Wesley Chapel resident Shawn Thompson says that, in general, most people don’t know that people like him even exist.
Shawn is a licensed public adjuster and the owner of Compass Claim Solutions.
As a public adjuster, he says his job is to advocate for home and business owners who have suffered a loss that is covered by the insurance company.
When disaster strikes — whether it’s a fire, water damage, or even a storm or other natural disaster — most people pick up the phone and call the insurance company directly. On the other end of the line is someone who represents what’s in that insurance company’s best interest, not theirs.
Since the insurance company wants to settle the claim for as little as possible, it makes sense that a homeowner or business owner would want to have someone looking out for their best interest, too.
That’s why Shawn recommends you pick up the phone and call him first.
“Hopefully, this is the first and only time you’re ever going to suffer a loss like this,” Shawn explains. “But, I’ve been through this process thousands of times with my clients.”
Shawn has been a licensed public adjuster since 2015. He started the process of becoming licensed in 2012, by passing a course and working as an apprentice for a year. Prior to that, he spent 10 years in management at CVS pharmacies after his graduation from St. Leo University near Dade City in 2003 with a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in Business Management.
At that time, he says he was ready to make a change to leave CVS, and he had already learned a lot about his brother-in-law’s job as a licensed public adjuster in southeast Florida. Shawn found out that being a public adjuster was something he would be good at and would enjoy. He ended up working for his brother-in-law for several years before starting his own business in 2022.
In his extensive experience, Shawn says he’s never once looked at a valuation and told the insured party that their insurance company paid them everything they deserved.
“There’s always something left on the table,” he says. “But, is it $500, $5,000 or even $50,000?”
That’s what Compass Claim Solutions can figure out for you so you can be confident you’re not missing out.
Shawn says the best time to call him is as soon as you have to make a claim. In that best-case scenario, he can ensure the entire process is managed properly from start to finish.
But many times, the way people find out about his services is after the insurance company has considered their claim to be closed and they haven’t received the funds they need to make all of the necessary repairs. He says that’s when they go to the internet to search, “What can I do?”
Even at that point, Shawn says he is able to step in and make sure the insurance company pays what the homeowner or business owner is entitled to, based on their policy.
He says that, just recently, he met with a homeowner who suffered a loss during Hurricane Ian in Sept. 2022 to give them a final payment from their insurance company. Originally, they had only been paid $11,800, but Shawn was able to get the homeowner an additional $128,000.
In another case, Shawn says one of his happiest customers was a woman whose insurance company valued her roof damage claim at $1,012. After her $1,000 deductible, the check she received was for $12. Shawn was able to get her $13,000, which paid for an entire new roof.
“Stories like that are the norm in my business,” he says. “My normal recovery if someone calls me supplementally is somewhere between five and 20 times what the insurance company originally paid.”
He explains that public adjusters in Florida are paid on contingency, meaning they get paid based on what they recover for clients as a percentage of the settlement. While that charge is capped at 20 percent of the payments to the insured, Shawn emphasized that it’s a negotiable fee.
In fact, he says, if someone finds out about him from the Neighborhood News, he’s happy to provide a discount. He also offers discounts to those who are referred to him by their family and friends.
His fee is negotiated at the time he is first called out for a completely free, no-obligation consultation. He provides his expert opinion on what he feels the claim is worth, and then the homeowner or business owner can decide whether or not to hire him.
Compass Claim Solutions client Peggy D’Alessandro experienced flooding from water leaks in both her home and a rental property she owns. Both times, she called Shawn to help her through the process.
“He was able to identify things that I didn’t know would be a problem,” she says, “like the potential for mold. He was able to look at it from a structural standpoint and tell me that, realistically, if I want this to be back to its original condition, I have to be concerned about drywall, molding, paint and a lot of other things besides just the floors.”
She says she was worried about whether or not the insurance company would pay all that she needed to make her home whole, so it was a relief to work with a professional who could relate to the insurance company on their terms. “He made the process painless and smooth,” Peggy says, “and I felt like I had someone who had my best interest at heart.”
Peggy adds that making a claim also is a very time-consuming process. As a busy person, she says knowing Shawn was communicating with the insurance company, filling out the paperwork and handling the negotiation took all of the anxiety out of the situation.
“Most people who go through something like that have never been through it before,” she says, “plus they’re dealing with the anxiety of their home being in disarray and not knowing when or how they will get paid and if it that payment will cover all of the damage. I would absolutely recommend anyone who has a disaster in their home to work with Shawn. It’s the best decision I could have made.”
Shawn adds, “No matter how long I work for people, whether it’s two weeks or two years, if I don’t put money in their pocket, I don’t get paid.”
Shawn and his wife Lindsay have lived in Wesley Chapel since 2010. They have two children, Kasey and Luke, and a dog named Wrigley.
While he’s local to our area, Shawn is licensed for the entire state of Florida and handles claims as far away as the panhandle. When a storm hits, he often travels to where the damage is so that he can most effectively help the people who need him the most.
For the past year, Shawn’s brother Travis has been working as an apprentice under him. Travis recently became fully licensed and is now able to handle clients on his own.
Now that Travis is fully licensed, Shawn is bringing on a new apprentice, Frank Markim.
Shawn says that if you hire his company, you won’t see any contractors or have any part of the process outsourced. If he starts your claim, he’ll see it through to the end.
“We have a standard of how we do business and it’s important for us to handle claims from start to finish,” Shawn says. “There’s too much to lose to skip any steps. If you miss one picture, you could miss tens of thousands of dollars.”
Contact Shawn Thompson at Compass Claim Solutions by calling or texting his cell phone at (352) 502-5928. For more information, visit CompassClaimSolutions.com.
