WHAT WE DO

Hurricanes, Floods, Fires, Wind and Hail, And More...

Accord Services, Inc. specializes in assisting the policyholder with their claim and will be there to help the insured collect what they deserve. Accord Services, Inc. can review your policy BEFORE a disaster to see if your coverage is sufficient for your needs.

We are successful at what we do because we understand the importance of putting the insured back to where they were before they had the claim.

Property Damage Loss

Business Property Insurance Losses

Business Property Losses may result in loss of real property, production capacity, inventory, loss of income, extra expense, loss of key employees, and government build-back code issues and restrictions. Yes, you may also face a legal liability issue. Accord Services, Inc. can resolve all aspects of the insurance loss issues with your insurance carrier.

Personal Property Insurance Losses

Personal Property Losses such as your home and personal effects that occur from fire, windstorm, flood, landslide, earthquake, mudflow, sinkholes, and explosion are considered FIRST-PARTY LOSSES. For each peril, you must cooperate with your insurance carrier. Often company personnel is less knowledgeable than desirable. An Insurance Peril Loss can be daunting and time-consuming. Accord Services, Inc. can spare you the aggravation. If you suffer a loss due to a Third Party’s negligence, you face the same challenge.

 Here are a few examples of the effectiveness of having a company like Accord Services, Inc. on your side. The following cases, in which Kermith Sonnier acted as Expert Estimator, resulted in significant improvement on Settlement Amount over the amount initially offered by the insurance company. 

There is no fee for our initial consultation; we only charge if we collect!

Initial Company Offer     Settlement Amount    

NO Payment                       $20,000,00

NO Payment                       $12,500,000

$1,450,000                         $13,500,000

$3,562,000                         $5,100,000

NO Payment                      $2,400,000

NO Payment                      $4,585,590

$60,000                              $1,000,000

NO Payment                      $5,000,000

NO Payment                      $300,000

$1,400,000                        $75,000,000

NO Payment                     $4,566,000

NO Payment                     $13,500,000

$138,000                          $2,500,000

NO Payment                    $4,500,000

NO Payment                    $2,750,000

$425,000                          $7,438,846

NO Payment                    $6,725,532

NO Payment                    $2,500,000

$3,650,000                      $9,500,000 

Property Damage Assistance

Property Damage Legal Assistance

The Accord Services, Inc. Team works to achieve maximum monetary settlement for covered losses. We consult and collaborate with law firms from the East Coast to the West Coast to accurately assess property damage and the costs of repairing single-family homes, commercial properties, apartment buildings, and condominiums that a natural disaster has damaged. When you have a Loss Situation, the prompt affiliation of Accord Services, Inc. will ensure timely and equitable settlement with your carrier.

Property Examples

Here are a few examples of the effectiveness of having a company like Accord Services, Inc. on your side. The following cases, in which Kermith Sonnier acted as Expert Estimator, resulted in significant improvement on Settlement Amount over the amount initially offered by the insurance company.

Hurricanes, Floods, Fires, Wind and Hail, And More...

Accord Services, Inc. specializes in assisting the policyholder with their claim and will be there to help the insured collect what they deserve. Accord Services, Inc. can review your policy BEFORE a disaster to see if your coverage is sufficient for your needs.

We are successful at what we do because we understand the importance of putting the insured back to where they were before they had the claim.

Property Damage Loss

Business Property Insurance Losses

Business Property Losses may result in loss of real property, production capacity, inventory, loss of income, extra expense, loss of key employees, and government build-back code issues and restrictions. Yes, you may also face a legal liability issue. Accord Services, Inc. can resolve all aspects of the insurance loss issues with your insurance carrier.

Personal Property Insurance Losses

Personal Property Losses such as your home and personal effects that occur from fire, windstorm, flood, landslide, earthquake, mudflow, sinkholes, and explosion are considered FIRST-PARTY LOSSES. For each peril, you must cooperate with your insurance carrier. Often company personnel is less knowledgeable than desirable. An Insurance Peril Loss can be daunting and time-consuming. Accord Services, Inc. can spare you the aggravation. If you suffer a loss due to a Third Party’s negligence, you face the same challenge.

