Kf I am six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp the house Whisper on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
Hey follow us on social media. We only do the good stuff, uplifting, informative, inspiring social media. We're on all the usual suspects Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, X, you know whatever, tender, Grinder, I don't know. I don't know whatever it is out there. I'm sure we're there. Just find us home. No, we're not on grinder. Home with Dean is the handle for them all and again, if your home is in need of some personal house Whisper attention, you can book an
in home design console with me and the tea. You just go to house Whisper dot Design. All right, We've got a cooker of a show going today because I've got two very very important guests in studio with me, the founding partners of Damage Law, Aria Shack and A Dear B.
They are here.
We're having a conversation about insurance claims on property damage on your home, what to do, how to do it, what to expect, sayings that a lot of you have just never heard or been told before. So don't go anywhere because we are going to dive back into that conversation.
Very very shortly.
But right now, you know what, it is the top of the hour, which means, as promised, it's time to go to the phones. Let's see here. I want to talk to Sammy. Hey Sammy, welcome.
Home, Hey Jan how are you?
Good morning, Good morning, sir. How can we help great I've.
Seen their billboards and advertising all over on the West side. I just want to say thank you for what you guys been doing. I have a couple of clients who have been affected by the fires and they said they've reached out to them and you guys help them place them in temporary homes. Guys are doing amazing things.
Thank you.
Question thank you.
As as a landlord, are you guys working with landlord to see if there's any more space available where you could place upcoming clients.
You know, at the end of the day, whenever these clients have been affected, we're helping them get into homes that are comfortable for the time during the time of rebuild, because this could take a couple of months, maybe eight months, So it's not right where the insurance companies are putting them into hotels when there's a family of four, We're getting them into comfortable housing, something comparable to what they
had before. So if you had a four bedroom house with three bats, we're going to help them find that four bedroom house, three bats and the same square footage so everyone could be comfortable during this time of repair.
Now when you say two to eight months, we're not talking about the fire stuff necessarily out here.
Just relocation.
Just the relocating, just that.
Yeah, the living expenses of what's associated with living in an air or VRBO or a property that you found that you want to short term lease for. We're making sure the insurance companies are paying for these costs because it's not fair for you as ensured to pay out of pocket for these.
Yeah, it's I mean, I have personally no client who was a mother and a husband with four kids who are living in a little small hotel room, and she told me you guys were able to place them in a house and insurance is actually covering the cost on that. I was wondering how others can get started with that.
You know, it's as simple as reaching out to us and making sure that the insurance companies pay for what you're entitled to. We had that family. They were displaced for a week and I mean a month in the shelters and when they contacted us, we called the insurance company the same day. We told them open your eyes and your ears. This water is contaminated. They cannot live at this property. You need to pay for relocation. And then they ended up approving four months for them. So
and Sammy, just heads up, every policy is different. Every policy has different provisions as to what the insureds are entitled to and where they can go or if they can go, and what the limits are on that. So just keep that in mind as well, all.
Right, sam got it, got it?
Okay?
All right, Sammy, Hey Bud, thanks for your call.
Appreciate all you're doing out there, and thanks for the good words and really really good question.
Appreciate it. Man, have a great day.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
All right, more of your calls coming up right after.
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from kf I A M six forty.
The Froggy House Whisper at your service, my voice, just in and out today, in and out, just a little rough up on the mountain yesterday having some fun and uh ended up this morning. With a little rasp in my voice, I apologize for that. We're having a very very important program today talking to the founding partners of Damage Law about insurance claims and everything that goes into them. Very very significant information today, So.
You hang tight.
But right now I'm taking calls and I want to go back to the board. Here, let's talk to and Hey and welcome.
Home, Hijane, Thank you for taking my call. I have a flat roof that is leaking and I need to replace it. I've contacted different companies and they've suggested to do like an old fashioned hot mop or a peel and stick with like a couple layers or tar paper with a double torch. And they're all offering twenty years
like warranty for manufacturers. But I wanted to ask you which one you think it's the best or if you know a better method, and then the manufacturer and the aim of the materials that I could use that would last longer than twenty years if possible.
Okay, so you've taken how many how many quotes have you got so far?
Oh?
I've contented like ten different companies.
Oh, so you've got a whole slew of quotes.
