Your Roofer Is Not Your Public Adjuster: What Ohio Law Actually Allows
Plenty of Ohio roofing companies advertise that they will handle your insurance claim. Some of what that phrase covers is perfectly legal. Some of it, done for compensation without a licence, is not.
Three Different Roles, Often Blurred
There are three parties who can be involved in valuing your loss. The company adjuster works for your insurer. A public insurance adjuster works for you, for a fee, and negotiates the claim on your behalf. A contractor prices and performs the repair.
Marketing language flattens all three into we handle insurance. Understanding the actual distinction protects you, because the three roles carry different licensing obligations and very different incentives.
What Ohio Requires
Ohio Revised Code Chapter 3951 governs public insurance adjusters. Section 3951.02 states that no person, firm, association, partnership, or corporation shall act within Ohio as a public insurance adjuster, or receive compensation directly or indirectly for services rendered in the adjustment of claims under the covered policy types, unless they hold a certificate of authority issued under the chapter.
Getting that certificate involves an examination, a fee, and a surety bond filed with the Superintendent. There are statutory exceptions — notably attorneys adjusting losses in the course of practising law, and salaried employees of insurers adjusting claims under their own employer's policies.
Where the line sits for a contractor
Broadly, and without giving legal advice, this is how the industry treats it:
- Generally fine: inspecting the roof, documenting damage with photographs and measurements, preparing a written scope and estimate for the work you want done, meeting the adjuster on site to point out what we found, and supplying documentation supporting the cost of repairs.
- Getting close to the line: negotiating the value of the claim on your behalf, interpreting your coverage for you, or charging a fee calculated as a percentage of the settlement.
Why the fee structure is the tell
A contractor is paid for building a roof. A public adjuster is paid a share of the settlement. If someone is offering to fight your claim in exchange for a percentage of what they recover, they are describing public adjusting, and in Ohio that requires a certificate of authority you are entitled to ask to see.
How to Verify and What to Ask
Public adjusters in Ohio are licensed by the Department of Insurance, and you can ask any adjuster for their certificate of authority and verify it with the Department. A licensed public adjuster will expect that question and answer it easily.
Then read the agreement. Look for the fee percentage, what it is calculated on, whether it applies to the entire claim or only to amounts recovered above the carrier's first offer, and how you cancel. Those four items determine whether the arrangement makes sense for your situation.
What We Do and Do Not Do
We inspect roofs, we document what we find thoroughly, we write a scope and price that reflects the work required, and we meet the adjuster on the roof so that what we saw and what they see is the same set of facts. When the approved scope misses something real, we supply the documentation supporting it.
What we do not do is charge a percentage of your settlement or hold ourselves out as your adjuster. Our interest is straightforward: build the roof correctly for the price on the contract. Keeping those roles separate is better for you and, frankly, simpler for us.
This is general information rather than legal advice. If you are weighing whether to hire a public adjuster on a difficult claim, that is a reasonable thing to consider — just verify the licence first. For a free inspection in central or northeast Ohio, call (877) 521-7171.
Not Sure Where Your Claim Stands?
We inspect the roof, document what is actually there, and tell you honestly whether you have a claim worth filing.
Common Questions
Ohio requires a certificate of authority to act as a public insurance adjuster or to receive compensation for services rendered in adjusting claims. Documenting damage and providing an estimate for work you are hiring a contractor to perform is a different activity from adjusting the claim.
Most straightforward claims do not require one. They become worth considering on large, complex, or genuinely disputed losses where the fee is justified by the gap in the settlement.
Typically a percentage of the settlement, negotiated in the written agreement. Read carefully whether the fee applies to the whole claim or only to amounts recovered beyond the initial offer.
Ask for the certificate of authority and verify it with the Ohio Department of Insurance, which licenses public adjusters under Revised Code Chapter 3951.
Yes. Ohio's public adjuster chapter contains an exception for attorneys adjusting losses in the course of practising law. An attorney is the right call when the dispute is genuinely about coverage or bad faith.
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