The Appraisal Approach with Grayson Wilson

This is a Contractor Radio Podcast episode (YouTube) titled "The Appraisal Approach with Grayson Wilson" (uploaded May 19, 2021). Jim Johnson interviews Grayson Wilson (VP Operations, 6060 Appraisals Group). Wilson explains the appraisal process as an expert-driven method to resolve scope disputes between policyholders and carriers, often invoked when estimates diverge; appraisal is impartial, may use opposing appraisers and an umpire if needed, and is commonly quicker/cheaper than litigation. He discusses benefits for homeowners (clarity, independent review), contractors (saves time vs. endless supplementing), and carriers (finality of claim), typical outcomes (panel increases vs. carrier estimates in many cases), edge cases (need for umpire ~30% of cases; rare fraud or post-repair duplicate claims), operational thresholds (practical lower bound ~ $10k, flexible at smaller/larger amounts), and firm practices (flat fee model, no percentage-based commissions). Contact info provided: Appraisals@6060group.com, 833-303-6060, Grayson cell 720-238-1630.
Questions this video answers
May 19, 2021
Appraisals@6060group.com
Main: 833-303-6060; Grayson cell: 720-238-1630
About 2,000 appraisals handled; ~97% resulted in a significant increase versus the carrier's initial estimate (per speaker).
About 30% of the time an umpire is required.
Chapters
Foreign.
Hey, everybody. Welcome to this week's episode of the Contractor Radio Podcast. We're always excited to bring you new and cool ideas and things that we hope can help you in your business or just in your life in general. And this week, I'm excited that we're going to be talking with with a guy named Grayson Wilson from 60 60. I'm sorry, 6060 Appraisals Group.
Right.
We're gonna learn a little bit about Grayson. We're gonna learn a little bit about the appraisal process, and hopefully, by the time we're done, we might have armed you guys with a little more knowledge and another tool to put in your tool belt for your business. Okay, so we're gonna get after all of that content and that information.
Right?
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Okay.
I told you we were going to be talking with Grayson Wilson from 6060 Appraisals Group, and so I'm going to bring Grayson in right now.
Hey, thanks for having me.
Good afternoon, sir. How are you?
You know, I'm looking out the window and I see a storm brewing, so I'm good. I'm real good.
Yeah. You know, you and I are both in Colorado, and I have the same thing. I'm a little south of you down in Colorado Springs, but we definitely have got some rain forecasted, so.
So I'm hoping it turns to ice. We'll see, right?
A lot of people hoping for that. So just to get started, let's Talk a little bit about you in 60 60. So tell us a little bit about kind of how you got to where you are and little of your story and what you're all about.
Some kind of an enigma. I've kind of been in and out of construction ever since I was 17, 18 years old. So it's kind of where I started. I ran an epoxy coating business when I was younger. Good money didn't work out so well because when you're 19, you think you know the world and you don't. And I kind of floated different industries. And then a couple years back, I took a gig at a managed repair program here. And that was good. It kind of catalyzed me into this industry. And then about a year and a half, about two years ago almost now, I communicated with the owner of 60 60. We kind of really connected, and I jumped headfirst into something that could have gone badly but has gone amazing. So it's been. It's been great. It's been really fun getting to know everybody in industry and, you know, being able to spread the knowledge that I know and help people better themselves as a business and as a person. So it's been good.
Cool. So what exactly is Your position at 60 60? Your. Your title or your role there?
So my title is a VP of operations. So I run all. Everything from day to day. Communications, marketing, accounting. So I kind of run everything. But I am not the top, top boss. I have a top, top boss that, you know, doesn't need anything unless something's on fire, which never happens. So I'm kind of the. If you call the phone, nine times out of ten, you either talk to me or one of the assistants that we have on the team.
All right, that's good to know. So for. For when you guys out there give 6060 a call, you've got a face to put with the name that you just might be talking to. So that's pretty cool.
Can you give us a little history.
On 60 appraisal, where they came from and how they started?