Yes, but they're all saying different things, and then they're contradicting each other. Some say the other method's better, and then when I ask them this method better, they say no, no, it's it's not. And so I don't know which is the best way to go that would last the long astay.
All right, well, okay, so here's the stitch I'm going to give you.
I'm going to point you in the right direction, because that's what I can do today is point you in what I think is the right direction, and I can. All I'm going to tell you is how I handle a flat roof When we need a flat roof, and we need a lot of flat roofs these days because we're doing more and more custom and contemporary design. I do a lot of work on on mid century modern houses that have relatively flat roofs. And so here is the thing, and this, by the way, applies to everybody's roof.
What I'm about to say, okay, not just the flat ones. On a flat roof, the underlayment protection is the essentially the whole roof, as it is that those layers of waterproofing are the whole roof on a pitched roof that has shingles or tiles on it, The same material that I'm talking about here can be applied as an underlayment underneath the shingles and the tiles. Okay, my preference, and this is my preference as an estate builder. In other words,
the stuff that we do on the high end. And I don't mean high end as in, oh, this is the platinum version that is going to cost you ten times as much, not at all. I'm just saying this is the way it's done correctly, okay. And there are a bunch of materials out there, okay, so please forgive me for not specifying one, like I don't point you to an RW grace material versus this or that.
You know.
Here is the thing I believe on any roofing system that what you want is a flexible, stretchable, multi mill thick roofing layer.
Okay.
Now, that can be achieved, and different roofers are going to have different opinions about how it can be achieved.
It can be a.
Bitamous material which is kind of like a rubberized material that then overlaps a good four to six inches on the seams as you roll out the material and then those are torched, that seam is torched and it literally melts one into the other and becomes one solid membrane. Or these can be lighter weight roll materials that are kind of rubberized on the backside and self ceiling so that if anything, even the nails that attach them, they seal around those nails. Or they can be rolled on
poor in place PVC vinyl layered roofs. But the key here is that it's thick, that it's thick enough, and that it's flexible. And so when I say that I'm ruling out one of the roof styles that you were that you mentioned that you were described to, and that is anything involving just built up layers of roofing paper,
of asphalt embedded roofing paper. That is old school. It is old old school and roofing paper build up and hot mopping, even though you know, you got some old guys out there who are like, I've been doing this for fifty years and I've never had it's all great.
Okay.
Hot mopping is tar being applied to built up layers of asphalt embedded roofing paper.
The problem with it.
Is not that it makes that it doesn't make a great seal, now, no problem whatsoever. The problem with it is asphalt embedded roofing paper systems. They are not flexible. Age causes them to become brittle. If the roof shifts, if the house shifts, if an earthquake, rat you know, just kind of shakes things a little bit. The constant oppression of UV, sunlight and heat up on top of the roof, all of that makes asphalt and the hot
mop materials become brittle. Brittle is the enemy of a flat roof, okay, because as soon as something becomes brittle, it cracks, and when it cracks, it leaks.
Okay.
So whatever the material is that you are hearing from these various roofers, what I want from you is to prioritize the ones that are handing you flexible kind of rubberized, stretchable material of significant thickness. And then on top of that, the last thing that I'm going to share with you is very, very simply the coating that is going to go on top of the flat roof. Now, your flat roof, totally flat roof. We don't see it, or do we see it?
Not completely flat. It's slightly slightly pitched.
Okay, but slightly pitched. But do I see it? Do I see it from the street?
Right?
So the coating then on top of that, okay, is is really critical because there's the roofing material itself, and then there's what we're going to coat the top with, which is going to be a thick roll on or spray on layer of bright white alumaflex coating. And that is basically so I mean, I'm not talking about just white paint. I'm talking about a coating that has metal flex built into it that is so light reflective that
it minimizes heat transfer, that it minimizes UV damage. Because the sun, the sun is the enemy of every roof, not water. Water doesn't care about roofs. Roofs don't care about water.
Okay.
