My insurance company wants to reuse parts of my metal building extensively damaged in a 4 alarm fire. I will have to pay to have a structural engineer examine the beams, etc. The insurance company does not pay for this. They have offered a partial settlement that involves reusing some of the steel and not a full payment for total loss. Looking for advice on whether I should find an engineer or not. Thanks.

You should get a structural engineer out there regardless of the insurance situation.

Do you have someone evaluating the claim on your side or are you just letting the insurance company tell you what they show the claim to include?

Up to now I have been handling the claim just through the adjuster. I have had two friends who are attorneys offer assistance if I need them. I was hoping to get a fair settlement w/o involving attorneys. Is your opinion legal help may be necessary?

If it is more than just a small/minor damage claim, I wouldn't depend on the insurance company to tell me what the damage is and what the claim will pay. I would have people representing my interests and evaluating/documenting the claim.

I would expect the repairs to require permitting, an doubt any inspection department to be down with selective structure replacement without sign off by a pe. And i would expect that would drive their coats to above replacement.

Ugh…insurance companies and adjusters…

They don't know squat about your home, your roof, your automobile, or what it takes to rebuild it.

They look at it, plug in some junk from a macro and feed it back to you hoping you'll accept.

Get your engineer out and bill the for it. Or, have literally any metal building erector request replacement prior to rebuilding and get it approved. You are the owner and you have professionals all around you…the insurance company is neither.

So, it doesn't matter if it's your house, your car, your roof, whatever. Your insurance adjuster has very little clue about what it needs to be fixed. Insurance companies and adjusters working for them are not engineers, roofers, automotive paint and body professionals, etc. They only know what's on a list and macro when they push a button. They pump out an estimate that's hopefully good enough and they send it to you and most of the time the owner doesn't know any better either.

As stated, you need to have someone provide an estimate for the work, including replacement of all
Steel. You are not asking insurance if they'll pay for extra stuff, you are telling them what it's going to cost so they can approve it.

Don't quit. I can tell you with 100% certainty that being a thorn In their hide will get you what you want and if it doesn't, then you just need to find a bigger thorn.

See if you can rent a hardness tester as a cheaper option. We'd inspect oil field structures which were around high temperatures and some that caught fire. These numbers were then sent to engineers to determine soundness. Perhaps for steel those go/no go numbers are available.

This is what I was talking about in my earlier reply:

Insurance companies and adjusters working for them are not engineers, roofers, automotive paint and body professionals, etc. They only know what's on a list and macro when they push a button. They pump out an estimate that's hopefully good enough and they send it to you and most of the time the owner doesn't know any better either.

You or your representative should be directing the claim, not the adjuster.