Yeah. So our owner has a long history in roofing, and I know that at one point he was kind of utilizing appraisal in his own roofing game that he was running. So he just kind of. I think he saw a market. He realized, hey, you know, a lot of this appraisal industry is what I call everybody calls mom paw shops, but it's really kind of solo shops, right? You got, you know, your expert who runs his own show. And, you know, so I think that the beauty of the idea he had was instead of having people that go by word of mouth, let's take all these experts and put them into one centralized company. And then allowed us to kind of begin a business that had never really been done before at that type of level with just appraisals. So it's kind of a guinea pig, but it's working out pretty well. Awesome.
Well, very cool. So I know you and I had what I found to be a very interesting conversation. It was last week. We were talking a little bit about kind of the appraisal process and what it is, what goes into it. I was somewhat familiar with some of the details around appraisal and how it works, but I definitely enjoy learning more from you about what that looks like. So can you just. Let's just be just kind of broad, general level and explanation. What exactly is the appraisal process?
So the appraisal process is kind of this unofficial, yet official, step by step way of settling a discrepancy in a claim. So kind of where we get really pulled in is kind of maybe step three or step four on your regular insurance claim. So, you know, someone files a claim, contractor gets called, they come out and scope the loss. At that moment, when one estimate may differ largely from another, that disagreement that follows is really where appraisal becomes a necessity. In some ways, it's kind of a tool like you and I chatted about that can be utilized by anybody at any price point. So you could have a 30 square roof, 40 grand, your basic shingled roof. What that allows you to do is when you and the adjuster, or the adjuster and the contractor, whomever, disagree. Most of the time, though, to be very clear, it's between the policyholder and the carrier, not the contractor. The contractor is the expert. But ultimately, the disagreement needs to be between those two parties. That's really where we get pulled in. And the process kind of stipulates a general negotiation. We get assigned as an expert for one side, whether that's for the carrier or for the insured and an opposing appraiser, same expertise level will be assigned to the opposing party. And at that time, we kind of go out, we inspect the property as experts, we do our code research, we do everything you would do as a contractor, but with 30 to 40 years of expertise in different fields that allow us to kind of fight on behalf of whomever the hiring party is and kind of come to an agreement of what the actual scope is. And that's kind of where the misconception of this is. Appraisal is not a get rich quick scheme. It's not, you know, it's actually one of the hardest things in the world to sell. The best way of putting it really is we're here to accurately and independently scope the amount of loss and make sure that it's an appropriate cost that is associated with that claim. And when it's all said and done, when all the parties agree, you know, it's signed off, sent off, and the claim gets paid and repairs get done for whatever reason.
The word arbitration kind of comes to mind for me. Like when two parties are trying to stay and they get somebody in the middle and then one's got their lawyer and the other's got their lawyer and they kind of communicate back and forth to try and find some middle ground and get it and get it settled.
Yeah, I mean, it's, it's a common misconception that we get a lot too. Appraisal and arbitration sounds so similar, and the premise is very similar. But I do compare it to that. Obviously no one in this group, your average appraiser, isn't a lawyer, but it's kind of the same concept. You have one party representing their interests, another party representing their interests, and we delegate between each other, and if we can't decide, we'll bring in the judge, which is the umpire. It's an independent third party for the independent third parties who will ultimately drop the gavel and help make a decision. So it really is the same concept. I would argue it's a little bit more affordable in the long run and you can kind of skip a lot of the, the red tape that comes with a legal thing. Obviously I'm not a lawyer, so don't speak too much on that, but you understand the concept.
So other than a little bit of that misconception, what do you find are some of the most common misconceptions people have about that process? Like there's somebody out there right now going, I think I know what appraisal is. But they. What would be a common thing they probably don't know or are confused about.
