# What a DC Restoration Contractor Cannot Do on an Insurance Claim

**Restoration Doctor of Washington DC** (VA Water Damage LLC dba Restoration Doctor)
Phone: (202) 922-1444 ((202) 922-1444) · office@restorationdoctors.com
Address: 4315 50th St NW Suite 100 #7112, Washington, DC 20016
Category: Insurance · Published: September 21, 2026 · Updated: September 21, 2026
Author: Steve Jafari, General Manager — https://restorationdoctordc.com/authors/steve-jafari

> TL;DR: A restoration contractor in the District of Columbia cannot, for compensation, negotiate or settle your first-party property claim unless it holds a public insurance adjuster license, which § 31-1631.03 of the D.C. Code requires of any person acting as one. What a contractor can do is scope the damage, dry the building, document every phase and price the work in the format adjusters read. The negotiating belongs to you, to a licensed public adjuster you hire, or to an attorney.

![A single unmarked document lies alone on a plywood table in a gutted row-house room with exposed lath and brick behind it](https://restorationdoctordc.com/images/blog/what-a-restoration-contractor-cannot-do-dc/what-a-restoration-contractor-cannot-do-dc-unmarked-estimate-plywood-table-1600w.jpg)
*A single unmarked page on a folding table, set against a row-house wall opened to the lath and brick behind it. Illustrative only.*

## Can a restoration contractor negotiate my insurance claim in the District?

Can a restoration contractor negotiate my insurance claim? In the District of Columbia, no. Section 31-1631.03 of the D.C. Code bars any person from [acting as a public insurance adjuster without a license](https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/31-1631.03) from the Commissioner. Negotiating or settling somebody else's claim for compensation is the conduct at the center of the District's definition of a public insurance adjuster. A first-party claim, in that phrase, means a claim on your own policy for your own property.

That boundary is not something the industry invented to avoid work. It is a licensing line the District drew, and it runs in the property owner's favor. The person arguing about your claim should be you, or somebody you chose and can replace, rather than the company whose invoice is part of the argument.

What this post is not: Restoration Doctor is a restoration contractor, not a public adjuster and not a law firm. This article explains what District law says, and what a property owner can ask for in writing. It is not legal advice and it is not insurance advice, and it cannot tell you what your own policy covers. That question belongs to your declarations page, your agent, or a licensed professional.

## What does the District's public insurance adjuster law actually say?

Two short sections carry the core of the rule. The license requirement is one sentence: “No person shall, directly or indirectly, act as a public insurance adjuster without first procuring a license from the Commissioner to act as a public insurance adjuster.”

The definition is what makes that bar reach a contractor. [Section 31-1631.02(5)(A)](https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/31-1631.02) reaches any person who acts or aids for compensation or any other thing of value, solely in relation to first-party claims arising under contracts that insure the insured's real or personal property. The conduct it names is acting on behalf of an insured “in negotiating for, or effecting the settlement of, a claim for loss or damage covered by an insurance contract.”

It goes further than the word negotiate suggests. Subsection (5)(B) covers advertising for employment as an adjuster of insurance claims, or representing yourself to the public as an adjuster of first-party property claims. Subsection (5)(C) covers soliciting business, investigating or adjusting losses, or advising an insured about first-party property claims, where that is done for another person in the adjusting business.

[Section 31-1631.12](https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/31-1631.12) then lists who sits outside the chapter. Four groups do, and a restoration contractor is not one of them. That scope section carves out no exception for the company that dried the building.

- An insurer's own adjusters, agents or employees, adjusting losses under that insurer's policies
- A broker acting as an adjuster without compensation for a client it already represents
- An attorney who does not regularly act as a public insurance adjuster, or advertise as one
- A licensed health care provider filing a health insurance claim form for a patient

![A painted plaster wall shows a horizontal tide line where paint has blistered and lifted above a discolored lower band](https://restorationdoctordc.com/images/blog/what-a-restoration-contractor-cannot-do-dc/what-a-restoration-contractor-cannot-do-dc-plaster-wall-tide-line-1600w.jpg)
*A tide line on a plaster wall, where paint has blistered and lifted along the boundary of standing moisture. Illustrative only.*

## What can a restoration contractor do on a District water loss?

Nearly everything except the negotiation. A contractor can inspect the building, establish what is wet and how far the moisture traveled, and measure the affected materials. It can set and monitor drying equipment, record readings daily, photograph every phase of the work, and write a line-item estimate in the format adjusters and the outside firms that review estimates for them actually read.

