Independent Adjuster Assignment Checklist

1. Acknowledgment

• The assignment as received, retained in full, with the sender and the date and time it arrived
• Claim number, policy number, and the client's own file or task number
• Named insured, property address, date of loss, and reported peril
• Every deadline stated in the assignment, entered as a dated task rather than left in the message
• Your acknowledgment sent to the client, in the form they require, with the date sent
• Any special instruction — reserve request, contact restriction, reporting format — captured where you will see it before you act

2. Licensing and capacity check

Confirm both before you accept, not after. Declining an assignment on day one is a routine message. Handing one back on day five is a service failure the client remembers.

• You hold the license the jurisdiction requires for this loss, and it is current
• The peril and loss type are within what you are engaged and equipped to handle
• No conflict with the insured, the property, or another party on the file
• You can meet the stated contact and inspection windows given what is already on your schedule
• The assignment is accepted or declined in writing, and the decision is dated

3. Contact window

First contact is usually the tightest deadline on the assignment and the one most often missed. An attempt only counts if it is recorded.

• Every contact attempt logged with date, time, method, and outcome — including the ones that did not connect
• The insured's preferred contact method and the best times to reach them
• Who will provide access to the property, if it is not the insured
• Any representative on the file — public adjuster, attorney, contractor — and whether contact is to go through them
• Conditions that change the approach: property unoccupied, mitigation in progress, safety concerns, prior inspection already done

4. Inspection scheduling

• Appointment date and window, confirmed to the insured in writing
• Notification to any party entitled to attend, with the date notified
• The appointment placed where the rest of the day's route can see it
• Re-confirmation shortly before the visit, recorded
• Any reschedule, with who requested it and why — a reschedule you can explain is not a missed window

5. Documentation standard

The client's reporting requirements are the minimum. Document to a standard that would let a desk adjuster who never saw the property rebuild the scope from your file alone.

• Date, time, weather, and everyone present at the inspection
• Overview and elevation photographs establishing the property and its orientation
• Roof by slope or section, with test squares where applicable
• Interior by room, including undamaged areas that establish the baseline
• Make, model, and serial plates on affected equipment
• Measurements, diagrams, and sketches sufficient to support every line of the estimate
• Instrument readings with the instrument identified
• Field notes recorded on site, and a recorded statement where the assignment calls for one
• Anything outside your assignment noted rather than silently left out

6. Report delivery

• The estimate built against observed conditions, with the price list and its date stated
• The report in the client's required format, using the client's template where one is specified
• Coverage questions, causation questions, and items needing a specialist flagged for the desk rather than decided in the field
• Delivery through the channel the client requires, with proof and date of delivery recorded
• The delivery date recorded against the deadline it satisfied

7. Supplements and re-inspections

Assignments reopen. Keep the supplement on the same file so the history is continuous and the original scope is still there to compare against.

• The supplement or re-inspection request, who sent it, and what triggered it
• The re-inspection scheduled and documented to the same standard as the original
• What changed from the original scope, and why, stated plainly
• The revised report delivered and dated like the first

8. Closeout

• The invoice, against the client's fee schedule, referencing the claim number and client file number
• Time and expense records that support the invoice
• Every document the client is entitled to receive, delivered
• Payment tracked through to receipt
• The complete activity history left intact on the file — it is what you will need if the assignment is ever questioned
• Retention date set according to your own policy and the client's requirement

What the client sees

From the client's side, the assignment is a handful of dates: acknowledged, contacted, inspected, reported. Every item above exists so that each of those dates is something you can show, not something you have to remember.