So I guess the best, I mean, the biggest thing that I always try to touch on, that I think can get lost in translation, is it really is a roll of the dice when you do appraisal. And obviously, you know, I love selling our services and all that stuff, but honesty is the best approach, especially in this industry. And the fact is that even if you think you've got a solid case and you think that your estimate is correct or you know, that the whole roof needs to be replaced or any of these things. You know, there's a chance that may not be the case. Inherently, both parties have bias. You know, the carrier doesn't want to pay millions of dollars if they don't need to. And of course, the contractor has a job to do and wants to earn what they need to earn to get that done. So there's already bias there. And with appraisal, some of the stuff that can happen is kind of left field. You know, everything could be going great. And all of a sudden we discovered that the code in that area doesn't support half the things around the S men and it can ultimately get tossed out. So timelines are a bit of a gray area as well. But for the most part, it's exactly what I said. It's just, you know, one of those situations where you kind of have to be open and upfront, make sure that everybody understands the risk associated. You know, you roll a dice nine times out of 10, it's going to be great for everybody involved, but may not be always great for sometimes it might be a one or two. I think in the last year, I've seen maybe five total appraisals that came out lower than the carrier's initial estimate. So it does happen. And that's one thing we want to.
Make sure is very clear to that a little bit more, too, because I got some other questions around that concept. So you were telling me that most insurance policies have an appraisal clause. So can you expound a little bit further on that? Where would somebody look to find that? Like, what kind of verbiage are they looking for and tell us a little bit more about that.
Yeah, of course. So that's kind of where the beauty of appraisal comes in, which is most of the time. Now, I don't want to say all the time, but most of the time, from the. Excuse me. The claims that we get pulled into, one of the first things we always check is obviously if there is a disagreement here, first off, and secondly, we ask the policyholder to review their policy. You can't go to appraisal if the policy doesn't stipulate that appraisal is allowed. So that's kind of the checkbox. Number one is verifying that it's an appropriate action that could be taken and it's something that's beneficial. So, for example, many policies I review, usually about page seven or eight down in there, it'll state in there, you know, appraisal is a process that can be utilized, it can be invoked by either party. The carrier can invoke appraisal or the policyholder. And what it kind of stipulates is that this is to be used when we disagree on the scope loss. It's not a thing for us to argue coverage. We're not here to argue policy. We are here as impartial, unbiased fact checkers to make sure that the cost of the repair is accurate. A lot of times it actually does increase versus the carrier's estimate, but there are times where it does go south as well. So it can really fluctuate.
Yeah, so you kind of mentioned something interesting there, saying impartial party. Right. So being impartial from your guys standpoint means that there's, there is a positive benefit to both parties on both sides of the situation. So what, what are the benefits for a homeowner, a carrier and a contractor as it pertains to appraisal?
Well, let's touch on those three. So let's break them down for the homeowner. From my experience, you know, one of the reasons I actually found out about appraisal and was interested in following that field of work was because my own mother had a, had a hail damage to her home. And there was a lot of denials, things like that. So it was a bit personal and I kind of educated myself, you know, what, what options we have and appraisal was one of them. That was something that she pursued and ultimately it did benefit her. And I'll get kind of get into that as my story. But as far as the policyholder goes, I mean, nine times out of 10, and I know almost every contractor knows this, they just want their repairs done. Nobody really cares how much overhead and profit, you know, the contractor is going to made or how much ISO boards running. So a lot of that kind of I think gets lost in translation. And the one thing that a lot of people focus on, that I've noticed lately and is, and it's a beautiful change, is that regardless of whether we agree or disagree or the contractor's right or the carriers right, none of that matters as long as everybody's focused on the mutual customer, which is the policyholder. So the policyholder really gets to put into faith of hey, I know that, you know, it's no longer a bias, that is the contractor, which there's this big stigma that contractors are just trying to get as much money as they can. My experience is most of the time they just want to help their insured. And the same goes the Carrier too. So policy owner gets the benefit of knowing that experts have agreed or disagreed on certain things of their home. They know very clear what's going to be repaired and what's going to be paid for. From a contractor standpoint, one of the biggest sales points I can say is it saves you time. You know, I hear horror stories all the time of man, I've been supplementing on this thing for six months. I'm just like, why, why are you wasting so much time? You know, and supplement work, do your best. But ultimately it gets to a point where you guys can't agree, you know, the policyholder and you can sit down and discuss options. And if they have appraisal, they're more than welcome to utilize that. And that's really where that goes, is if you stop supplementing, you start initiating appraisal. I mean, think about it, how much time do you spend supplementing on a weekly basis? How many claims do you have to go back and forth on? You could, instead of doing that, you could invoke appraisal and go sell more roofs. So it really is kind of a stipulation of, you know, allowing that to spread through all contractors and kind of getting that those habits changed. And then for the carrier, we've done, we've done quite a few appraisals for carrier. We know some of the history with them. Nine times out of ten it's an enjoyable experience just like any contractor, anybody else in the field. And for them it's really a benefit of okay, not all, not always are the adjusters right. They may have missed something, they may have been in a rush. There may have been 30 houses they need to go look at. So, so it allows them to really say, all right, you know, here's our opinion, here's theirs, we're going to voce appraisal. Oh, okay, here's the final number. We agree with that, problem solved, everybody's happy. So it really takes the whole claim, puts it into one big file and once it's done, it's all finished. And that's the one secret to appraisal too by the way, is once the appraisal is done, there ain't no going back on it. Can't go back and add in more gutters, you can't go in and oh, we forgot the pool deck. So it really is a one stop shop to complete the whole thing and make sure it's all taken care of. Okay.