 Here are a few examples of the effectiveness of having a company like Accord Services, Inc. on your side. The following cases, in which Kermith Sonnier acted as Expert Estimator, resulted in significant improvement on Settlement Amount over the amount initially offered by the insurance company. 

There is no fee for our initial consultation; we only charge if we collect!

Initial Company Offer     Settlement Amount    

NO Payment                       $20,000,00

NO Payment                       $12,500,000

$1,450,000                         $13,500,000

$3,562,000                         $5,100,000

NO Payment                      $2,400,000

NO Payment                      $4,585,590

$60,000                              $1,000,000

NO Payment                      $5,000,000

NO Payment                      $300,000

$1,400,000                        $75,000,000

NO Payment                     $4,566,000

NO Payment                     $13,500,000

$138,000                          $2,500,000

NO Payment                    $4,500,000

NO Payment                    $2,750,000

$425,000                          $7,438,846

NO Payment                    $6,725,532

NO Payment                    $2,500,000

$3,650,000                      $9,500,000 

Property Damage Assistance

Property Damage Legal Assistance

The Accord Services, Inc. Team works to achieve maximum monetary settlement for covered losses. We consult and collaborate with law firms from the East Coast to the West Coast to accurately assess property damage and the costs of repairing single-family homes, commercial properties, apartment buildings, and condominiums that a natural disaster has damaged. When you have a Loss Situation, the prompt affiliation of Accord Services, Inc. will ensure timely and equitable settlement with your carrier.

Property Examples

Here are a few examples of the effectiveness of having a company like Accord Services, Inc. on your side. The following cases, in which Kermith Sonnier acted as Expert Estimator, resulted in significant improvement on Settlement Amount over the amount initially offered by the insurance company.

Claims & Appraisals

Accord Services, Inc. can answer insurance claim-related questions and provide advice and assistance for insurance claim damages. These claims can result from fire, smoke, wind, water, flood damage, hail, theft, hurricane, and even denied claims.

The following is a list of professional services we provide:

Appraisal Umpire Services

If a policyholder or the insurance company invokes appraisal, the appraiser and the insurance appraiser must choose an appraisal umpire. Most policies require that the two appraisers select and agree upon who will provide the appraisal umpire services within 15 days of the two appraisers being named. The chosen appraisal umpire must be an impartial, unbiased, and disinterested party in the outcome of the appraisal award.

Have you ever been involved in a mediation, arbitration, or appraisal, and the judge or appraisal umpire didn’t do anything except try to reach a happy medium? To execute the job of appraisal umpire services properly, not only should one be impartial, unbiased, and disinterested, but one should also be qualified to review the differences between the two parties. Our extensive experience with construction, building repairs, building materials, and the insurance appraisal process qualifies us as a choice above all to provide appraisal umpire services to resolve disputes. In addition, we have extensive knowledge of Xactimate. We can also read and understand the unit costs that estimating software provides and work with the appraisers to determine a realistic amount of loss.

Many individuals who provide appraisal umpires services are not willing or are not qualified to review and discuss the details of a structure or contents loss. An appraisal umpire who tries to settle the claim by simply meeting in the middle is not providing the appraisal umpire services that they have been hired to do. Have your appraisal documents reviewed and discussed intelligently with a qualified insurance adjuster, appraiser, and appraisal umpire.

We use our extensive, real-life experiences to evaluate a loss based on the facts. We believe that if resulting damages to a property covered by an insurance policy can be repaired, it should be repaired. However, if the property cannot be repaired, it must be replaced. In many cases, appraisers can become unreasonable on what can be repaired or what should be replaced. The repair or replacement must be accurate. The work and materials used should be replaced with like, kind, and quality materials, and a professional and competent repair contractor should complete the work.

