Crossroads

Like many independent adjusters reaching a certain stage in life, Dennis Bymak is at a crossroads: to carry on adjusting or to retire.

While we seemingly spend our entire careers talking about the freedom of retirement, when push comes to shove, walking away from an industry you have been a part of your entire life, and a career you love, is not an easy task. And this is why Bymak, the principal of All Task Adjusters in Calgary, Alta, is having such a tough time deciding the next step.

Having been in the adjusting world for more than 40 years, Bymak is certainly entrenched in the industry.

Bymak opened All Task Adjusters in 2005, but he is not new to business ownership. He was the principle shareholder of Bymak & Associates, along with two other minor shareholders, in Yorkton, Sask. for 20 years. The company also had a branch office in Dauphin, Man. He sold the company and moved back to Calgary in 1997, at which time he started working for Kernaghan Adjusters. In 2004, the opportunity to do some catastrophe work arose in the Grand Cayman and he jumped at the chance, having benefited from two prior CAT experiences in Kauai, HI and St. Thomas, USVI. Six months later, he returned to Calgary and for the first time in 35 years, he actually took a break from insurance adjusting. For about five months, Bymak could be found doing safety work in the oil patch, until a local insurer pulled him back into the fold. In the spring of 2005, there was a large flood south of Calgary in the High River and Okotoks areas of Alberta, at which time Bymak launched All Task Adjusters. “A local (insurer) had called me and said ‘what are you doing’ and I said I was playing around,” Bymak laughs. “He said you’d better put your adjusting cap on because we are really busy, would you like some work. That’s how All Task started.”

Busier than ever

After the 2005 storm-work influx, All Task continued at a pace that suited Bymak’s semi-retirement perceptions. He was billing 700-800 hours a year, enjoying the continuity of a long-standing career, but also with enough free time to enjoy travelling and his other hobbies. Then, in July 2010, Calgary and parts of southern Alberta were pummeled with golf ball-sized hail, resulting in a record amount of insured damage from hailstorms in Canada. Following the storm, which resulted in nearly $400 million in insured damages, Bymak – and All Task Adjusters – saw the two busiest years of his entire career.

At that time, Bymak considered selling All Task Adjusters, but just as he was inundated with claims, so was every other independent adjusting firm that would be interested in acquiring his business. There are always peaks and valleys in this business, Bymak said, and at that point, no other company had the time to add on the workload of another small business.

Sure enough, the valley came. He has parted ways with one of his main clients, and while he is still in a partnership with another niche client, the availability of claims has diminished.

Choices

So here he – and All Task Adjusters – stands: at a crossroad.

If Bymak decides it’s ultimately not time to retire just yet, then he sees his future unfolding in two ways: either ramping up his domestic work or perhaps heading back into catastrophe work again.

As a member of the Canadian Independent Adjusters’ Association (CIAA), he has expressed interest in signing up for the association’s Catastrophe Response Resource (CRR).

The CRR is a way for members of the CIAA to become a part of an insurer’s strategy for catastrophe preparedness. If an insurer does not have a plan in place – or the existing plan is not meeting the insurer’s needs during a catastrophe – they can count on the CIAA to send a call to its members for catastrophe adjusters. Bymak is confident he has the expertise and knowledge to handle any catastrophe claim situation thrown his way.

If All Task Adjusters decides to take on more domestic files, then it is a matter of going back to marketing the business and taking on new clients. This is a task that shouldn’t prove to be difficult for Bymak, who has a solid reputation in the adjusting field.

He admits, however, that the draw of catastrophe work is stronger right now and his current passion lies with CAT claims. The reason is simply a matter of time. CAT work, which has a potentially shorter time commitment, is more conducive to semi-retirement than servicing domestic claims, which requires a commitment year-round.

Making it work

These are just some of the challenges – but also positives – to being a one-person operation. On a positive note, Bymak has the opportunity to make all of the important decisions on which direction he wants to take All Task Adjusters. But at the same time, it is a challenge to do everything alone. “You are kind of isolated when you are not in an office where there are a dozen claims people talking about new developments in the industry over coffee,” Bymak said. To combat the isolation he is a member of the CIAA, giving some availability to networking with other adjusters at various events, including the CIAA/Canadian Insurance Claims Managers’ Association joint conference.

Taking a vacation can also be tricky, but Bymak has such a credible reputation in the field, that he was able to assure his clients that all open files were in very good condition. While at times he was able to find another independent adjuster in the city to handle new business and work in progress, at other times Bymak would simply have to tell his clients he couldn’t take on any new files while he was out of town. “They were good enough to work with that, so bless their hearts.”

Perhaps it is that All Task Adjusters handles claims in a more personal, service-oriented way. Bymak is always reachable – relying very little on voice mail. This leads clients and insurance claimant’s to feel connected and cared for. Whatever the reasons, it has clearly worked for Bymak, who has been able to run not one, but two successful independent adjusting firms during his accomplished career.

If he decides to continue working in the field of independent adjusting, Bymak and All Task Adjusters will undoubtedly continue providing top-notch, personalized claims handling to its clients.