The short answer: Friedman & Associates represents Augusta and CSRA policyholders in hail, wind, water, fire, and commercial claims, and in our specialty: claims that were denied or underpaid. A substantial share of the firm's caseload sits on this side of the state. Fees are contingency only, capped by Georgia law at 33⅓%. No recovery, no fee. Call 770-230-2616 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.
O.C.G.A. § 33-23-43.3
NOAA ledger
Reg. 120-2-52-.03
Every kind of CSRA loss.
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. A substantial share of the caseload sits in the CSRA, Augusta on the Georgia bank and North Augusta across the river.
Want the fuller picture first? The film, the results register, and the client portal are all at the front door. Meet the firm →
What an Augusta claim looks like
The trees here are tall and the ground is sand. Loblolly pines that snap rather than bend, water oaks with shallow plates, and a wind event that takes one of them down usually takes the roof system with it. Most of the Richmond record reads exactly that way.
Then there is Summerville and the Hill, where the houses are old enough to be expensive to put back. Heart-pine framing, plaster, true divided-light sash, slate and standing-seam metal are not drop-downs in estimating software, and a template prices them as something cheaper every time.
High-value claims get private-client handling: strict confidentiality, your file held at the partner level, and the expert bench a complex home deserves. Private client services →
Not every claim qualifies. Three taps to find out if yours does.
The law and the clock
Georgia puts real deadlines on your carrier: acknowledge within 15 days, affirm or deny within 15 days of your completed proof of loss, and pay undisputed amounts within 10 days of confirming coverage (Reg. 120-2-52-.03). A denial must cite the specific policy provision it relies on. When coverage is admitted and only the number is wrong, the appraisal clause forces a binding valuation (McGowan v. Progressive, 2006).
One clock outranks everything: your policy's own "Suit Against Us" clause. Many Georgia policies allow as little as one year, and courts enforce it (White v. State Farm, 2012). Read yours the day a claim goes sideways — negotiation does not pause it.
The Richmond County record
A claim is not proved by memory. It is proved by dates. 52 logged events in the county since 2020, with hail on the record to 2". The 2026 season is already on the record: 7 reports so far, with hail to 1" near Hephzibah. The biggest hail on the record near here in the last twelve months is 1", at 2 W Hephzibah, about 15 miles from Augusta, on June 29, 2026. Tying your damage to a dated event on this record is how a wear-and-tear opinion gets rebutted.
Inside the one-year window: 7 logged events in this county in the last twelve months, the most recent on Jul 10, 2026, including 1 hail report. Many Georgia policies allow as little as one year from the date of loss to file suit, so those are the dates still working for you.
| Date | Event | Size or speed | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 10, 2026 † | Damaging wind | damage reported | Augusta |
| Jul 10, 2026 † | Damaging wind | damage reported | Augusta Daniel Fi |
| Jun 29, 2026 † | Hail | 1" | Hephzibah |
| Jun 18, 2026 † | Damaging wind | 59 mph | Augusta Bush Field |
| Jun 7, 2025 | Damaging wind | 60 mph | Augusta |
| May 6, 2024 | Hail | 0.88" | Ft Gordon |
| Jan 9, 2024 | Damaging wind | 69 mph | Augusta Daniel Arpt |
| May 6, 2022 | Hail | 2" | National Hills |
† preliminary NWS Local Storm Report; NOAA finalization pending. More of the record lives at Richmond County: damage figures and per-row federal links, refreshed weekly (last: 2026-08-10). Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, cross-read against NWS Local Storm Reports. Storm reports are point observations from spotters, stations, and survey teams — a sample of what happened, never an inventory. The absence of an entry for a date or place is not evidence that no damage occurred there.
The most severe on the county record
Carriers audit storm claims against this same federal record. By its own measurements, the worst of it looked like this:
| Date | Event | Where | Measured |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 6, 2022 | Hail | National Hills | 2" hail |
| May 6, 2022 | Hail | Ft Gordon | 1.25" hail |
| Mar 16, 2022 | Hail | National Hills | 1.25" hail |
Ratings, hail sizes and wind speeds as recorded by the National Weather Service. NOAA also logs a rough dollar figure for some events; those are whole-event estimates entered by the local office, frequently blank and often far below real losses, so we do not publish them as if they meant anything about your claim.
Questions from around Augusta
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.
How much does a public adjuster cost in Augusta?
You pay nothing up front. Georgia caps public adjuster fees at 33⅓% of the settlement (O.C.G.A. § 33-23-43.3), and we work on contingency within that cap. No recovery, no fee, and the case review is free.
Do you actually work the CSRA, or just metro Atlanta?
The CSRA is a real part of the practice, on both sides of the river. Wind and hail is the dominant peril there as it is everywhere in this state, and inspections happen in person, on the roof and in the attic.
My house is in Summerville. Why is the estimate so low?
Because it was priced by software with modern defaults. Heart-pine framing, plaster, true divided-light sash, slate and standing-seam metal are not defaults, and putting them back to like kind and quality costs what it costs. That has to be scoped and priced before the carrier prices it for you.
The tree was on my neighbour’s property. Whose claim is it?
Yours, in almost every case. Your policy responds to damage to your property regardless of where the tree grew, and arguing about the neighbour usually just burns the clock. File on your own policy first and let the carriers sort out any recovery between them.
The check will not rebuild the roof. What is the lever?
Your policy carries one. When the carrier admits coverage but the number is wrong, the appraisal clause forces a binding valuation by independent appraisers, and Georgia courts treat the amount of loss as squarely appraisable (McGowan v. Progressive, 2006).
How long do I have to act after an Augusta storm loss?
Two clocks matter. Your insurer owes you an acknowledgment within 15 days under Georgia regulation, so report promptly and in writing. The dangerous clock is your policy’s "Suit Against Us" clause: many Georgia policies allow as little as one year from the date of loss, and courts enforce it (White v. State Farm, 2012).
Can my roofer handle the insurance claim for me?
No, and Georgia drew that line to protect you. Adjusting or negotiating someone else’s claim takes a public adjuster license (O.C.G.A. § 33-23-43), and the law specifically bars roofing contractors from doing it (§ 10-1-393.12). That is no knock on your roofer. We handle the carrier, your roofer handles the roof, 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 Georgia public adjusters, not attorneys. Our work is the licensed practice of public adjusting under O.C.G.A. § 33-23-43: 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 take the carrier's first number. A free, confidential review by licensed Georgia public adjusters who work the CSRA. If we take the case, the fee comes from the recovery, never from you.
See if my case qualifies 770-230-2616