With that being said, you should choose a qualified, experienced appraisal umpire who understands the facts you are presenting instead of a mediator who wants to split it down the middle. The appraisers of each side have a voice, and they should be heard!

How to Recommend Us for Appraisal Umpire Services:

Step 1: Contact us for an interview.

Is Kermith Sonnier the right fit to recommend as an appraisal umpire? Please feel free to contact us to discuss your appraisal umpire needs. We will be happy to assist you in any way that we can. If we mutually agree that Mr. Sonnier would be a good candidate for appraisal umpire in the claim you are working on, you may proceed with step two.

Step 2: Recommend us to the other appraiser.

The appraiser for the policyholder and the insurance appraiser must sign a document and mutually agree upon an umpire. To recommend Kermith Sonnier as an umpire, you must notify the other party of your recommendation. To make this process as easy as possible, you may copy and paste Kermith Sonnier’s bio directly from this page.

Appraisal Umpire Services Request Form*

When two appraisers agree on who is to serve as umpire on an appraisal, they need to sign a “Declaration of Appraisers Form”. The form also has a section labeled “Selection of Umpire”. The form is a legal document that names the two appraisers, which party they will represent, and whom they have mutually chosen as umpire.

* If and when two appraisers have selected Kermith Sonnier to act as an umpire for their appraisal, the form will need to be signed by all three parties. If you would like to request Mr. Sonnier to act as umpire on an appraisal, please download and complete the “Declaration of Appraisers Form.”

You may open this form, complete the appraisal details, print and sign the form, and then mail the original to the other appraiser for their signature. Once the form is completed and signed by all three parties, it becomes official.

Claims & Appraisals

Accord Services, Inc. can answer insurance claim-related questions and provide advice and assistance for insurance claim damages. These claims can result from fire, smoke, wind, water, flood damage, hail, theft, hurricane, and even denied claims.

The following is a list of professional services we provide:

Appraisal Umpire Services

If a policyholder or the insurance company invokes appraisal, the appraiser and the insurance appraiser must choose an appraisal umpire. Most policies require that the two appraisers select and agree upon who will provide the appraisal umpire services within 15 days of the two appraisers being named. The chosen appraisal umpire must be an impartial, unbiased, and disinterested party in the outcome of the appraisal award.

Have you ever been involved in a mediation, arbitration, or appraisal, and the judge or appraisal umpire didn’t do anything except try to reach a happy medium? To execute the job of appraisal umpire services properly, not only should one be impartial, unbiased, and disinterested, but one should also be qualified to review the differences between the two parties. Our extensive experience with construction, building repairs, building materials, and the insurance appraisal process qualifies us as a choice above all to provide appraisal umpire services to resolve disputes. In addition, we have extensive knowledge of Xactimate. We can also read and understand the unit costs that estimating software provides and work with the appraisers to determine a realistic amount of loss.

Many individuals who provide appraisal umpires services are not willing or are not qualified to review and discuss the details of a structure or contents loss. An appraisal umpire who tries to settle the claim by simply meeting in the middle is not providing the appraisal umpire services that they have been hired to do. Have your appraisal documents reviewed and discussed intelligently with a qualified insurance adjuster, appraiser, and appraisal umpire.

We use our extensive, real-life experiences to evaluate a loss based on the facts. We believe that if resulting damages to a property covered by an insurance policy can be repaired, it should be repaired. However, if the property cannot be repaired, it must be replaced. In many cases, appraisers can become unreasonable on what can be repaired or what should be replaced. The repair or replacement must be accurate. The work and materials used should be replaced with like, kind, and quality materials, and a professional and competent repair contractor should complete the work.

With that being said, you should choose a qualified, experienced appraisal umpire who understands the facts you are presenting instead of a mediator who wants to split it down the middle. The appraisers of each side have a voice, and they should be heard!

How to Recommend Us for Appraisal Umpire Services:

Step 1: Contact us for an interview.