So kind of touching a little bit on what happens when appraisal occurs. Are you able like I said, I know you're impartial, and I know that there are all kinds of potential results, but I'm assuming that there's probably some typical stuff that you guys see that's like, you know, 60%, 70% of the time, this is what happens, and 30% of the time, this is what happens. Can you speak a little bit to the typical results that you normally see through this process and what those are?
Yeah, yeah. I mean, being impartial, the best part about this whole thing is the impartiality really does make you have to take a step back. Right. So one of my big focuses and one of the focuses of appraisals, we're focused on facts. And that really does kind of play into what you're asking, which is, you know, what. What types of things happen? What's the average, yada, yada, and that is the facts. Not every, you know, I'm probably going to get hung out to dry here. But not every claim, you know, not every claim has to have O and P. But also contractors do have O and P. So there's kind of a mixed bag there. And then the same thing with the on the carrier end is, you know, not every adjuster is right. Not every estimate writer is right. So for as long as I've been doing this, I guess a couple examples I can point out is there's a lot of emotion, you know, a lot of frustration and anger and irritation, both sides. It comes kind of from both angles. But when it goes to appraisal, we're really able to take that away, and it's no longer personal. I have this dream that I would really wish I could have one day where I don't even know whose estimate is whose. Right. I get an estimate for this amount. I get an estimate for this amount. I don't know which one's the contractor or the carrier. And that is the perfect way of being impartial. But typical stuff, I kind of. I get so passionate about this, I spiral. Let's see, nine times out of 10, you know, when we inspect a property, I would say that the scope of loss is typically accurate. However, we don't always agree with the opposing appraiser. So there's a good chance, you know, about 30% of the time that we do need to bring in an umpire. But for the most part, I guess the biggest thing while still staying impartial is, in my experience, I think my data that I checked this morning, 97% of appraisals that we've done, we've done about 2,000 so far significantly increased versus the carrier's initial estimate. That's not to say that the carrier is wrong, but in our expert opinions as a panel of unbiased people, we're finding that on average, that the estimate. But again, it's not always the contractor's estimate is right either. It's usually somewhere in between, which is kind of where it should fall. Really.
That's some good feedback. I mean, just understanding. Like, you know, if you're wading into these waters and then, you know, the guy I just listened to on this podcast used the phrase roll of the dice and I'm going, okay, like this. Is this gonna. Is this gonna be advantageous for the homeowner and for, you know, and for me just to get a little feedback that like, you know, nine times out of ten, everybody walks away from this happy, including the contractor, but most certainly the homeowner. That's a. I would say that's kind of an encouraging. Some encouraging numbers and averages.
Yeah. I mean, the only. The only thing I will touch on that, you know, as far as nine times out of ten by is happy. Generally. Yeah. You know, the contractor is able to get the work completed. Not always everything they wanted, but for the most part they get to get the job done and they get to, you know, make sure that their bottom line is taken care of. And the adjuster as well, you know, hey, this claim is done. I get to sign my name and I'm finished. Don't have to worry about anymore. And of course, policy or the one thing I will say the biggest complaint we hear.
Well, let me at least. I'm gonna put a pin in that as a teaser because I want to. I'm gonna come back and talk a little bit about, like, oh, what happens when things go sideways.