That documentation follows a published standard rather than house habit. The [ANSI/IICRC S500 Standard for Professional Water Damage Restoration](https://iicrc.org/s500/) describes, in its own words, “the procedures to be followed and the precautions to be taken when performing water damage restoration” in residential buildings as well as commercial and institutional ones. A file built that way is evidence rather than argument, and it is the only thing a contractor can honestly hand an owner who will be asked why a line item was necessary.

Pricing the work is the contractor's own job as well. The Restoration Industry Association's [public position statements](https://www.restorationindustry.org/restoration-blog/restoration-industry-association-announces-release-position-statements) say that absent a direct contract with an insurer, “restoration contractors are under no legal obligation to an insurer, its adjuster, or a third party.” That cuts both ways. A reviewer's opinion does not bind the contractor, and the contractor's estimate does not bind the insurer. The association puts the same point from the other side: the insurer's consultant's opinions “are not binding on the restorer.”

## What documents should a contractor hand over, and when?

Ask for the record at the pace the work happens rather than at the end. A contractor holding the only copy of a moisture log is a problem later, and an owner who has been copied on everything since the first day already holds the file.

None of this is a favor and none of it is proprietary. It is the evidence behind the invoice you are being asked to pay, and you are the person who will be asked to explain it.

- The signed work authorization, with the scope of the emergency phase described inside it
- Daily moisture readings, plus the temperature and humidity readings taken with them
- Dated photographs of each phase, including cavities that were opened and later closed
- An equipment record showing what ran and where, counted in unit days: one machine for one day
- A line-item estimate written in the estimating platform your adjuster reviews
- A written scope narrative explaining why each activity was necessary

![A professional dehumidifier stands on a bare wood floor with its power cord running to a coil by the wall](https://restorationdoctordc.com/images/blog/what-a-restoration-contractor-cannot-do-dc/what-a-restoration-contractor-cannot-do-dc-dehumidifier-bare-floor-1600w.jpg)
*A dehumidifier set on a bare wood floor in an emptied row-house room, its cord run back along the wall. Illustrative only.*

## What goes wrong when a contractor tries to work the claim for you?

Start with the licensing, because it is not conditional. The requirement in § 31-1631.03 has no exception for a company already on the job. What the chapter does regulate in detail is the licensed side of the line. [Section 31-1631.08](https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/31-1631.08) requires a public adjuster to work under a written contract on a form the Commissioner approved. [Section 31-1631.07](https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/31-1631.07) lets the Commissioner deny, suspend, revoke or refuse to renew that license, and impose a civil penalty, against an applicant or a licensee. We read the whole of Chapter 16A for this article and found no separate penalty attached to unlicensed practice, so the practical consequence of a contractor working your claim is not a fine it pays. It is that the record behind your claim was built by the party with the most to gain from it.

The second problem is about evidence. A contractor who argues the claim is arguing about the size of its own invoice, and that is visible to anyone reading the file afterward. The same sentence lands differently coming from an owner with a dated record than from the company waiting to be paid.

The third problem is the paperwork handed over at the kitchen table. The District's rules for a public adjuster contract show what a regulated engagement looks like: [§ 31-1631.08](https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/31-1631.08) puts that contract on a form the Commissioner approved, executed in duplicate. A contractor's authorization is not that document and is not governed by that section, and our post on [who pays the restoration company](/blog/who-pays-restoration-company-dc) covers what to look for in one. The same section gives an insured who signs with a public adjuster the right to cancel “until midnight on the 3rd business day after the day on which he or she signs the contract.”

## Who does the other half: you, a public adjuster, or an attorney?

Three roles, and only one of them is yours without hiring anybody. You are a party to your own policy, so you can ask your carrier for things in writing and you can escalate to the regulator. A licensed public adjuster is someone you hire to negotiate, and the District regulates that engagement closely. An attorney sits outside the public adjuster chapter, provided the attorney does not regularly act as one.

