Every public adjusting firm has a compensation plan. Most of them live in the owner's head.

"You get 30%" is one number surrounded by unanswered questions. Thirty percent of what? Gross company fee or net? Which deductions come off first, and who authorized them? What happens when the fee arrives in three payments instead of one? Who gets paid when a claim goes to appraisal, gets reassigned, or the adjuster who scoped it left four months ago?

This 73-page fillable workbook walks a public adjusting company and its counsel through every one of those decisions before a fee check turns into a dispute.

What's inside

Executive summary: six rules that prevent most compensation disputes
Part One, build the compensation structure before the first claim. Percentage and fee base, gross vs. net company fee, defining every permitted deduction, work buckets, objective completion standards, earned vs. payable, payment cadence, and partial fee payments
Part Two, when claims change direction. Appraisal, litigation, supplements, and reassignment
Part Three, departure, open claims, and pending compensation
Part Four, twelve fillable worksheets (A through L): agreement guts, compensation bucket design, fee base and deductions, partial payment math, expense rules, exception phases, the departure matrix, vesting builder, file handoff, claim transfer, and state law review
Part Five, the attorney handoff packet and a final business review checklist to run before anyone signs

Worked math, not theory. A $40,000 collected company fee at 30% pays $12,000 on a gross basis. The same claim pays $9,900 once a $3,000 outside estimate and a $4,000 office fee come off first. A $2,100 difference created by one word. The workbook makes both sides agree on the formula before the claim is worked, not after the check clears.

Who it's for

Owners of public adjusting and first party claims firms who employ or contract public adjusters, in one state or several. Also useful for public adjusters who want to understand exactly what they are signing.

What you get

Instant download. 73-page fillable PDF, letter landscape, bookmarked for fast navigation. Type directly into the worksheets or print and complete them by hand.

Please read: This is an educational business-planning resource. It is not legal, tax, accounting, human-resources, or regulatory advice, and it is not a substitute for an agreement prepared or reviewed by qualified counsel. It is built to be completed first and then handed to your attorney, so counsel drafts enforceable language around decisions you have already made instead of inventing a compensation model while writing the contract. Employment, wage, commission, final-pay, licensing, record-retention, restrictive-covenant, and client-transfer law varies by state.

From Lynette Young, Founder of The Anchor Alliance, Co-Founder of ClaimWizard, and co-author of Claim Your Success: The Ultimate Guide to Starting and Running a Public Insurance Adjusting Business. Working with public adjusters and first party claims professionals since 1997.