Is Kermith Sonnier the right fit to recommend as an appraisal umpire? Please feel free to contact us to discuss your appraisal umpire needs. We will be happy to assist you in any way that we can. If we mutually agree that Mr. Sonnier would be a good candidate for appraisal umpire in the claim you are working on, you may proceed with step two.

Step 2: Recommend us to the other appraiser.

The appraiser for the policyholder and the insurance appraiser must sign a document and mutually agree upon an umpire. To recommend Kermith Sonnier as an umpire, you must notify the other party of your recommendation. To make this process as easy as possible, you may copy and paste Kermith Sonnier’s bio directly from this page.

Appraisal Umpire Services Request Form*

When two appraisers agree on who is to serve as umpire on an appraisal, they need to sign a “Declaration of Appraisers Form”. The form also has a section labeled “Selection of Umpire”. The form is a legal document that names the two appraisers, which party they will represent, and whom they have mutually chosen as umpire.

* If and when two appraisers have selected Kermith Sonnier to act as an umpire for their appraisal, the form will need to be signed by all three parties. If you would like to request Mr. Sonnier to act as umpire on an appraisal, please download and complete the “Declaration of Appraisers Form.”

You may open this form, complete the appraisal details, print and sign the form, and then mail the original to the other appraiser for their signature. Once the form is completed and signed by all three parties, it becomes official.

If property damage insurance adjusting is important to you and your company, please contact us today!

If property damage insurance adjusting is important to you and your company, please contact us today!

Kermith Sonnier

Kermith Sonnier always knew he wanted to be an insurance adjuster from the age of ten. At that tender age in 1957, Oberlin, the small town in which he lived in rural Louisiana, was hit hard by Hurricane Andy and many homes were destroyed while many others were left seriously damaged.

Because a great proportion of Oberlin homeowners spoke only Cajun French, the adjuster, who was sent out from Colorado found he had a severe communication problem and Kermith Sonnier’s father, who was a local contractor, and two local insurance agents responsible for writing the homeowner policies, suggested to the adjuster that he needed someone to accompany him on his inspections to translate for him. This job fell to young Kermith, who rode along each day and acted as interpreter while the adjuster did his inspections, wrote the estimates, agreed on the appropriate amount of damages, and issued checks to the homeowners. Seeing the genuine feeling of relief and gratitude that this brought to the homeowners in this terrible time left an indelible impression on Kermith and he knew that someday he himself would become an insurance adjuster.

But first, after leaving school, Kermith Sonnier worked in the construction industry, initially as a carpenter but eventually becoming a general contractor himself. During his time as a carpenter and general contractor, he built countless single-family homes, apartment buildings, small commercial buildings, barns, and even churches, as well as remodeling older buildings, including many that were damaged in catastrophes such as hurricanes, tornados, and floods.

In 1979, Hurricane Frederick hit Mobile Alabama and Mr. Sonnier received a call from Crawford and Company, inviting him to train as an insurance adjuster for that catastrophe. Crawford is the largest independent insurance adjusting company in the United States with over 650 branch offices nationwide and supplies independent adjusters to some of the major insurance companies to work in catastrophe situations. After working Hurricane Frederick claims for six months and attending Crawford’s claim school, Mr. Sonnier was assigned to Crawford’s core list of adjusters, and proceeded to work on numerous hurricanes, tornadoes, typhoons, floods, earthquakes, mudslides, hailstorms, ice storms, and fires throughout the United States. These include:

  • Hurricane Andrew, Florida Coast
  • Hurricane Georges, Puerto Rico
  • Hurricane Mitch, Virgin Islands
  • Loma Prieta Earthquake, San Francisco, California
  • San Jose Mudslides, San Jose, California
  • Malibu Hillside Fires, Malibu, California
  • Oakland Hills Fires, Oakland, California
  • Laguna Beach Fires, Laguna Beach, California

In addition, during his time with Crawford, Mr. Sonnier developed an expertise in loss management and environmental loss consulting and provided such services to several Fortune 500 companies, as well as the U.S. Coastguard and other federal agencies who have conducted some of the nation’s largest environmental cleanups. The following is a partial list:

