What Most Adjusting Courses Miss and Why It Costs You in the Field

Written by Jonni Bondarenko

You can pass a licensing exam and still have no idea how to run a claim.

Ask anyone who has shadowed us at PB Adjusting. Most of the adjusters we go up against have no business making coverage decisions, let alone writing estimates. And it is not entirely their fault. The truth is, most training programs out there are not designed to make you effective in the field. They are designed to help you pass a state exam.

We built Adjusting Academy because we were tired of watching new adjusters get chewed up and spit out. The industry does not care how many hours of online training you logged. If you cannot inspect, document, scope, and negotiate, you will not last.

Here is what most courses miss and what we teach instead.

1. How to Think Like an Adjuster, Not Just Pass Like One

Pete and I have been in this business long enough to know that insurance companies train their staff to ask just enough questions to justify saying no. Most new adjusters are trained to accept those answers as fact.

At PB Adjusting, we have turned hundreds of denials into five-figure settlements. That does not happen by following scripts. It happens because we know what to look for, what questions to ask, and how to challenge weak reasoning when we hear it.

At Adjusting Academy, we teach you how to do the same.

2. Real Policy Language, Real Scenarios

It is one thing to memorize Coverage A, Coverage B, and the difference between RCV and ACV.

It is another thing entirely to open a policy in the middle of a claim and explain to a client why their siding is covered but their fencing is not. Or why the carrier’s depreciation calculation is off.

We walk through real policy scenarios from actual PB Adjusting files and show you how we broke them open. The goal is not just to understand the coverage. It is to understand how to use it.

3. Xactimate Is a Tool, Not a Crutch

There are entire courses focused on how to use Xactimate. And yes, knowing how to navigate the software is helpful.

But Xactimate does not know how to write a claim. You do.

At Adjusting Academy, we teach the mindset behind the estimate. Why that line item matters. When to fight for full replacement instead of repairs. How to spot shortcuts in the carrier’s scope. This is how a seven thousand dollar offer becomes a forty thousand dollar settlement.

4. Field Reality, Not Classroom Theory

Let us talk ladders. Let us talk crawlspaces. Let us talk about standing in someone’s flooded kitchen while trying to explain the claim process in plain English.

You do not learn that on Zoom.

That is why our program brings in real field examples, inspection walkthroughs, photo documentation guides, and communication scripts that have been tested in hundreds of homes across Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

We do not just prepare you to take claims. We prepare you to own them.

5. What It Is Really Like to Represent the Policyholder

Carrier-side courses will not tell you this, but we will. When you are a public adjuster, you are the only line of defense your client has. That means every email you send, every estimate you submit, and every phone call you make matters.

Pete always says, we do not work for the insurance company. We work for the people who pay the premiums.

That is why our training does not just focus on process. It focuses on purpose.

If You Are Ready for Real Training, This Is It

Adjusting Academy is not for everyone. It is not for people looking to breeze through a course just to check a box. It is for the ones who want to understand what they are doing, improve every day, and actually win for their clients.

We do not promise overnight success. We promise you will be ready.

Because after eight years of building PB Adjusting, we have learned this.

You can teach someone to file a claim. But it takes real training to win one.

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