Water is the negative effect, you know in the end, if something goes wrong with the roof, but no amount of water wears out a roof, the sun UV light wears out a roof. And so after that roofing, that flexible roofing system is in place, I want you to have it coated with a highly reflective coating material. It won't matter because nobody sees it. So I mean, and when I say, highly reflective. I mean you literally can't go up there on a sunny day without your sunglasses
on because it will blind you. That kind of high reflective material. This is common stuff. This is not anything bizarre or off the cuff. But these are the kinds of things that a lot of roofing companies are like, yeah, whatever, you know, not a big deal for us, it's a big deal for you. And so that's how I want
you to prioritize those bids. And if you don't have enough estimates that meet those qualifications, then you know, take some more, take your time and get some more estimates until you've got a handful, like a top three roofers here who are essentially offering you the same kind of equality. And yeah, there are roofs out there that you can stretch longer than a twenty year warranty if you do it this right way.
Can I ask your Jean, is that what they call a cool roof for the role on LA Yes?
Yeah, sometimes it's called the cool roof. Yeah, yes, exactly. Cool roofs are not I mean it also applies to other roofing materials, even like darkrofing materials that go on as shingles can be cool roofs because they have a certain reflective material built into them that reduces the amount
of UV penetration. But yeah, it's a cool roof and yes it is a critical critical component of your flat roofing bid because that's the thing that's going to protect the roofing material from aging prematurely.
Okay, Anne, does that help?
Can I ask you one more thing?
Is that rubber?
How thick should the reberized material be the first player and underlayment?
Well, there are different thicknesses depending on the nature of the material, but it's got to be several mills thick. And again I'm not a professional roofer, that's not my specialty. Uh, but you want to be looking for you ask the question what product are you using and what manufacturer warranty comes with the use of that product from its own manufacturer.
So if you end up with something mainline like like WR Grace or Owen's Corning, you're going to find a quality roofing membrane material there.
Okay, Okay, thank you so.
Much, Thanks and thanks for the call as always, really really good question. All right, y'all, we got more coming.
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from KFI AM six forty.
We know you have a choice when you fly, and we appreciate you flying house Whisper Airlines with us. This is the point in the show when I would turn away from calls typically for a bit, take a little break, get back into my conversation with my in studio guests. But I've got a couple of calls on the board that specifically are questions for you, guys. And by the way, if you're just joining us, we are talking about insurance claims and for property damage after something has gone wrong.
And I have in studio a very very special guest, the founding partners of Damage Law right here in Los Angeles, Aria Shack and the dearb and these guys are just they are fantastic. They are here to help. And I mean that with in every sense of the word. So before we get back into our kind of free, willing conversation, guys, le's see if we can answer a couple of these questions. Let's talk to Sean. Hey, Sean, welcome home.
Bud Hi.
Well, a lot of us have been let down by utilities for lack of maintenance, and that's really my situation. I had utility contractor working at my house and they accidentally cut what turned out to be a shallow water line and they immediately went to turn off the water valve, but it didn't work, and that ludding did a lot of damage to the house, including, by the way, to our filtered water system from your advertiser, which we love, by the way, But my question is, I really don't
want to approach my insurance company on this. But if I try to take the utility to court, you know, it's probably a small claims action ten thousand, a little bit under ten thousand. I mean, what is that is that feasible against kind of the goliath utility or what should be in my approach on that?
Okay, let me let me just jump in. I just want clarification on this story. Before these there, I can see them leaning forward in their chairs. They're ready to let you know what they want to tell you. But so this was like, so a big utility company doing some work in your yard, I mean doing their stuff in your yard.
It was it was foundational work. And they're cutting into various places along the front of the house in order to put deeper footings, and one of these places happened to be where a shallow PVC water line the mainline really and it cut and they they immediately noticed water flooding event began going into the house and you know, they have utility keys, they know how to do this, but the valve from the water company was frozen. We
couldn't turn it off. Oh, it brought in a lot of the excess sand into the filtration system, which is you know, it's not designed to handle that kind of thing, and then water.
That's what happened.
All right, guys, what do you think when it comes down to this, You definitely don't want to go through your own insurance because then you run the risk of either being canceled or non renewed or even your premium is being increased. So you definitely want to go out after the at fault party. And because it's the city or a county, you have like limitations on when.
You have to utility.
It's a it's a it's a public utility.
Public Yeah, yeah, I would definitely go and hold them accountable, you know, make a report to their company, get their insurance information, and file claim.
Because they denied me.
Okay, so what was the reason for denial.
Just because they give me about.
