Customer Only Wants a Quote for Insurance or the Bank: How to Handle It

The call goes like this. A homeowner had a tree come through the roof, or a pipe burst, or they are trying to get a renovation loan. They say they just need a number to send to the insurance company or the bank. Can you come out and write something up?

Sometimes that turns into a real job. A lot of the time it turns into a few hours of your day, a detailed written estimate, and then you never hear from them again. Their insurance adjuster used their own number, or the loan fell through, or they gave your paper to a cousin who does it cheaper.

You can still say yes. You just need to know what you are actually being asked for.

Quick answer

Ask who the quote is for and what they need it to say before you drive out. If it is only a piece of paper for a third party and you are not likely to get the work, do a short visit and give a written estimate with a clear expiry date, or charge a fee for the detailed version. If it is a real job that happens to involve insurance or a loan, treat it like any other quote, but tell them up front that you do not control what the insurance company or bank decides.

Two different things people mean

Both of these sound the same on the phone, but they are not the same work.

Insurance. Something got damaged and the homeowner has a claim open or is about to. Usually the insurance company sends their own adjuster, who writes their own scope and number. Your estimate is something the homeowner wants as a second opinion, or as proof that the adjuster's number is too low.

A lender. The homeowner is applying for a home equity line, a renovation loan, or some kind of financing. The bank wants to see what the project costs. Some lenders want a detailed, itemized bid on your letterhead. Some want a signed contract. Some only want a ballpark. It changes from lender to lender, so ask the customer to find out what the bank actually needs.

Do not guess here. If you write the wrong kind of document, you do the work twice.

Questions to ask on the phone

Before you spend an hour at the house, ask:

• Is the claim already filed, or are you still deciding?
• Has an adjuster been out yet?
• Do you want me to do the work if the claim goes through, or do you just need a number?
• Does the bank or the insurance company have a form or a list of what they need from me?
• Who else is quoting this?

You will learn a lot in two minutes. If the answer to "do you want me to do the work" is a shrug, you are probably looking at a paper-only request. If they say "yes, you're our first pick, we just need this for the claim," that is a real lead and worth a free visit.

How to tell a tire kicker from a real customer before you drive out has more questions like these if this keeps happening to you.

Should you charge for it?

Should you charge for estimates is a bigger question, but this is one of the places where charging makes the most sense.

A detailed estimate for an insurance claim takes real time. You measure, take photos, look at damage, figure out what is covered by what, write line items. The customer is going to hand it to someone else, who may use it to push the claim higher, and you may not see a dollar from it.

A few ways to handle it without being rude about it:

Free ballpark, paid detail. Tell them you can give a rough range by phone or from photos for free. The itemized written estimate with photos is a flat fee, and you will take it off the price if they hire you. Fifty to a few hundred dollars is common, depending on the job. That is just an example, charge what your time is worth.

Free if you get the job. "I'll do the full write-up at no charge if you let me do the work. If you only need the paperwork, it is a flat fee." This is easy to say and easy to understand.

Free, but short. If you want the lead, give a one page estimate with a total, a short scope, and an expiry date. Do not hand over line-by-line material counts and labor hours. That is the part someone else can copy.

Pick one and use it every time. Making it up on each call is how you end up working for free on the nice ones and fighting about money with the rest.

What to put on the estimate

Whatever you hand over, make it clean. An adjuster or a loan officer will read it with a skeptical eye.

• Your company name, license number if you have one, and contact info.
• The property address and the date you looked at it.
• A plain description of the damage or the project, in your words.
• A scope of work: what you will do and what you will not.
• Materials and labor, as a total or as line items depending on your choice above.
• Photos with dates, if you took them.
• An expiry date. How long should a quote be valid covers picking a number. After an insurance event, material prices can move, so a shorter window is fair.
• A note that it is an estimate and not a contract, and that the final price depends on what is found when work starts.

If the customer asks for a breakdown for the bank, customer wants itemized breakdown walks through how much to share.

A few things to be careful about

You are not their adjuster. In a lot of places it is against the rules for a contractor to negotiate the insurance claim on behalf of the homeowner, and some states and provinces require a license for it. You can give your honest estimate and explain what the work involves. You should not tell the insurance company what they owe. Check your local rules, and if you are unsure, keep it to the repair and let the homeowner talk to their insurer.

Do not promise what the insurance will pay. Say "here is what the repair costs." Do not say "they will cover all of it." If the claim comes back short, you do not want to be the person who said it would not.

Do not start work on a promise. If they say the check is coming, get a signed agreement and a deposit first. If a claim ends up denied after you have already started, you are chasing the homeowner for the money. Customer insurance claim denied goes through that situation.

Bank timelines are slow. Loans move on the lender's schedule, not yours. Put an expiry date on your price and say so.

When the insurance number comes in lower than yours

This happens all the time. The adjuster writes a number, you wrote a bigger one, and the homeowner wants to know who is right.

Stay calm and stay on the job itself. Walk the homeowner through what your price includes and what the lower number may be leaving out. Do not attack the adjuster. If your price is fair, it can stand on its own. The homeowner can ask the insurance company to take another look using your estimate, and that is their conversation to have.

You can also offer to do the repair for the insurance number if you can do it right for that money. Do not cut the scope to hit a number just to win the job.

If you do get the job

Once they say yes, stop treating it as paperwork. Write a proper quote, get it signed, and ask for a deposit. Put in the quote how change orders will be handled, since claims and loans both tend to trigger surprises. How to write a change order is a good one to have ready.

If they went quiet after the estimate and you want to know where things stand, a short text works better than waiting. "Hi, just checking in on the claim. Did the adjuster get back to you? My price is good through the 15th." One message, then give it room.

Quick checklist

Ask who the quote is for and what they need on it. Ask whether they actually plan to hire you. Decide your policy ahead of time: free ballpark and paid detail, or free with the job. Keep a short version for people you do not know. Put an expiry date on everything. Do not argue with the adjuster and do not promise what the insurance pays. Get a signed agreement and a deposit before you touch anything.

Keep the real jobs from slipping

Estimates for insurance and lenders are slow by nature, and the jobs that are real can easily get lost in the wait. QuoteChaser keeps track of every quote you send, follows up in your own voice when a customer goes quiet, and pings you the moment someone writes back, so you can tell the claim jobs worth chasing from the paper-only ones.

Join the QuoteChaser waitlist and stop losing quotes to silence.