Quick Start: Insured Appraiser

Quick start

Insured appraiser, your first week

Insured-side flow is different from carrier-side. You often receive paperwork instead of originating it. These steps set you up for both.

1Set default representing party to Insured in Account → Profile.
2Create a Business Profile in Settings → Business Profiles.
3Connect email and connect SignWell (you will need it for awards you originate).
4Create a pre-appraisal file as soon as you take a call, before invocation paperwork is signed.
5When a DOA arrives from the opposing appraiser, upload it to the file and follow the countersign workaround below.

Insured-side flow is asymmetric

AwardLettr was built first for carrier appraisers, who tend to originate documents. As an insured appraiser you frequently sit on the receiving end of a DOA or panel declaration that the carrier appraiser created. Several flows assume you are the originator. We have an in-app countersign feature in progress. Until it ships, the workaround in this article handles received documents.

Step 1: Set representing party to Insured

This is the single most important setup step on the insured side. Representing party drives auto-fill on every appraisal. If you leave it on Carrier or Always Ask and miss the prompt, your name lands in the carrier appraiser slot. Every document, email, and signature request from that file is wrong.

Open Account → Profile

From the sidebar or the avatar dropdown.

Set Default Representing Party to Insured

Save.

Spot check on next new appraisal

When you create a file, confirm your name appears in the "Insured Appraiser" fields, not the carrier ones.

Step 2: Set up Business Profile and email

Same as carrier-side. Settings → Business Profiles for your firm details and rate sheet. Account → Integrations → Email Connection so messages go out under your address. See the carrier quick start for details, the steps are identical.

Step 3: Connect SignWell

When you do originate an award letter or panel declaration, AwardLettr routes signing through SignWell. Connect your SignWell account under Account → Integrations → SignWell. Even if most of what you sign comes from the other side, you will eventually originate too.

SignWell, not SignNow

These are two different products with similar names. AwardLettr integrates with SignWell. Signing up for SignNow by mistake is a common stumble.

Step 4: Create files early, even before invocation

Insured-side cases often start with a phone call before any paperwork is signed. Create the appraisal in AwardLettr as soon as you have a name, address, and rough claim number. You can mark it On Hold and fill in details as they arrive. This way the file is ready when invocation paperwork lands.

Step 5: Handling a DOA you received

When the opposing appraiser sends you a Declaration of Appraisers (DOA) to countersign, here is the current path:

Save the email attachment

Download the DOA PDF from the email the opposing appraiser sent.

Upload to the appraisal

Open the appraisal → Documents tab → Upload. The DOA lives alongside any documents you generate.

Countersign through your SignWell account

Today this is a workaround. Open SignWell directly, upload the same PDF, add yourself as signer, sign, then upload the signed copy back to AwardLettr.

Send the signed copy back to the opposing appraiser

From the Documents tab → select the signed file → Send via Email.

Roadmap

In-app countersign for externally-originated PDFs is on the near-term roadmap. Once it ships, steps 3 and 4 above collapse to a single "Countersign" button.