Okay, we'll go back to that.
Just a second. But we're gonna pay a couple bills with another word from one of our sponsors. We will be right back.
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We've seen a huge return on our investment, and I have no doubt that you will, too. All right, everybody, welcome back to Contractor Radio. We are having an interesting discussion with Grayson Wilson from 6060 Appraisals Group about appraisals and the processes. And we're about to go down the dark road of what happens when things go a little sideways in his processes. Right. Like, we're.
We just want.
We want to talk about the ups of this whole process and sometimes the downs of it. Because what we're really after is for you guys to get educated on the appraisal process so that you kind of know what you're getting into and have some ideas to, you know, what you want to do with this potential tool in your tool belt. All right, Grayson, so we're coming back to this question, right? Like, does the appraisal process ever go sideways?
And.
And what does that look like and. And what happens in those cases?
Well, kind of. I guess the starting point is really what your definition of sideways is. Right. You know, the best way of putting it in best case scenario is kind of weird. Touched on earlier with umpires, I believe we kind of outlined that a little bit. Most of the time, like I said, about 30. 30% of the time, an umpire is actually needed. So the times that I really see an appraisal go sideways, necessarily, is typically when we just can't come to an agreement with the opposing appraiser. You know, everybody's tried their best or, you know, one party's unwilling to budge on certain things because that's our expert opinion. So it kind of gets to a point. And when that happens, that's really the only. Well, one of two main issues in appraisal. We'll get the other one. But that's kind of where heads hit. Cause when an umpire's brought in, there's a fee associated with that.
Sure.
So, you know, obviously, we collected our fee. We don't do percentages, obviously, being impartial, we can't, nor would we need to. So we have a flat fee base. As a business, that has worked out seemingly well for us and our.
Like, you can't run on a percentage. Like, we don't get commissions. Cause that. That's gonna mess with your partiality.
Right.
So that makes total sense.
Yeah. I mean, if I'm. Yeah, if I'm. If I'm doing a 10% cut, you know, I think most PAs are 10.10ish percent. And they have excellent, amazing PAs out there that are perfect for when you need one. You don't always need one. That's kind of where appraisal fits. But. Yeah, no, we don't. You know, you could hit me a 10 million dollar. We could, we could do a roof that is 60 grand and all of a sudden it comes up to 400 grand. We'll be still collected our flat fee. So kind of lost where I was going.
Oh, I derailed you there. We were talking about like appraisals going sideways or not necessarily going in a positive direction for anybody.
Sure. So, yeah, that's kind of, that's kind of where I was heading, which is, you know, we can't agree with the opposing appraiser or, you know, someone's unfair, whatever you want to call it. There becomes another impasse. Obviously there's an impasse to begin appraisal. Now we have another one. So that's really the only time I've seen appraisal go sideways in my impartial opinion. And at that point we invoke the umpire and he's usually him or him or her. We have plenty of female umpires out there that are amazing as well, will come in and make an educated decision on what they decide, what they agree and disagree with. And ultimately, you know, not every party is going to be happy. But if the experts agree. The experts agree that, that, that's, that's where the gavel drops. So that's kind of where it can go sideways. The other. Only other way it can go real sideways is if there's any falsities, you know, and I don't. The only way I can really say it is to say it. There are amazing contractors in this industry. Some people I literally would trust watching my own children. But of course, we all hear the rumors of deductible Dodgers and all those types of things too. So we have a big thing in our business where we will vet every appraisal for free because we, we had one a couple years ago that we found out someone had already done the repairs and was having their insured file a second claim and then took that claim to appraisal. And ultimately that one went incredibly sideways because we found out we refused ourselves immediately.
So, yeah, you built your house on some sand there, right?
