior rules. Care Claims Adjusting is a licensed Florida public adjusting firm (FL DFS #G114979) and represents policyholders — not insurers.