Your Storm Plan Should Be Finished by June 1. Here Is What It Needs to Contain.

The firms that dominate the months after a hurricane didn’t work harder that week. They finished planning in the spring. By the time the emergency declaration is signed, their staffing is contracted, their offices are mapped, their campaigns are approved, and their partners are on standby. Everyone else is improvising.

Here is what a complete storm plan contains, organized by when it happens.

Before the season: the checklist

Staffing. Surge agreements signed with intake, documentation, and scheduling staff who can start within 48 hours. Roles defined. Training completed in May, not August. Licensed professionals identified for overflow with any licensing or supervision requirements confirmed.

Offices. Satellite and pop-up locations identified in the counties most likely to be affected. Leases or agreements in place. Generators, connectivity, and furniture sourced.

Equipment. Drones, moisture meters, thermal cameras, ladders, tarps, and safety gear inventoried, charged, and staged. Vehicles serviced. Fuel plan set.

Partners. Capacity commitments from mitigation, restoration, engineering, roofing, and estimating partners. Contact trees confirmed. Data handling and documentation standards agreed.

Campaigns. Marketing assets written, designed, and compliance-reviewed in advance for each likely loss type, with the required disclaimers and with the emergency-period restrictions built into the launch plan.

Continuity. Backups tested. Remote work verified. Phone rerouting tested. Staff emergency contacts and personal preparedness confirmed; your team can’t work if their own homes are underwater.

Existing clients. Communication templates ready for clients in the impact zone, including what to document and what not to sign.

At declaration: what activates

Emergency rules change the moment a state of emergency is declared. For public adjusters, solicitation blackouts and fee caps typically shift; for attorneys, advertising rules stay in force but scrutiny increases. The intake and contract systems should switch modes automatically, so nobody has to remember.

Surge intake goes live. Approved campaigns launch on the compliant schedule. Partner activation notices go out. Satellite offices open. Existing-client communications send.

During the response

Daily reporting on intake volume, signed engagements, inspection backlog, and partner capacity. Dispatch through a single system so nobody is scheduling by text message. Documentation standards enforced on every inspection, because the photo taken before mitigation is the one that wins the claim. Escalation paths defined for when volume exceeds capacity, including which claims get referred out.

After: the review nobody does

Within thirty days of the response winding down, sit down and answer four questions. What broke? What worked? What did we lack? What do we change for next year? Update the plan. Most firms skip this step and repeat the same failures every season.

The June 1 test

Read your plan. If any section above is a blank page or a good intention, it isn’t finished. The season won’t wait.

Give it to Qore and get back to the claim. Qore runs the business side of claims law firms and public adjusting firms under one agreement, from intake and marketing to case operations, people and strategy. Apply to join.