How much time do adjusters spend reviewing outsourced estimates, and how should automation ROI be measured?

This research did not find a reliable cross-carrier average for review time on comparable outsourced property estimates. Measure your own active handling time and build the business case from changes in that workload, not from a generic productivity percentage.

For each sampled file, record minutes spent on:

• Opening and navigating the package.
• Reconciling the estimate to photographs and measurements.
• Checking carrier rules and exceptions.
• Making required edits.
• Requesting and checking revisions.
• Re-entering data or repairing a failed system hand-off.

Distinguish active handling time from elapsed queue time. Report the median, upper-tail experience and total hours, segmented by complexity and inspection source.

FM’s April 2026 claims podcast describes experimenting with AI-generated summaries and file narratives followed by human checking. It is useful evidence of an actual carrier use case, but it does not establish a transferable review-time saving or residential-file ROI. (fm.com)

For a buyer business case, use:

Net cash benefit = avoidable spending removed − new recurring spending − transition spending for the evaluation period.

Report released capacity separately: hours, the roles released and the intended redeployment. If cash benefits are not yet identifiable, call the proposal a capacity and service case, not a proven cost-saving case.