Field adjusters capturing large losses should take a regimented approach to how they document a loss with Adjusto.
The following guidelines help ensure that the full loss is captured efficiently and effectively.
If you’ve worked a large loss claim, you know it takes a regimented approach to do it right.
The same goes for our video flow, so please, read the guide.
1. Be Prepared Before You Arrive
You’ll be recording a lot of video potentially, so you need to have your phone ready.
- Make sure your phone is fully charged
- For large losses, bring a battery pack you can plug in while using your phone
- Make sure you have space on your phone, videos can take up a lot of storage space
- Bring a bright flashlight or headlamp if it’s going to be dark inside
- Remember you’re going to be holding a phone too, so a headlamp may be the best option
You don’t want to be stuck with a dead battery or waiting to charge your phone in your car.
2. Start by Scoping the House
Before anyone pulls out a phone, take a few minutes to walk the property.
- Get a sense of what’s damaged and what isn’t
- Decide which rooms you’re actually going to document
- If there are multiple people on-site, make sure everyone’s aligned as to who is doing what.
The goal here is to avoid overlap and missed areas.
3. Agree on Room Names (Seriously, Do This First)
Room names are important, especially if you’re working with a team.
- Decide what each room is going to be called
- Use simple, obvious names like “Guest Bedroom”, “Hall Closet”, “Garage”
- Make sure everyone is using the same names
Add all the room names into the app before you start recording. Once that’s done, split up who’s covering what.
4. Use Your Phone’s Normal Camera
In the field:
- Use your phone’s normal Camera app
- Check your recording settings. You don’t need to film 4K at 60 frames per second. HD or 1080p at 30 frames per second is good enough.
- You’ll save on storage and the time to upload if you adjust your settings accordingly.
iPhone Video Settings
Videos can take up a lot of storage space on your phone, especially when you record lots of them.
Changing your recording settings can help save space.
We recommend filming in HD (1080p) resolution at a rate of 30 frames per second.
You can configure this in the Camera app or in Settings → Camera → Record Video → 1080p HD at 30 fps.
5. Give Yourself a Photo Library Marker
You want to keep your phone’s Photo library organized so you can find the videos later.
- Take a photo or screenshot of the room name so it shows up in your Photos library
- Do this before you start filming in a new room so that you know that the videos after it are for that Room
- If you have to go back to a document a Room again, add an additional marker before you do
It’s also helpful to make an Album in your Photos library for a claim. Add all your marker screenshots and videos to it to keep your claim files organized before uploading them to Adjusto.
6. How to Record a Room
Think in sections, not whole rooms.
Most adjusters naturally document top-down or bottom-up. That works — we just recommend thinking in elevations or sections (one wall, one cabinet run, one shelving area at a time).
A few rules of thumb:
- Keep videos under 3 minutes
- You can upload as many videos as you want, so you can record super short videos if that’s easiest for you.
- Don’t record the same thing in multiple videos. This causes duplicate item entries.
- Make sure the video is actually recording before you move on
Each video should capture an item (or group of items) start to finish. The system does not stitch videos together, so keep everything about an item in the same clip.
7. Recording Items the Right Way
Rule of thumb
Record videos as if you’re going to show it to another person.
Spend enough time so someone could tell what each item is. That doesn’t have to be super long, but enough to be clear.
When you’re recording:
- Make sure there’s decent light
- Spend a little time focused on items you want to log
Talk while you record. Say out loud:
- What the item is
- Material (if relevant)
- Quantity*
- Brand*
- Approximate cost, if you know it
The app can figure out quantity (e.g. three blue cups next to each other will be logged as Blue Cups x3). It helps to say the quantity out loud though.
Adjusto can pick up text like brands and model names/numbers listed on items. You can pickup and flip items over while recording.
If you do not talk then the AI will try to pick up every item in view because it doesn’t know where you’re directing its attention. If you do talk it will focus on logging just those items.
8. Groups, Boxes, and Messy Areas
Some things don’t document clearly — that’s fine.
Grouped items (plates, mugs, towels etc.)
- Record them together
- Cleary state what they are and how many there are
Boxes of stuff (like cables or toys)
- Open the box if you can
- Show what’s inside
- Describe the type of items and rough quantity
Under sinks or cluttered spaces
- If everything is clearly visible in the video, the AI should be able to log each item just fine, even if it’s crowded
- If it’s a mess with items hidden behind other items, you’ll need to pull things out so the camera can actually see them.
Remember: if you can’t make out what’s in the video then the AI is going to struggle to as well.
9. Using Photos
We strongly advise using videos instead of photos.
Photos work best when things are simple and clearly separated.
A couple things to watch out for:
- If the same items show up in multiple photos, then they will be duplicated in the loss sheet
- Try to keep photos focused on individual items or clean sections.
- The AI tries to pick out every item in photos
10. Before You Leave
Quick mental check:
- Did you record every room and area you wanted to record?
- Have you clearly indicated which rooms are which while recording?
- Have you put all the videos and room name indicator screenshots into an Album in your Photos library? It’ll help you stay organized.
11. Uploading Videos & Photos
You may have a lot of files to upload. That’s okay, Adjusto has no limit to the number of files or file sizes you can upload.
Tips for Uploading
- Upload when you’re on WiFi, it’s usually faster
- Upload in batches (e.g. all the files for a single room) if you have lots of videos
- If a video says “Failed” in the app, upload it again
Important Note for iPhone Users
You must upload videos in their current format, which is not the default setting.
This setting can be changed during photo selection:
- In Adjusto, hit the
+button to select videos to upload.
- Hit the
...more options button in the bottom left corner of your screen - Older versions of iOS have the button in the bottom right corner
- Select
Options
- Change the Format to
Current
❌ If you do not update this setting, your phone will take a longtime to process these videos before letting you upload them. Or it will just get stuck, and hitting the blue checkmark will do nothing.
✅ If you do update this setting, the videos should show up as Ready to Upload on our webapp very quickly.
I’m curious, why do I have to do this?
iPhones record videos in a “High Efficiency” HEVC format, which saves on file space. This is enabled by default in Settings → Camera → Formats.
Adjusto is able to process these videos just fine, however Apple’s photo selector does not know that (and we have no way to tell it from app, trust me, we tried).
So when your upload setting is set to Automatic or Most Compatible, your phone will transcode the videos into H.264, which is a more common format. This takes time, and will often get stuck when you try to select multiple videos.
And that’s why you should upload the Current format.
Why not update your Settings → Camera → Formats to “Most Compatible” before recording? While it will work, your files will be ~2x in file size, and take twice as long to upload. So we don’t recommend doing that.