Understanding a problem
Insurance claim evidence
When your home is damaged — by fire, flood, an escape of water, storm or subsidence — you are suddenly negotiating with an insurer whose representatives handle claims every day. Most homeowners do it once or twice in a lifetime, at the worst possible moment.
AssocRICS
Associate Member, RICS
MCIOB
Chartered Construction Manager
Regulated by RICS
Rules of Conduct apply
Fully insured
Professional indemnity insurance
ICO registered
Data protection registered
A decade in industry
Contracting, surveying and claims
What the service is really for
This service puts genuine claims-side experience on your side. Jarelle Mills spent years handling large-loss and complex claims — subsidence, fire, flood, escape of water and structural damage — as a regional technical surveyor. That means knowing exactly how claims are scoped, costed, validated and settled from the inside, and where under-scoping usually hides.
What you get is an independent scope of the damage and a technical report your insurer, the loss adjuster or the Financial Ombudsman Service can be held to. The opinion follows the evidence — including when the evidence supports the insurer’s position, which is precisely what makes these reports credible when they don’t.
Fit and deliverables
Reconcile the repair scope with the evidence.
Who this service is for
- Homeowners with a live claim who feel out of their depth or suspect the scope is short
- Policyholders whose claim has been declined and who want an independent technical review
- Anyone preparing a Financial Ombudsman Service referral who needs the technical case set out properly
- Policyholders whose insurer-appointed repairs look defective or incomplete
- Solicitors who need a clear, evidence-based building report to support a client’s claim
What the service covers
- Inspection and independent scoping of the damage — everything the reinstatement genuinely requires, not just what is easy to see
- Review of the insurer’s or contractor’s scope against the actual damage, line by line
- Clear technical reports on causation and reinstatement, written for insurers, adjusters and the Ombudsman
- Post-repair inspection — confirming completed works match the agreed scope and are of acceptable quality
- Dated photographic records and documentation for the claim file
- Advice on the technical evidence your claim needs, so you can negotiate from an informed position
From question to answer
How it works
One named surveyor. One clear brief. No handover to a report factory.
- 01
Initial review
A confidential conversation about the claim, the correspondence so far and what you are trying to achieve — with an honest early view on whether independent input will actually help. If it won’t, you will be told before spending anything.
- 02
Inspection and scoping
Inspection of the damage (or the repairs), and a review of the claim file, scopes and costings.
- 03
Report
A clear technical report you can put to the insurer, loss adjuster or Ombudsman — the evidence, the analysis, and what a fair outcome looks like.
- 04
Ongoing support
Follow-up input as the claim progresses, including review of revised offers and post-repair validation. If the settlement leads to rebuilding works, reinstatement project management can carry on from here.
Before you instruct
Know where technical evidence stops and the claim process begins.
Clear scope now prevents disappointment later. If another service—or no paid service—is the better answer, that is what you will hear.
My insurer’s scope looks too small. Can you check it?
Yes — that is the most common instruction. The damage is inspected independently and the insurer’s scope reviewed against it line by line. Where items are missing, under-specified or priced short, the report says exactly what and why, in terms the insurer’s own team can verify.
Is it worth challenging a declined claim?
Sometimes — declinatures on causation grounds (“not storm damage”, “wear and tear”, “not subsidence”) can be technically wrong. The initial review gives you a straight answer on the strength of your position before you commit to a full report.
Can you deal with the insurer for me?
No — deliberately. Negotiating settlement on a policyholder’s behalf is a regulated activity requiring FCA authorisation, and this practice does not undertake it. What you get instead is independent expert evidence, produced to the standard the insurer’s own experts work to, so that you — or your solicitor — can negotiate from strength.
The insurer’s builders have finished but the work looks poor. What now?
A post-repair inspection compares the completed works against the agreed scope and acceptable workmanship standards, and documents any shortfalls for the insurer to put right. Insurers remain responsible for the quality of repairs completed by their appointed contractors.
Will your report be accepted by the Ombudsman?
The Financial Ombudsman Service weighs technical evidence on its merits. Reports are written for exactly that audience: observations, evidence and reasoning shown in full, conclusions expressed within professional competence, and no advocacy dressed up as analysis.
End of sectionNext decision / 01
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