Investigative Coverage of Insurance Restoration in SE Michigan
Published by Phase III Construction LLC | phase3construction.com
Fourth-quarter adjuster behavior is measurably different from the spring and summer rush. Claims that didn't close cleanly during hail season are now entering the phase where carriers have the most leverage -- and contractors who don't know how to respond to it leave money on the table.
Every insurance carrier operates on a calendar year. By October, catastrophe response teams that deployed across Michigan during the May-through-August hail and wind season have largely stood down. The claims examiners handling open files now are the same desk adjusters who manage those files year-round. The atmosphere is different. Decisions move more slowly. Supplement requests face heavier scrutiny. And the approaching winter creates a new source of carrier leverage that didn't exist in July.
That leverage works like this: a homeowner with an unresolved hail claim and unrepaired roof damage faces real exposure as temperatures drop. Ice dams form in damaged gutters. Water infiltrates through missing or lifted shingles. Interior damage accumulates. When a homeowner reports that damage, the carrier can now argue that some portion resulted from failure to mitigate -- the homeowner's obligation under every standard Michigan policy -- rather than from the original covered event. Separating that additional damage into a second claim is difficult and sometimes impossible.
The practical response for contractors and homeowners with open 2026 hail or wind claims is to accelerate closure now. That means assembling complete supplement documentation -- a full Xactimate estimate covering all scope items, proper documentation of any O&P entitlement, and a written response to any depreciation holds applied to the initial payment. Carriers respond to documented claims differently than they respond to verbal requests. Phase III prepares supplement packages on behalf of Michigan homeowners at no additional charge as part of our standard project management process.
If you are sitting on a partial payment from a 2026 storm claim and haven't completed repairs yet, call us. The window to close this cleanly is shorter than it looks.
Overhead and profit, drip edge replacement, and permit fees are the three items that appear most frequently in Phase III's supplement work across Wayne, Oakland, and Livingston counties this year. Each has a defensible basis in Xactimate pricing and Michigan code requirements. Each is routinely omitted from initial adjuster estimates. And each requires specific documentation to recover successfully.
O&P applies when the restoration requires coordination of multiple trades -- which is nearly always the case on a full roof replacement with interior damage. Drip edge is a code-required component under Michigan Building Code when roofing material is fully replaced. Permits are a recoverable cost under most policies and can be verified against the applicable municipality's fee schedule. None of these recoveries happen automatically. They require a written supplement with proper line-item documentation.
Request a Supplement Review →Most Michigan homeowners who receive an initial insurance payment for a hail or fire loss receive actual cash value -- meaning the replacement cost minus applied depreciation. The recoverable portion of that depreciation is typically the largest single item in the claim, and it is released only after repairs are completed and documented. Many homeowners don't understand this until they get their first check and find it far short of what repairs cost.
The release process requires a completion certificate from the contractor, final invoices, and in some cases a post-repair inspection. Carriers have specific timelines for processing recoverable depreciation requests. Phase III manages this documentation process for every project we complete, ensuring that our clients recover the full amount they're entitled to rather than stopping at the initial ACV payment.
Talk to Phase III →After a major storm event, carriers deploy independent adjusters -- third-party firms contracted to handle volume. These adjusters work on per-claim fees, which creates pressure toward fast closures and can mean less thorough scope documentation than a staff adjuster might produce. As storm season winds down, independent adjusters disengage and files revert to internal staff.
This transition matters for homeowners because the file often changes hands mid-process. Documentation that was understood by the IA who wrote the initial estimate may need to be re-established with the new examiner. Phase III tracks this transition on active claims and re-introduces scope documentation as needed when we see a change in adjuster contact. If you've received a new name or number from your carrier on an open claim, that's often a sign the file has moved.
Get Claim Support →The 2026 hail season produced multiple significant events across Wayne, Oakland, Washtenaw, and Livingston counties between May and August. Insurance carriers received tens of thousands of claims in that period. As Q4 begins, a substantial number of those claims remain open -- with some combination of partial payments, depreciation holds, and unresolved supplement requests.
The claims that close cleanly in Q4 share a common profile: complete documentation, a licensed contractor who understands the supplement process, and a homeowner who didn't authorize cleanup or repair work before the adjuster completed their initial inspection. The claims that don't close cleanly are typically missing one of those three elements.
Phase III has managed insurance restoration claims in SE Michigan since 1993. We don't charge separately for supplement preparation -- it's part of how we do the job. Call (734) 237-7322.
Insurance restoration coverage for Michigan homeowners and property owners -- claims strategy, carrier behavior, and what your contractor should be doing. Free, quarterly.
Published quarterly by Phase III Construction LLC -- 37600 Ford Rd, Westland MI 48185