Meet Our EGAs: Chance Walls—Mountain West Adjuster & Code Detective

Davies’ Executive General Adjusters are elite among Large Loss & Specialty claims adjusters in the U.S., handling the most complex and costly claims nationally and internationally. In this series, learn more about who they are, what they do, industry trends they’re seeing, and the most interesting project each has worked on to date. 

Chance Walls

Quick Background 

Since 2010, Chance has handled a wide range of commercial and residential losses. His expertise includes fire losses, flooding, hurricanes, tornadoes, inland marine losses, hotels and hospitality, hail and roofing damage, builder’s risk, business interruption and homeowner’s associations. He has managed high-exposure claims across multiple jurisdictions, serving insurance carriers, self-insured entities, captive programs, public entities and private enterprises throughout the Mountain West and beyond.

Home: Denver, CO
Region: Mountain West
States Covered: California, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming

Q&A

How are recent shifts in construction materials, roofing systems or building codes impacting the complexity or cost of claims you’re handling, particularly in hail and hurricane prone regions?

We’re entering a phase in our industry where a simple commercial property claim doesn’t really exist anymore. And that’s being driven by changes in construction materials, evolving building codes and cost volatility across the market.

On the material side, newer roofing systems and composite materials are often more durable, but they’re also more specialized. So that means fewer qualified contractors in some cases to install the systems, which translates to higher labor costs, longer repair and lead times. At the same time, building codes, especially in hail and hurricane-prone regions, are driving upgrades during repair. So, what starts as a simple repair often becomes a partial rebuild to meet current code, which significantly increases the severity.

And we’ve got impact-resistant shingles now. We’ve got synthetics in underlayment and materials. We’ve got energy efficient systems and requirements like in Colorado, where we’ve currently got a green roof requirement. That can drive more technical repairs or full replacements, and skilled roofing crews can be hard to find now or are stretched very thin, so you can get bottlenecks that increase property claims and business interruption exposure.

You’ve also got wind uplift requirements in Florida and Texas, plus ice and water shield requirements that are expanding geographically. We’re attuned to those here in Colorado because of our weather, but that’s starting to spread across the country.

Finally, you’ve got solar and integrated systems. Everybody’s probably gotten up on a roof and seen a full field of solar panels or a geothermal heating system. And you know right away that it’s going to be way more technical than you were expecting, and that severity inflation outpaces traditional underwriting assumptions in some cases.

The underwriting changes are trailing real-time damage caused by catastrophes in some regions. So you can prepare for the changes, but the experience you have in the field allows you to be a lot more nimble and roll with what kind of punch is.

Then you also have to include inflation and supply change variability, which we’re seeing examples of in the news every day right now. The result is a larger claim, longer cycles and a much tighter need for technical expertise early in the process. We’re not simply adjusting damage anymore—we’re adjusting to modern reconstruction complexity and risk on the fly.

Are you finding that insurers or carriers are willing to pay a little bit more for a repair that lessens the possibility of damage later (such as impact-resistant shingles)?

Generally, they are willing to invest in that. I think that’s sometimes an economy of scale decision because if you have a 150-square commercial roof, they may not be as apt to do that as a smaller residential roof or something like that.

That’s generally something that a broker would have to discuss with the carrier. Or the underwriter, when they look at the risk upon renewal. I do think sometimes carriers are maybe more focused on the opposite end of underwriting. So rather than doing those upgrades, they may increase a deductible or lower a limit rather than acquiesce to an upgrade to lessen damage in the future. I think it’s moved more toward getting it off the books rather than upgrading somebody’s property resilience.

With your multi-state licensing and exposure to different jurisdictions, what regional trends or regulatory changes are most affecting claims handling or carrier expectations?

The biggest shift across jurisdictions I’ve seen is the growing gap between regulatory intent and the operational reality and claims handling in the field. States are becoming more prescriptive, whether it’s response timelines, communication standards or documentation requirements, and that raises the bar for consistency across multi-state programs. At the same time, we’re also seeing increased scrutiny around claim decisions, especially catastrophe environments that push carriers to demand more thorough documentation.

Also, clear justification of scopes. I’m sure everybody has sent a scope through and had a long meeting with the carrier and gone almost line-by-line about what’s included in there. There’s a shift for tighter alignment with policy language.

Regionally, there are also distinct pressures. In my area, wildfire exposure and mitigation requirements are rapidly evolving. For adjusters and carriers, success really depends on being both technically strong and jurisdictionally fluent with claims.

Claims handling is becoming as much about regulatory navigation as it is about on-site assessments. Boots-on-the-ground and reading long, dense documentation now go hand-in-hand.

You have to understand not just the damage, but also the environment shaping how that claim is handled. In addition to everything else, there’s been an increase in the Department of Insurance’s oversight on claims, timelines and exposure. So we know the spotlight is on us every day. You’ve got to make sure your numbers and information are correct. More detailed file documentation on the carrier side and earlier involvement by any needed experts in a particular area is critical.

EGAs need to be able to be flexible and knowledgeable while moving from state-to-state. If you can’t manage all of this, you will have slower file turnover and slower file handling.

What’s the most interesting project you’ve ever worked on?

A water loss that I handled in North Dakota. A fire suppression standpipe was installed on a hotel tower about two feet from a very large lead plate with a window on it. They had a large blizzard come through, and about four inches of snow froze on the standpipe, making it burst all the way down the northern half of the tower.

This claim was extraordinarily code heavy. The insured and contractor were trying to retrofit a franchise hotel with updated franchise packaging on the southern portion of the hotel, which was not affected. But they were trying to use the undamaged areas for coverage on the policy and pushing for more money in repair.

So there were lots of site visits, and I really enjoy seeing buildings while they’re under construction. I don’t know what it is, but it is really calming to me to see the studs and electrical work, to look at construction documents and floor plans. Being able to go out there during multiple phases of that construction was extremely interesting, and having to pore over those code issues was also intellectually stimulating.

…did you play with erector sets a lot as a kid?

Legos. Actually, I have Legos on my desk..

Get in touch with Chance to learn more about his service regions and capabilities, and learn more about our overall Specialty Risk Division solutions.