Report: Property Claims Face Delays, Are Growing More Complex

Despite the promise of artificial intelligence and other technology to improve and speed the insurance process, property claims face delays and growing complexity, a new report shows.

Several factors are putting pressure on property claim timelines, including labor shortages, equipment delays and increasingly complex losses, according to Sedgwick’s annual Loss Adjusting Insights report. The report examines eight trends and emerging risks shaping commercial and residential property claims in 2026.

The construction industry is expected to need 349,000 additional workers this year, while the report shows lead times for some specialized equipment have more than doubled in five years.

Deploying catastrophe-response teams has also become more expensive, according to Andrew McCallum, vice president of specialty operations at Sedgwick.

“The cost of deploying has gone up exponentially, you’re talking about fuel costs, hotels,” McCallum said.

Labor in the claims industry is having an impact in another way as a “silver tsunami” of older claims professionals leaves the industry, taking experience and knowledge with them and potentially slowing claims, according to McCallum.

The Sedgwick report also addressed a growing talent shortage, with a quarter of claim adjusters expected to retire by the end of 2027.

The report cited a survey by The Institutes on talent transformation that sought input from the industry about what people think will be the greatest impact of the retirement wave on the insurance industry, and 73% answered “Loss of industry knowledge,” followed by 53% who answered, “Recruiting a new generation of talent.” Upskilling junior workers and loss of company leadership were other top concerns.

“It’s just what we call the silver tsunami and that’s really just kind of a moment, where we’re getting a little bit of a brain drain and claims are becoming more and more complex, just because of the intricacies of the policies the way they’re underwritten,” McCallum said.

A new report from Verisk on claims volumes shows that U.S. claim assignment volume fell to 1.24 million in the second quarter of 2026, down 12.2% year-over-year, sitting 13.1% below the five-year average. The figures reflect assignments recorded through Verisk’s XactAnalysis network.

Catastrophe claims accounted for 43% of second-quarter assignments, up from 34% five years ago. The higher catastrophe share reflects a sharper decline in non-catastrophe assignments, the Verisk report shows.

Brant Wilson, CEO of ATI Restoration, said the large national company has felt the impact of some of the trends.

Higher deductibles are leading some homeowners to handle smaller losses themselves, and some commercial property owners have turned to performing repairs in-house, which has led to restoration providers competing for fewer jobs, with general contractors also entering the market, he said.

“Jobs are either leaving the industry or they’re being done in-house,” Wilson said.

Managing larger losses has grown in complexity as more parties become involved in reviewing work and approving decisions, he added.

Those claims can involve multiple insurers, adjusters, brokers, environmental specialists and consultants, Wilson said. Getting information to the right decision-maker and waiting for approvals can slow projects, while identifying decision-makers and coordinating their involvement early can help keep work moving, he added.

“We’re waiting for feedback or we’re trying to provide intelligence, getting it to the right person, to the right decision maker,” Wilson said.

Wilson said new materials are also creating restoration challenges. Batteries, electric vehicles and solar panels add environmental considerations to fire cleanup and mitigation, so restoration providers must prepare for the materials and hazards they may encounter, according to Wilson.

“There’s more battery involvement. There’s more EV. There’s more solar panels,” Wilson said.

Are AI and technology impacting claims processes?

“Everybody is looking at it from a ‘There’s all these great digital tools out there,’ and I think we’re still in the expansion phase where people are trying to understand which ones are good which ones have utility which ones are what I call in the sandbox mode, where we’re able to just look at the ones that are really allowing us to move the needle forward,” McCallum said.

Companies are also evaluating how tools such as mapping systems, AI assistance and dashboards can work together, he said.

ATI uses AI to check estimates and organize project communications, and is developing an invoicing tool to identify when completed work may be ready for billing, Wilson said. Employees retain responsibility for decisions.

“AI isn’t always just about cost. It’s about time, but time is cost,” Wilson said.