  • 1988: American Petrofina Pipeline Oil Spill, Freeport, Texas
  • 1988-1993: Ashland Oil Spill, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  • 1989: Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, Valdez, Alaska
  • 1990: Buckeye Pipeline Oil Spill, Freeport, Pennsylvania
  • 1990: Exxon Oil Spill, Linden, New Jersey
  • 1993: T/B-155 Collision and Oil Spill, Clearwater, Florida
  • 1993: Ashland Oil Plant Blowout, Kenova, West Virginia

In early 1994, Mr. Sonnier left Crawford & Company and went to work for Pilot & Associates, Inc., another independent insurance adjusting company. He was immediately assigned to work as an adjuster for Farmers Insurance Company on claims arising out of the January 17, 1994 Northridge Earthquake in California. Over the next four and a half years, Mr. Sonnier adjusted more than 250 of Farmers’ largest commercial claims, mostly consisting of large condominium complexes ranging in size up to 1,200 + units.

However, when Mr. Sonnier challenged what he considered to be unfair insurance claims practices perpetrated by Farmers’ claims management executives and refused to reduce his claims estimates arbitrarily, his claim files were withdrawn by Farmers and he was sent home. In a subsequent lawsuit, a Los Angeles jury awarded Mr. Sonnier substantial damages against Farmers. During the trial, certain Farmers’ executives testified that Mr. Sonnier was the best pure estimator they had ever seen.

Following that experience, Mr. Sonnier worked as an insurance estimating and adjusting consultant and expert witness in the successful representation of Northridge earthquake victims suing insurance companies which had failed to properly adjust clients’ claims and pay what was due under the policies. As a direct result of Mr. Sonnier’s skill and expertise as an estimator and adjuster, homeowners were able to recover in excess of $300 million from Farmers on condominium complexes that Farmers had contended had suffered no damage or only suffered minor cosmetic damage.

At the same time, Mr. Sonnier became a licensed Public Adjuster representing only policy holders against insurance companies. During recent years, he has represented policy holders in respect of both residential and major commercial buildings, condominium and apartment complexes in numerous catastrophes including:

  • Hurricane Charley, Florida Coast
  • Hurricane Ivan, Florida Coast
  • Hurricane Frances, Florida Coast
  • Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama
  • Hurricane Rita, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama
  • Laguna Beach fires, Laguna Beach, California
  • San Diego Fires, San Diego California

Mr. Sonnier is a consummate professional and an extremely qualified adjuster who has extensive and varied experience in construction work itself and in catastrophe adjusting. Indeed, it is his prior hands-on construction experience which enables him to look for and recognize the possibility of hidden damage from the outset. Mr. Sonnier has put together a team of people who are, like him, experienced scopers, estimators and adjusters with intimate knowledge of the major computerized estimating software programs used by the major insurance companies and adjusting firms. Mr. Sonnier’s team have a unique propensity for ensuring that the damage estimates that are submitted to the insurance companies are exhaustive and complete down to the smallest detail. Mr. Sonnier then gives every estimate a final detailed review to ensure that nothing has been missed before it is submitted.

Another major quality that separates Mr. Sonnier from other adjusters is his ability to back up what he says and support the line-by-line items in his company’s estimates. When challenged by insurance company claims adjusters, many other public adjusters merely acquiesce to the reduction, indeed, the slashing of the total estimate amount submitted. Mr. Sonnier, however, is able to argue strongly for each item and provide industry published data to support them and will only compromise his position if there is good reason, and always only with the policy holder’s consent.

Mr. Sonnier is a dogged and determined adversary who never forgets in his dealings with insurance companies on his clients’ behalf, that it is not merely line items on an estimate, or a matter of dollars and cents he is dealing with, but it is people’s lives and livelihoods which are at stake.

If property damage insurance adjusting is important to you and your company, please Contact us today!