And that's the thing. That's where we try to get this misconception of appraisals that get rich quick. It's not. It's. If you're. If you're good at what you do, nine times out of 10, you're probably going to get what you needed on that roof because your estimate was accurate. It was the best position. So there's a lot of little things go wrong, but for the most part, most of the stuff I've seen that that could potentially been disastrous is settled between the parties and appraisal, you know, whether it comes to fists or it comes to screaming at each other or, hey, we're just laughing, having a drink, nine times out of 10, we can solve that problem. So rarely does it ever tank itself. But to be clear, the one thing I want to stipulate is after appraisal's done, our hands are out, we're finished, we've done our job, and anything that happens after that, you know, I don't really know. Most of the time, our clients are repeat customers, so obviously something's working. But there are times right here, you know, hey, you guys did great job. The appraisal went full, and now I gotta get a lawyer because the coverage isn't there or whatever. So it does happen. It's pretty rare.
No, that's.
That's.
That's great information. All right, so let's talk. Let's talk a little more functionally, operationally, with this, because I was talking to you about this. Like, I was a contractor for 15 years, and so thinking about this from the mindset of, like, what kind of questions would a contractor have if I was still in the. If I was still a contractor and somebody said, hey, you should think about doing this. And I learned about it, and I thought, oh, this. This might be a really helpful thing for me. Where do I fit it in?
Like what?
Like, if I think about my insurance processes and the things that I do. Right. So at what phase of the insurance process do you think initiating appraisal makes the most sense? I know that's. That's not a black and white question. It's not cut and dried. Right. But if you're somebody who's thinking about utilizing appraisals as a tool in your tool belt, we. When would you say is a good time to be like, okay, maybe we should think about reaching out to Grayson over this thing?
Yeah, I mean, I'm going to. I'm going to do a controversial take. I'm sure we'll. I love. Let's do it. Supplementing is the thing that I would argue you could replace with appraisal. You said in your estimate you get denied. Appraisal can be invoked. That's it. The only part of appraisal that needs to happen for appraisal to even exist is a discrepancy or a disagreement. And, you know, I know Many times, a lot of our clients have actually changed their workflow. I have some clients in different states where I think we're in about 14 states now. We can do all 50. But a lot of states do have some appraisal language in their laws that can be a little tight. So. But for Colorado, for example, we have a couple clients here that have actually started to go away from supplementing and are moving more into, let's get our estimate written, let's get our inspection, or, excuse me, get our inspection done and get our assessment written, and we're going to send it to the carrier. And then what we're going to do is we're going to wait for a response, and when they come back and say, yes, awesome. We're going to do what we need to do, they come back and say, no, we're going to sit down with our policyholder, discuss options. If appraisal is an option we can utilize, we're going to go straight to appraisal. And it kind of allows you to take that claim out of your hands, put it in the hands of the experts, and you can continue door knocking down the neighborhood while, you know, we deliberate on what the repairs need to be. So that's kind of where I argue. I love supplementers. 90,000% of these guys are amazing. But appraisal, really, it's. It's kind of a contradicting market. You can do supplementing all you want, or you can just save yourself the time. There's a time and a place for both.
No, that's a, That's a. That's an interesting take. And I guarantee there's going to be some people that listen to this, and they're going to be like, what? Absolutely not. I'm going to continue doing things my way. Which, look, there's no, there's nothing wrong with that. Like I said, I knew that question. It wasn't going to be cut and dried, right?
Well, yeah, if you're running a business and it's successful and you don't need to do appraisal, don't. Don't do it. Don't worry about it. One of the big things is I, you know, I have these conversations with sales teams. We educate them on how this works and, you know, we go to conferences. We were roofcon last year, present and talking to a bunch of people. You know, one of the big things I hear people, and this is my favorite, is I did appraisal 20 years ago and it didn't work. Why should I do it now?
And why should they do it now?
And that's. It's a great question. And it almost kind of makes you laugh because it's the same concept.
Yeah.
Let me give you an example. I have a, I have a claim right now that we're handling that has certainteed independence on it now that I think was discontinued. And I'm sure I'll get fact checked. But I think it was 2016 that independence went out. And of course, you know, Jester says, hey, it's got to be the whole roof, or, excuse me, the contractor's got to be the whole roof. And, you know, differing opinions. I won't say whom states. Well, we have, we got shingles in the back. We can just use these from down the road. Well, that's not how this works. So they, these guys been beating their head for months trying to supplement this thing to get the whole roof button. Finally I got them on the line. We chat about it. We reviewed everything, me and a couple of the experts we have here, and we decided, you know, we recommend appraisal. You should try it. All sudden that claims done, whole roof's been bought. The fact of the matter is, I always use the example of just because something didn't work once doesn't mean it's not going to work again. The world's changed. Carriers are different, adjusters are different. You may just had a bad situation. So it's not every, it's not for everybody, it's not for every claim, but it's definitely a tool that you should have if and when you do need it, which could happen quite a lot.