Yeah, they needed to support their denial with with exactly why they're denying you for So, if they're telling you that I don't believe that were the cause, and you find you need to find an expert that can show that this was caused by their work. And once you have that report, then you have enough ammunition to move forward to establishal liability against them.
How long ago did this happen? A little over a year, okay?
And what part of your home was damaged? Was it the kitchen area.
That's a part of the garage, and then that filtration system that's completely okay.
It's really important that you also mitigate because part of the insurance policies, even on both sides, you have a duty to prevent further damage. So if necessary, which I'm sure it is, I would get a restoration company out there to do a proper dry out so that it doesn't produce any mold within your home.
So both contractors attested that they took immediate action.
So it sounds to me like this is something This is a conversation you guys probably need to have a little little longer length with Sean because it sounds like there's some some tricky things in there. Hey, Sean, I'm going to be giving you giving out the contact information for these guys. And am I overstepping to say you should get a hold of you and figure it out.
Yeah, reach out and we'll guide you through it and talk it out.
All right, Bud, I've got to I really appreciate I got to run. Sean.
Thanks for the call, man, Thanks very very much, appreciate it. And I think the other question was where, oh contact you know what, let's just do it. Contact information for you guys, for everybody who's listening right now.
Of course, where do they find you?
Damage law dot com or they can find us on Instagram on damage underscore law or outer number eight sixty six damage Law.
Okay, eight sixty six Damage Law or damage law dot com. Very very simple, very very simple to get a hold of you guys. All right, we're going to dive back into this conversation. When we come back, I want to talk to you guys. Let's identify all the players on the field, like who, what are the names?
You know? What?
What are the roles of these people? What is a public insurance adjuster? The adjuster from my insurance company contractors that are on the approved list of the insur I mean, who are all these players and what are they all about? Because it's a it's a mix of stuff, all right.
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from KFI AM six.
Forty, Heyfi Dean Sharp, the house whisper, Welcome home, Thanks for joining us on the program today. It is always a privilege, it truly is to spend time with you, especially on your weekend. I know how important you. I know what weekends are, even though I work on them. I know how valuable they are. And the fact that you would elect to spend time with me so we can talk about this all important thing, very very likely the most important asset, both financially and emotionally that you
have in your life, your home. It's a true privilege and a pleasure I have sitting in front of me two fantastic guys, the founding partners of Damage Law, a very very specialized kind of law that is all about property damage, both commercial. You guys do commercial stuff too, right, commercial and residential. So that's where it applies to us here about your home. And we're talking about the sticky wicket, the web of craziness that is insurance claims after something
has gone wrong. So again, you know, I know, we're just scratching the surface here, and yet we're handing out some information that that people just don't normally get to have access to. Let's just try and quickly identify all the players on the field. Okay, So we've got the so the claim is made, and now we've got an insurance adjuster.
Yep.
Then there are things out there called public things, people called public adjusters. Then there are attorneys like you guys, And then there are contractors who are going to be in the mix and specialists and experts and all of that. And then among the contractors there are you know, the contractors that a person would call to do something to their house or to fix their house, or to change their house. And then there are these these contractors that
are on the insurance company approved list. So let's figure out who's who and what everybody is after. So Aria the the insurance adjuster. Yeah, who is this person?
So when you file that claim, you have a claim adjuster, which is the one that is going to be taking you through the process of getting things approved or denied and then there is the independent adjuster from the insurance side who they send out to come out on the field to actually inspect the site. Typically, you would want your claim adjuster to be there so they can actually
see what's going on here. Rather than seeing photos and images, they could inspect the property and see how significant the damage really is. These independent adjusters, at times, they're not even in basein California. They come from Texas or Colorado, and they don't know what the cost of material or construction.
Okay, I'm sorry.
The independent adjust this is still somebody coming from the insurance but not your claim adjuster. This is the insurance company is farming out and hiring out adjusters to handle things like this.
They may not even be from the state exactly right.
So if they're from Texas, they had no idea what things in California cost exactly Okay, all right, gotcha? All right, So your claim adjuster and the independent adjust that's coming from the insurance company, Okay, what about a public adjuster.
A public adjuster is an individual that a homeowner can hire to come and assess and evaluate and value the damage that's been done to your robbery and they work on your behalf and they advocate on your behalf through the claim process with the insurance carrier.
So they're a step in the right direction, no doubt. Far as they work for you. Their job is to serve your payout interests property owner.
