The insurance contractor left your job unfinished. What now?

We get called into this more than any of us would like. The claim was approved, a crew came in, the demolition happened, and then things slowed down. Now it is months later, half the house is unusable, and nobody is returning calls with a straight answer.

It is a horrible position because the damage is no longer the problem. The stalled repair is.

First, write down exactly where it stopped

Before anybody touches anything, document the current state. Not because we expect a fight, but because the moment a second contractor starts work, the record of what the first one left behind disappears.

• Photograph every room, wide shots first, then close on anything incomplete or done badly.
• Photograph what is behind open walls while they are still open. Wiring, plumbing, insulation, framing.
• Note what materials are on site and whether they were paid for.
• Collect every document: the scope of loss, the contract, invoices, and any payments already released.
• Write a short timeline of dates. When work started, when it stopped, when you last had contact.

Then talk to your insurer, not just the contractor

If the contractor came through a preferred vendor program, your insurer has an interest in this and a relationship with that company. Tell your adjuster in writing that the work has stalled, when it stalled, and what remains outstanding.

Ask three specific questions. What portion of the claim has already been released, and to whom? What is outstanding under the agreed scope? And what is the process for completing the repair with a different contractor?

Get the answers by email. Not because anyone is acting in bad faith, but because claims involve several people over several months and memories differ.

Why a second contractor prices it differently

Homeowners are sometimes surprised that finishing a half-done job is not simply the remaining percentage of the original quote. There are honest reasons for that.

• We have to inspect and verify work we did not do. Framing, wiring and plumbing that is already in the wall has to be checked before we cover it, because once we do, it becomes our name on it.
• Some of it may need redoing. Not always, and we will tell you plainly when something is fine, but we will not close a wall over work we would not have accepted from our own crew.
• Permits and inspections may need sorting out. If the original work was not inspected at the right stages, that has to be dealt with.
• Materials on site may be incomplete, wrong, or damaged from sitting.

We will happily tell you the previous crew did fine work as far as they got. What we will not do is put our name on something we could not see.

How we approach a stalled job

We come and look, and we tell you honestly what state it is in. That means separating three things: what is done and sound, what is done and has to be redone, and what was never started.

You get that as a written assessment you can hand to your adjuster. It is usually the document that gets the conversation moving again, because it turns a vague complaint into a specific list.

Then, if you want us to, we finish it. Same crew from that point to the end, and you will know who is in your house on any given day.