Yeah, no, I hear you. That's a, that's a good, It's a very good point. So one of the questions I had that I thought about is, is there a certain size? Now I know there's, there's. You're not the only appraisal firm out there. Right. And right now you're doing a great job of representing the concept of appraisal as a tool that exists. So we very much appreciate. And you don't speak for every appraisal firm out there. Right. So in some cases, we're just chalking what 60, 60 will do. And other appraisal firms may or may not do the same things as 6060 does. But in general, is there a certain size of a claim where an appraisal firm will or will not work with a contractor?
Well, it's an unintentionally loaded question, so I'll give you the straight answer on it. Technically, no. Yeah, well, maybe it was technically, no, I will say our flat fee kind of allows us to really be flexible. Right. So we do anything. You know, I think one of the smallest claims we handled was $10,000, and one of the largest we handled was, you know, 25 million. So it really can be anywhere on the spectrum. I will say if you're arguing over 3, 500 bucks, probably not the best bet to go to appraisal just because the amount of time that's going to take and you know, the upfront cost and if there's a, an umpire. So there really can be little amounts, but I'd say anything over, I might bite my tongue on this one. Maybe about 10 grand or higher really is the perfect, perfect corner to kind of say, you know what, maybe appraisal is, right, because then you've got a little bit of wiggle room and some growth. But if you're, you know, you're arguing over, you know, one window, probably not the best time to utilize appraisal over one thing.
So kind of this is totally off the record. Will only be seen by thousands of people. No worries.
Yeah, that's fine. Perfect.
So these are all great questions and I love, I kind of love that concept of the last one because I know that there are, there are tools in the tool belt in this insurance restoration process that are really difficult to pull out when it comes to smaller claims. I mean, smaller, like, like sometimes it's difficult to involve a PA on a twelve thousand dollar or fifteen thousand, dollar, twenty thousand claim.
Right.
Like, sometimes that can be a tricky thing. And when it comes to some of the, some of the lawyers that can help us get involved when it comes to insurance loss and when it's a smaller claim, they just, they don't have that scale to be able to work. And so that can be a little bit tricky. But if appraisal is something that can be utilized, even down to some of these smaller claims, that might be an easier tool in your tool belt contractors where, where it could be helpful. Okay, so we're not, obviously we're not knocking, buddy. We're just saying, hey, this thing might be an easier tool than some of the other ones that exist out there. And so, man, just, this is, this is really cool, really great information now. Well, go ahead.
It's kind of like, yeah, not to interrupt you, but it's kind of like the best example I can give is you wouldn't use a sledgehammer to drive in a nail. Right? You just wouldn't. So sometimes there's a time for A sledgehammer. Sometimes. Sometimes there's a time for a flamethrower, and sometimes there's a time for appraisal. It just kind of depends on when you need it.
I can't wait for my next opportunity to use a flamethrower.
How you. You guys didn't do that back in the day when you roofed. You just put on shingles. Just burn it. The whole thing. Perfect.
Just burn them down, right? Just burn them down. As a. A guest on the Contractor radio podcast, you are going to get a couple of the questions that we ask every one of our guests on our show. All right, here we go. You're ready. As we. As we kind of wind our time down just a little bit here, what would you say is Grayson's greatest achievement? Now, we usually qualify that a little bit. Like if we have wives and we have children.
Right.
Those are real easy default answers.
So we're going to be. Took it. I was going to say my kid. Right.
We're going to give you those. Right. So those are obviously the greatest. But outside of the wife and the children. Right. What would you say is your greatest achievement?
