Hired a public adjuster after State Farm lowballed our kitchen fire claim by $87,000 - what worked, what i wish i had asked, and what fee structures to expect

Posting this for anyone staring down a fire damage claim and wondering if a PA is worth it. Short answer for us: yes, but the process of picking one is its own minefield. February 2025 we had a grease fire in our kitchen in a 1990s ranch outside Nashville. Spread to the cabinets, took out the upper floor structure above the stove, smoke damage through the whole first level. We were displaced to a long-term hotel for 4 months.

State Farm's first offer was $52,400 for structural and $8,100 for contents. Our own contractor came in at $147,000 for structural alone, not including contents or smoke remediation. We sat on the offer for two weeks calling the desk adjuster every other day. Got back vague "we'll review" responses and one passive-aggressive note about how their estimate was "consistent with regional Xactimate pricing." After the second round of "we'll have someone get back to you" we started calling public adjusters.

Three things that ended up mattering most when picking one. First, fee structure. Most PAs charge 10-15% of the recovery in normal markets, but ours was on a sliding scale: 12% on amounts over the original carrier offer, 0% on the original offer amount. That alignment matters because some PAs take their cut on the full settlement including what the carrier already offered, which is essentially free money to them. Second, who actually shows up to the inspection. We almost signed with a firm where the principal sold us hard and then sent a brand new estimator to the property. Walked away from that one. Third, how they handle contents. Carriers love to underpay contents because most people cant document what they owned. A good PA has a contents specialist who knows how to rebuild a contents list from photos, social media, and credit card history.

Final settlement came in at $139,800 on structural and $34,200 on contents after 9 weeks of back and forth. Net to us after the PA fee was around $151,000 versus the original $60,500. If you are in a position where you can wait a few weeks for it to play out, and your carrier is meaningfully below your contractor estimate, get a PA. Happy to answer questions about the process for anyone going through this right now.