They're there to value your claim and push to get you what you're owed and to bring you back to your pre loss condition.
And if I contract with a public insurance adjuster, then my insurance company has to listen to them and deal with them. Yes, I mean well, when I say listen to them, they don't have to agree with them. But in other words, they are a legal entity representing me at that point with the In other words, the insurance company can't say, I don't know who this guy is that you hired, but we deal with you.
Correct.
There's a letter of representation that is signed, I'm assuming between the public adjuster and the homeowner that allows the public adjuster to speak to the insurance carrier and the adjuster on the homeowner's behalf.
And it's safe to say I feel like I've got you on the witness stand. Is it safe to say that a public insurance adjuster is playing more hardball with an insurance company than the homeowner themselves is able to.
They have a level of education and licensing that allows them to know what their insurance codes are from the Department of Insurance, and they're making sure that the insurance companies is following those regulations from the DOI.
Okay, all right, And not only that, public adjusters are typically using what the insurance carriers want or what they use in order to value the claim. And it's called an exactimate estimate, so they're they use the same system. Correct, Therefore it translates better for their act.
Okay exactly.
But a public even a public adjuster, can only go so far if the insurance company is pushing back correct and.
Then we have you guys.
Yeah, so you know, a public adjuster is limited in terms of being able to actually file a lawsuit against the carrier for bad faith conduct. And in every in almost every single contract and the policies your contract in California, there's the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and the public adjuster isn't able to make that a
cause of action because they can't file suit. So when we file suit on behalf of the property owner, we're filing it for the breach of contract, which is the breach of the benefits of the policy that they're not laying out to the insured. And we're also putting in the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and how the insurance care breached that in order to get the bad faith damages.
Gotcha.
And now when you guys, and I know you guys evaluate claims for free, yes, okay, you evaluate policy in the nature of the claim for free, and you don't take all those cases because sometimes they don't need you
at your level. Correct, But what we're recommending here today is the idea of, like, if you're going to start this process, why not step to the most qualified, the most specialized, and the people who have the most power and influence of the best maybe ten thousand foot view of the entire situation and find out, especially if it's not going to cost you anything, find out where exactly
you stand from from your perspective. And so what I'm making that strong recommendation that if somebody's in that situation, they should call it.
They should just call you first.
Think they should call you first and find out do they need you or should you recommend a public adjuster to them? In their situation, or should they just deal work with their insurance adjuster because as far from where you're standing, things are proceeding properly and they don't need to take further steps.
So when a claim adjuster sees that there's an attorney representing the file, they take it very seriously because now they know they're under the microscope. They can't just unreasonable
to deny or delay the process. And what happens is the public adjusters get to a certain point where the insurance carrier is either denying coverage for certain situations or they're minimizing what they're entitled to, and they can just tell them no. So we work with public adjusters where we help them push the claim to the finish line for these clients that have not got coverage or weren't
able to get enough money. And these insurance carries, at the end of the day, when they see that we're signed to claim, they use a different claim adjuster because now they have to use someone who knows how to deal with attorneys right right public adjustment.
And it's not that a public adjuster isn't doing their jobs, it's the fact that they can't sue an insurance company, and so that's why they take notice when you guys get involved along the way.
And to your point, Deing, we we're very honest with anybody who calls in. If we don't feel like our services are necessary at this time, we are more than happy to tell them, Hey, you know, you can deal with a public adjuster at this phase, or you can try it by yourself. We're not here to contract with every single person we want. We want to outlay advice, we want to add provide as much value as we
can without actually contracting with us. But yes, I mean, if they get to a certain situation where they have reached an impasse, yeah, they should give us a call and see if we can evalue it and help them.
All right, sounds good?
All right, when we come back, let's talk about.
The crime scene.
Yes, let's talk about what should a homeowner do and not do? And so maybe this delicate balance between not polluting the crime scene but at the same time doing mitigation and what that means. Yes, so that they limit their exposure. And if that doesn't instantly resonate with you, you need to keep listening and we'll get to it right after. Eileen Gonzalez gives us the news.
This has been Home with Dean Sharp, the House Whisper. Tune into the live broadcast on KFI AM six forty every Saturday morning from six to eight Pacific time, and every Sunday morning from nine to noon Pacific time, or anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app