Hmm, that's a tough one. What is my greatest achievement? I think I've reached it yet. I think I've hit it. I. Again, I would say my kid. You know, I got an 18 month old. He's my greatest achievement, but apparently that's cheating. So I built a birdhouse when I was like, seven. Does that count? What's that? I said, sorry, what did you say? Seven. Does that count? Is that cool? I use that. I mean, I've done a bunch since then, so Grayson doesn't. I don't want to get ahead of myself.
Okay. That's a perfectly legit answer. You don't feel like you've necessarily hit your greatest achievement just yet. So once again, outside the family and the kids. Right? So, okay, that's a fit. That is a fair answer. Well, look, if we. If we allowed that, that would be everybody's answer, right?
So you gotta. Of course. Because my wife sees this, and I don't say my kid.
Right? She's like, somewhere, like, right off screen right now, just staring.
I might be crashing at a policyholder's house in the future, my boy. I'm gonna have to.
All right, so let's try this one on then. What's the best advice you've ever gotten from a mentor?
I think the best advice I've ever had in my life has kind of reverberated through my mind since I was 4. It was my grandfather saying. It was my dad saying. And it's stuck to me ever since. And it's. Set your limitations, and sure enough, they're yours. If you set guidelines or set rules for yourself, you'll never break them. And that's kept me going.
Set your limitations and that.
Sure enough.
And sure enough, they're your. Set your limitations, and sure enough, they're yours.
Wow.
I. I love that.
I'm gonna write that. Yeah, me too. I can't wait to tell my kid that, and then he can tell his kid. That'll be great.
I am gonna. I'm gonna jot that down. That's great. Okay, last one. We only get so much time on this planet, right? Unfortunately, we're not entirely sure how much that is. So when it's all said and done and people are celebrating the life of Grayson, what do you hope to be remembered for?
What do I hope to be remembered for? So after I'm dead and gone and buried or burned, however that happens. Hmm. You know, I want to leave a legacy for my. My, you know, my family and friends that I have that would be, you know, one of perseverance. You know, I've. I've had, as we all have, tons of roadblocks in my life, whether that was a child or as an adult. But I want to be. I want to always be remembered as the guy that burst through them and kept going no matter what happened. That's the legacy I'd like to do.
Perseverance. I love that word, too. That is great. All right, cool. Well, I tell you what, we're going to wrap this thing up in just a second, but just before we do, we've got one more sponsor that we're going to put them right in front of you and have them give you a little word from them. And we will be right back after this word from them.
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GTR is the number one referral platform for contractors. So book your demo today@getthereferral.com. all right, everybody, thanks for hanging in there. Thanks for checking out this week's episode of Contractor Radio. Thanks for giving Grayson a listen, and I just want One more question for you, Grayson. How can people get a hold of you if they're like, man, this is interesting. I'd like to learn some more and have a conversation. How can people get a hold of Grayson or talk to the good folks over at 6060 appraisal group?
Yeah. So I'll give you, I'll give you three contact points. Our main email. If you have any questions, just want to ask them. Or if you just want to tell me how wrong I am, you're more than welcome to Appraisals. A P, P R, A I s, a l s@6060group.com it's kind of our catch all email. If you want to chat with us on the phone anytime, 833-303-6060. Or if you want to call me or text me, My cell is 720-238-1630. So you know, if you want got any questions on a claim, you want some advice, you want to leave a death threat, feel free anytime.
Awesome. Awesome. Well, hey, man, really appreciate you having, having you on the podcast today and all the information brought. That was super cool, man. And we'll, we'll definitely send some folks your way who have some questions about this thing. Thank you for all your wisdom and your information there. All right, guys. So Grayson Wilson, 6060 appraisal group. Thank you to you guys for joining us here. Couple of quick nuggets on there. Appraisals can be helpful. They can be invoked almost at any time. Almost every insurance policy has that in there and there isn't necessarily some sort of hard rule the size of the claim that appraisals can be utilized for. Okay, so some big golden nuggets there. I hope you guys found this interesting. I hope you reach out and give our sponsors some love and I hope that you reach out to Grayson and talk to him a little bit about the appraisal process. All right, guys, this we hope was helpful. Be sure to check out next week's episode of Contractor Radio and we will see you there.