The trade-off is cost against your own time, and it is a personal judgment rather than a technical one. Under § 31-1631.08(e) a licensee may not charge a fee exceeding ten percent of the client's total insurance recovery, which is a statutory ceiling rather than anyone's quoted rate. An attorney's terms are whatever the engagement letter sets out. Handling it yourself costs attention at the worst possible moment. None of the three is right for every owner, and no contractor should be making that choice for you.

| Role | What District law requires of them | What they do on a claim | What to establish in writing first |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| You, the policyholder | Nothing; you are already a party to the policy | Report the loss, ask questions, decide who works on the property | Claim number, the adjuster's name, how you prefer to be contacted |
| Restoration contractor | The same license bar on adjusting that applies to anyone else | Scope the loss, measure it, dry the building, then document and price the work | Who the customer is, what the emergency scope covers, and that the property owner owes the invoice |
| Licensed public adjuster | A license from the Commissioner, an approved written contract, a fee ceiling | Negotiates the claim with your carrier on your behalf | The license, the approved form, the fee, the three-day cancellation right |
| Attorney | Outside the public adjuster chapter if not regularly acting or advertising as one | Advises on the policy and litigates where that becomes necessary | Scope of the engagement, how fees are charged, who does the talking |
| Your insurer's adjuster | Exempt from the public adjuster chapter as the insurer's own representative | Investigates and values the claim for the insurer | Every request and answer in writing, kept with the claim file |

*Illustrative only. What a carrier owes is decided by the policy and the facts of the loss, and every engagement is the property owner's own decision.*

## How do you tell which one your situation actually needs?

By the shape of the disagreement rather than by its size. A disagreement about what was done, or about what it cost, is a documentation question, and documentation is the contractor's job. A disagreement about what the policy means is not a question a contractor may answer for you.

So sort it before you hire anybody. If the carrier's estimate and the contractor's invoice differ on quantities, on unit prices, or on which activities appear at all, that is a scope conversation, and the file either supports the line or it does not. If the carrier's position rests on a policy provision, an exclusion or a limit, you are past the contractor, and the next call is your agent, a licensed public adjuster, or an attorney.

One more sorting question is worth asking out loud: how much of your own time do you have? Nothing stops an owner from requesting documents in writing and keeping every answer in one dated folder. Some owners work a claim that way; others would rather pay somebody to carry it. Both are reasonable, and neither is a decision that belongs to the company drying your floor.

- The dispute is about quantities, measurements or equipment days: the file answers it
- The dispute is about why an activity was necessary: the scope narrative answers it
- The dispute is about what the policy covers or excludes: a contractor may not answer it
- The dispute is about how the carrier handled the claim: that is the regulator's ground

## What does the District's unfair claim settlement practices law actually do?

It lists practices, and it sets a threshold that surprises most readers. [Section 31-2231.17](https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/31-2231.17) opens both of its lists with the same words: “No person shall commit or perform with such frequency as to indicate a general business practice any of the following.”

The listed practices include refusing a claim “for a reason that is arbitrary or capricious based on all available information,” and failing “promptly upon request to provide a reasonable explanation of the basis for a denial of a claim.”

Read that threshold twice, because it decides what the section is for. One arbitrary refusal, or one request for an explanation that went unanswered, is not by itself a violation of this section. The section is aimed at a pattern of conduct, which is why the Commissioner rather than the policyholder is the enforcer. Subsection (c) caps the Commissioner's penalty for a subsection (a) violation and routes penalties for subsection (b) violations to other sections of the insurance title. Either way the Commissioner is the one imposing it: the section directs no money to the insured.

Two absences in the text are worth publishing. The section sets no number of days for acknowledging a claim, for finishing an investigation, or for affirming or denying coverage; its operative words are promptly, reasonably promptly and within a reasonable time. It also does not require a denial to cite the policy language it relies on. We read the full section for this article and found neither requirement, and we did not locate a District regulation supplying the missing clock.

![A narrow row-house staircase rises into shadow between a peeling plaster wall and a wall stripped to bare wood lath](https://restorationdoctordc.com/images/blog/what-a-restoration-contractor-cannot-do-dc/what-a-restoration-contractor-cannot-do-dc-stair-hall-stripped-to-lath-1600w.jpg)
*A narrow row-house stair hall with the plaster cut back to the lath along one side. Illustrative only.*

## What should you ask your carrier, and why in writing?

Put requests in writing because it creates a record, not because it applies pressure. A short email naming the claim number and asking for one thing at a time is easier for a reviewer to answer.

What to ask for divides into documents and reasons. The documents are the carrier's own estimate, each revised version after it, and any report a reviewer or consultant produced. The reasons are the basis for each decision: which line came out, and what the carrier relied on.

What not to send is a paragraph somebody else wrote for you. A template lifted off a website is not your claim, and a contractor who hands you one is drafting your side of a negotiation, which is the line this article is about. Write it yourself, and keep it short.

