The short answer: Friedman & Associates represents homeowners and business owners across Georgia, Tennessee, and South Carolina after a fire: the structure, the smoke and soot, the contents, the displacement, and our specialty, fire claims that were denied or underpaid. A fire claim is far more complex than just the cost of burned materials. Licensed public adjusters in all three states. No recovery, no fee. Call 877-650-3515 or text the partners.
Call us before you call your carrier. The first phone call shapes the whole claim. Already filed, or an adjuster already assigned? We're still your next call.
S.C. Code § 38-75-20
What we take command of
Results and press
$1,664,329 recovered above the carriers' first offers on just 10 recent published files, from more than a decade of this work. See real case results. You could be next.
"He helped me recover 4 times what insurance was offering… extremely diligent and moralistic in how he worked."Kelly, Google review · 4.8★ across 23 reviews · read them all
When you hire the firm, you get the partners: Joshua and Hannah Friedman, with Callie Macho on client success. Not a call center. And a fire family gets both things it needs from us: compassionate support and unwavering strategic resolve.
Want the fuller picture first? The film, the results register, and the client portal are all at the front door. Meet the firm →
The burn is the smallest part of the file
The visible char is where a fire claim starts, not where it ends. Heat travels through steel and trusses invisibly, and only an engineering assessment says what the frame can still carry. Smoke is invasive and corrosive. It permeates drywall, ductwork, and structural cavities, and soot acid keeps etching metal, glass, and electronics long after the trucks leave.
Then there is the water. Thousands of gallons went into the walls to save the house, and that damage belongs in the fire claim, priced with it. Code upgrades, contents, displacement: each carries its own coverage and its own paperwork. We document the whole loss before the carrier prices any of it.
Total loss, or a code or asbestos surprise turning repairs into one? Complex fires get private-client handling here, whatever the house is worth: the file at partner level, the expert bench the loss requires.
Not every claim qualifies. Three taps to find out if yours does.
The law and the clock
Fire claims run on deadlines from the first day. Georgia regulation gives the carrier 15 days to acknowledge your claim and, even with extensions, 60 days to reach its decision (Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 120-2-52-.03, on our shelf in full, free). Tennessee and South Carolina enforce claim-handling standards of their own. And the policy itself carries the sharpest clock of all.
One clock outranks everything: your policy's own "Suit Against Us" clause. Read it the day a claim goes sideways. Do not assume negotiations extend the deadline; the governing policy and law control, and deadline questions belong with counsel.
Questions after a fire
Should I call you before I call my insurance company?
Yes. What gets said in the first call shapes the whole claim, so talk to us first. Already filed, or an adjuster already assigned? Call us anyway. We step in at any stage, and the earlier the better.
The house is a total loss. Is the claim at least simple?
No. A total loss opens every coverage at once: dwelling, other structures, contents, and living expense, and each one is its own negotiation. In South Carolina, a valued-policy state, a total fire loss of the building owes the full amount of insurance stated on the policy.
Can we start cleaning the smoke damage ourselves?
Please wait until the loss is documented. Cleaning erases the evidence of how far the smoke traveled, and soot takes a different method on every surface, so the wrong one sets the stain. Photograph everything, touch as little as you can, and call us first.
The carrier already offered a quick settlement. Should we take it?
Not before a second read. Quick offers are written before anyone has opened a wall, tested for soot, or inventoried the contents, so they may undervalue or completely miss critical components. The review is free.
We can't live in the house. Who pays for the hotel tonight?
Your policy's additional living expense coverage, starting now. Keep every receipt: lodging, meals beyond your normal grocery bill, mileage, even boarding the dog. We set up the ALE file so your family is not fronting the carrier's money.
Is the water damage from the fire hoses covered?
Yes. The water, foam, and chemical damage from putting the fire out is part of the fire loss. Carriers sometimes split it into a separate, smaller number, and we keep it in the fire claim where it belongs.
Our contractor offered to handle the insurance claim. Is that normal?
It is common, and the roles matter: in all three states we practice, negotiating a claim for someone else takes a public adjuster license. That is no knock on your builder. We handle the carrier, your builder handles the build, and we work well beside good contractors.
Prefer a quieter first step? Ask us anything, free: a real answer from a licensed adjuster, no strings.
Friedman & Associates are licensed public adjusters in Georgia, Tennessee, and South Carolina, not attorneys. Our work is the licensed practice of public adjusting under O.C.G.A. § 33-23-43, Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0780-01-91, and S.C. Code ch. 38-92: reading the policy, documenting and valuing the loss, negotiating with the carrier, and preparing appraisal. Nothing on this page is legal advice, and litigation, including bad-faith suits, is referred to independent policyholder counsel.
Don't rebuild on the carrier's first number. A free, confidential review of your fire claim by licensed public adjusters. If we take the case, the fee comes from the recovery, never from you.
See if my case qualifies 877-650-3515