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Last article pull: . 118 source articles in the archive.

#1Top storyRestoration operations

Q1 2026 Restoration Market Trends: Claims, Pricing and CAT Losses

Contractors can differentiate themselves through rapid response, multi-peril mitigation capabilities, strong documentation, and relationships with carriers and homeowners that position them as a trusted resource when losses happen. This week, we’re joined by Greg Pyne, VP of Pricing Solutions for Verisk Property Restoration Solutions, and Susan Fleming, VP of Business Intelligence & Insights for Verisk Property Solutions. Reconstruction pricing has stabilized compared with recent years, but contractors still need to watch fuel costs, labor availability, and broader construction market conditions.

Source: Restoration & Remediation (R&R) · Full source read

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#2Also worth your attentionRestoration operations

DocuSketch and Verisk Partner to Streamline Restoration and Insurance Workflows

DocuSketch, a leading provider of 360° documentation and estimating solutions for restoration contractors and insurance professionals, today announced a multi-year agreement with Verisk, a global data analytics and technology partner to the insurance industry, to deepen the product integration between DocuSketch’s . Leading insurers and adjusters rely on DocuSketch's platform to capture immersive 360° property documentation, generate Xactimate®-ready floor plans, and produce insurance estimates, often leveraging Xactimate® software to accelerate claim resolution for all parties to a claim, including insurers and homeowners. This multi-year commitment enables both companies to explore new opportunities to help reduce capture-to-estimate cycle times, enhance data accuracy across the claims lifecycle, and improve the overall experience for insurance carriers, adjusters, restoration professionals, and the policyholders they serve.

Source: Restoration & Remediation (R&R) · Full source read

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#3Also worth your attentionRestoration operations

RIA Requests Dedicated Material Handling Line Items in Xactimate Pricing Database

“As part of RIA’s commitment to advancing fair, transparent, and timely compensation across the restoration industry, we are taking active steps to represent the operational realities of restoration contractors,” said Saima Hedrick, RIA CEO. The Restoration Industry Association has formally submitted a request to the Verisk Solutions/Xactware Pricing Team calling for the addition of dedicated line items for Material Handling within the Xactimate pricing database. By establishing dedicated line items for material handling, RIA aims to create a standardized, transparent framework for both contractors and adjusters that ensures accurate cost representation and fair compensation.

Source: Cleanfax · Full source read

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Automatic ranking weighs relevance to restoration operations, claims, regulation, business changes, storms and technology, then lowers priority as publication dates age. Items with full source text show a brief; blocked sources stay linked with their read status.

#4

If Commercial Property Repairs Cost Less Than ACV, Does the Insurance Company Get the Difference Back? | Property Insurance Coverage Law Blog

If the qualifying repairs instead cost $11 million, the insured may have earned an additional $1 million above ACV, subject to the policy limits, the replacement cost of the damaged property, the amount actually and necessarily spent, and the other conditions in the policy. If the policyholder completes all qualifying repairs for $8 million, the Florida authorities above support the conclusion that the actual expenditure does not automatically reduce the $10 million ACV to $8 million. In Mont Claire , the trial court ruled that the replacement cost provision capped RCV by the amount the insured spent repairing the property but imposed no comparable cap on the insured’s ACV claim.

Source: Merlin Law Group — Property Insurance Coverage Law Blog · Sep 22, 2026, 3:00 AM PDT · Full source read

#5

Lath, Plaster, and Drywall: What Restorers Need to Know About Construction Dust

Note that a wall or ceiling containing button board, it should not automatically be called “drywall.” It is more accurately described as a gypsum-lath-and-plaster wall or ceiling assembly having an average 3/8-inch coat of plaster applied on top, where the round holes act as “keys” supporting a smooth or textured finish. Under OSHA’s general-industry air-contaminant requirements, gypsum and calcium carbonate are addressed as Particulates Not Otherwise Regulated (PNOR), with permissible exposure limits of 15 mg/m³ for total dust as an 8-hour time-weighted average (TWA), and 5 mg/m³ for the respirable fraction as an 8-hour TWA. Drywall, joint compounds, texture materials, plasters, and related gypsum-based finishing products may contain crystalline silica and other mineral ingredients that can generate substantial concentrations of airborne particulate when disturbed by construction and restoration activities.

Source: Restoration & Remediation (R&R) · Sep 23, 2026, 11:00 AM PDT · Full source read

#6

California’s Insurance Crisis Needs Competence and Not Slogans: Why Ben Allen Should Be the Next Insurance Commissioner | Property Insurance Coverage Law Blog

I have spent my professional life studying insurance, litigating insurance claims, teaching insurance law, and listening to insurance executives, regulators, … The post California’s Insurance Crisis Needs Competence and Not Slogans: Why Ben Allen Should Be the Next Insurance Commissioner appeared first on Property Insurance Coverage Law Blog . Allen is offering a less theatrical but far more workable approach: stabilize the admitted market, increase competition, reduce physical risk, improve transparency, enforce claims laws, reform nonrenewal practices, and create a realistic path for hardened homes and communities to return from the FAIR Plan to private coverage. The law requires insurers, following a covered total loss of a furnished primary residence arising from a declared emergency, to offer at least 60 percent of the policyholder’s personal-property coverage, up to $350,000, without first forcing the survivor to create a detailed inventory of everything that burned.