- The carrier's current estimate, and every revised version issued after it
- Which line items were removed, re-priced or re-quantified, identified item by item
- The reason given for each of those changes, in the carrier's own words
- Any consultant or reviewer report the carrier is relying on
- Confirmation of what the carrier still needs, and which party is expected to supply it

## Where can a DC property owner read these rules and file a complaint?

All of it is public. The public adjuster chapter is Chapter 16A of Title 31 of the D.C. Code, and the two sections that decide this question are the definition and the license requirement. The unfair claim settlement practices section sits in a different chapter of the same title. Read the sections themselves rather than a summary, because they are short and summaries drift.

The regulator is the District's Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking. Its Insurance Bureau, in its own description, “addresses consumer complaints, monitors the financial condition and marketing activities of insurers, licenses insurance companies and producers, and reviews insurance policies and rates.”

Its [consumer complaint form](https://disb.dc.gov/node/316172) asks you to complete the form thoroughly, attach supporting documentation, sign it and keep a copy. A complaint is a regulatory referral. It is not a payment mechanism, and filing one does not settle a claim.

Sources referenced in this article:

- D.C. Code, [definition of a public insurance adjuster](https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/31-1631.02) and [the license requirement](https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/31-1631.03)
- D.C. Code, [scope of the public adjuster chapter](https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/31-1631.12) and [contracts and solicitation of contracts](https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/31-1631.08)
- D.C. Code, [license denial, suspension, revocation and civil penalties](https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/31-1631.07)
- D.C. Code, [unfair claim settlement practices](https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/31-2231.17)
- District of Columbia Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking, [consumer complaint form](https://disb.dc.gov/node/316172) and [insurance consumer information](https://disb.dc.gov/page/insurance)
- [ANSI/IICRC S500 Standard for Professional Water Damage Restoration](https://iicrc.org/s500/)
- Restoration Industry Association, [public position statements on third-party direction of restoration work](https://www.restorationindustry.org/restoration-blog/restoration-industry-association-announces-release-position-statements)


## Frequently asked questions

### Can a restoration contractor negotiate my insurance claim in DC?

No, not in the District. Section 31-1631.03 bars any person from acting as a public insurance adjuster without a license from the Commissioner. The definition in § 31-1631.02(5)(A) covers acting on behalf of an insured in negotiating for or effecting the settlement of a first-party property claim. A contractor can document and price the work it performed. The negotiating stays with the policyholder, or with somebody the policyholder retains.

### Is a restoration contractor the same thing as a public adjuster?

No, and the difference is a license rather than a job title. A public insurance adjuster is licensed by the Commissioner and negotiates claims for insureds under a written contract on an approved form. A restoration contractor performs the physical work and documents it. Section 31-1631.12 lists who falls outside the public adjuster chapter, and a restoration contractor is not among the groups it names. A company wanting both roles would have to hold the adjuster license as well.

### Can my contractor talk to my insurance adjuster at all?

Yes. Explaining its own scope, measurements, moisture readings and line items to an adjuster is the contractor describing its own work, which is different from negotiating your claim. The distinction drawn by the statute is negotiating for or effecting a settlement on your behalf. Ask to be copied on what your contractor sends, so the record stays in your hands as it is built.

### What does a licensed public adjuster cost in the District?

The statute sets a ceiling rather than a price. Section 31-1631.08(e) caps a licensee's fee at ten percent of the client's total insurance recovery, and the same section requires a written contract on a form the Commissioner approved, executed in duplicate. The insured may cancel until midnight on the third business day after signing. Actual fees and terms vary by adjuster and by engagement.

### Does filing a DISB complaint get my claim paid?

No. A complaint to DISB is a regulatory referral, and its Insurance Bureau addresses consumer complaints about insurers licensed in the District. Section 31-2231.17 is enforced by the Commissioner, and it directs no payment to an insured. File a complaint to put conduct in front of the regulator, with documentation attached, rather than as a collection strategy.

## Related reading

- Water Damage Restoration in Washington, DC — https://restorationdoctordc.com/services/water-damage-restoration
- Reconstruction and Rebuild Services — https://restorationdoctordc.com/services/reconstruction
- Who Pays the Restoration Company in DC — https://restorationdoctordc.com/blog/who-pays-restoration-company-dc
- Overhead and Profit on a DC Water Loss — https://restorationdoctordc.com/blog/overhead-and-profit-water-mitigation-dc
- What a DC Denial Letter Has to Explain — https://restorationdoctordc.com/blog/dc-water-damage-claim-denied-explanation
- About Restoration Doctor — https://restorationdoctordc.com/about-restoration-doctor

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