Source: Merlin Law Group — Property Insurance Coverage Law Blog · Sep 23, 2026, 10:01 AM PDT · Full source read

#7

State Farm’s Oklahoma Discovery Fight | Property Insurance Coverage Law Blog

It also said approximately 1.8 million documents, totaling more than 518 gigabytes, had already been collected in Hursh; that discovery-vendor expenses had exceeded $1 million; and that completing one requested review could require 100 attorneys working ten-hour days for nearly 179 business days at a projected cost of approximately $11.6 million. Those materials allegedly include discussions of billions of dollars in reduced indemnity payments, calculations suggesting that a one-percentage-point change in claim outcomes could represent approximately $78.8 million, and management review procedures aimed at reducing full-roof-replacement decisions. The motion argues that the Attorney General’s Oklahoma Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act claim is quasi-criminal and that due process does not permit lawyers with financial interests in related private lawsuits to exercise prosecutorial authority.

Source: Merlin Law Group — Property Insurance Coverage Law Blog · Sep 23, 2026, 5:20 AM PDT · Full source read

#8

RIA Requests Material Handling Line Items in Xactimate

The Restoration Industry Association (RIA) has formally submitted a request to the Verisk Solutions / Xactware Pricing Team calling for the addition of dedicated line items for Material Handling within […] The post Restoration Industry Association (RIA) Formally Requests Dedicated Material Handling Line Items in Xactimate Pricing Database first appeared on C & R . RIA has asked Verisk to add Material Handling line items to Xactimate's pricing database, aiming for fairer, more accurate contractor pay.

Source: C&R Magazine (Cleaning & Restoration) · Sep 22, 2026, 6:11 AM PDT · Limited source text

#9

The Power of Pausing: Why Restoration Leaders Need to Slow Down to Move Faster - C & R

A restoration leader walks into the office Monday morning with problems… project managers are spending too much time chasing information, updates live in too many places, follow-ups are getting missed…everyone […] The post The Power of Pausing: Why Restoration Leaders Need to Slow Down to Move Faster first appeared on C & R . A restoration leader walks into the office Monday morning with problems… project managers are spending too much time chasing information, updates live in too many places, follow-ups are getting missed…everyone agrees, there must be a better way. By Tuesday, someone has found a software that promises to solve all of it.

Source: C&R Magazine (Cleaning & Restoration) · Sep 22, 2026, 4:00 AM PDT · Limited source text

#10

The Restoration Pulse: Monitoring Dehumidifier Performance With an Alternative Method

For years, the restoration industry has evaluated dehumidifier performance using a method referred to as “grain depression.” In simple terms, grain depression compares how much water vapor is in the air before it enters the dehumidifier with how much is left in the air after it leaves. For most dehumidifiers, the temperature rise from operation will be between 8 and 10 degrees Fahrenheit – you can use that to keep the math simple and skip this first step, although calculating your actual temperature rise will be more accurate. The 2025 Restoration Industry Leaders Review: Professional Cleaning and Restoration Systems of Connecticut Business Management & Operations / Fire, Smoke & Contents Restoration / Water Damage Restoration .

Source: Cleanfax · Sep 22, 2026, 2:00 AM PDT · Full source read

#11

ASTM E2356-26 Updates Asbestos Survey Requirements: What Restorers Should Know

The updated standard now explicitly requires inspectors to evaluate areas that people do not regularly occupy, including attics, plenums, and mechanical spaces, whenever construction activities are likely to disturb them. What restorers and property owners need to know before restoration, renovation, and demolition By Tomo Taniuchi, Certified Industrial Hygienist Credit: SCS Engineers in Las Vegas/Henderson, Nevada September 21, 2026 . Project owners must submit notification at least ten working days before work begins whenever asbestos-containing material exceeds 160 square feet, 260 linear feet, or 35 cubic feet.

Source: Restoration & Remediation (R&R) · Sep 21, 2026, 1:30 PM PDT · Full source read

#12

Incentives Drive Outcomes More Than Intentions | The Business of Restoration Part 2 - C & R

They come from situations where everyone does what their role […] The post Incentives Drive Outcomes More Than Intentions | The Business of Restoration Part 2 first appeared on C & R . The most frustrating disputes in restoration usually do not come from bad actors. We tend to reach for the obvious explanations: the scope was unreasonable, the estimate was unfair, the documentation was

Source: C&R Magazine (Cleaning & Restoration) · Sep 21, 2026, 11:48 AM PDT · Limited source text

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On the calendar dates from archived reports; verify current status · full radar

Sep 24

Sales-training season is loading

A two-day restoration Sales Booster program is set for Sept 24 to 25 in Texas, one of the fall conference/training signals as CAT season peaks.

Sep 30

NFIP authorization expires September 30, 2026. Six weeks out and no deal reported

NFIP authorization expires September 30, 2026. Six weeks out and no deal reported.

Oct 1

Connecticut's mold remediation certification mandate takes effect October 1, 2026

Connecticut's mold remediation certification mandate takes effect October 1, 2026.

Earlier high-interest coverage archived, not current instructions

Hot

State Farm's hail playbook is under active discovery in 5 named cases

A coverage-law roadmap names five live State Farm hail cases and the internal hail-handling systems being pried open in discovery. · Coverage Law · archived

Hot

Appeals court kills the "cosmetic damage" escape hatch on hail-dented roofs

The Eighth Circuit rejected the argument that a cosmetic-damage exclusion applies only once a hail-dented metal roof actually leaks. · Coverage Law · archived

Hot

State Farm's wildfire claim system is the target now, not the adjuster

Two posts argue policyholders should demand State Farm's whole claim system in discovery, including native Xactimate files showing every edit. · Claims & Coverage · archived

Hot

Florida's insurers are finally healthy, the claim checks got smaller anyway

Florida claims closed without payment hit 40.3%, the highest in the country, while average premiums rose 14.3% to $8,292. · Carriers & the Market · archived

Hot

Oklahoma's AG sues Allstate over a "Disaster Payment Minimization Scheme" while State Farm's hail training becomes discovery bait

Oklahoma's attorney general sued Allstate alleging a company-wide scheme to minimize wind and hail payouts, seeking restitution and structural relief. · Claims & Coverage · archived

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