While you wait for CAT work, focus on jobs that provide income while keeping you flexible for deployment.
In this article, we’ll break job recommendations, including where to start, into 3 categories:
- Adjuster-specific work, such as daily claims, desk assignments, estimate review, or supplements.
- Adjuster-adjacent work, like property inspections, construction or restoration work, photography, or documentation.
- Flexible outside work, such as temp assignments, catering, delivery apps, rideshare driving, cleaning, or warehouse shifts.
Why You Need an Income Plan Between CAT Deployments
You got licensed because you want to work claims, not spend weeks checking your phone and wondering when the next deployment will come. But CAT work is unpredictable. A major storm can create a surge of assignments almost overnight, followed by a much quieter stretch.
That volatility is real. In the fourth quarter of 2024, Verisk reported that catastrophe claim volume jumped “113% year over year, while total claim volume increased 36%.”
According to the Insurance Information Institute, severe convective storms also produced $51 billion in U.S. insured losses in 2025, the third consecutive year above $50 billion.
The takeaway: CAT work can be lucrative, but you cannot build your monthly budget around the weather.
At AdjusterPro, we have helped more than 100,000 people get licensed and prepare for careers in insurance adjusting. We know that getting licensed is only part of the journey, and claims work does not always start right away. That is why it helps to have a plan for earning income and building experience while you wait for the next opportunity.
Table of Contents
- Make Money With Adjuster-Specific Work
- Build Experience With Adjuster Adjacent Jobs
- Earn Income While Staying Flexible for Claims Work
- Next Steps: Earn, Build Skills, and Stay Ready
Make Money With Adjuster-Specific Work
If you already have claims experience, look inside the industry first. Daily claims, desk assignments, estimate review, and other claim types can generate income while keeping your claims skills active.
Handle Daily Property Claims
Daily claims come from everyday losses rather than a major catastrophe, and they can provide work throughout the year. Availability still depends on location, carrier needs, firm relationships, and claim volume.
To find daily claims, start with the IA firms already on your roster. Update your availability and ask specifically whether they assign daily property claims in your territory. If you need more firms to contact, use AdjusterPro’s Independent Adjusting Firm Directory. The directory lists firms that hire independent adjusters to handle carrier claims.
Also put yourself on the National Adjuster Roster on CatAdjuster.org and clearly state the counties/cities/radius where you’ll accept daily claims (and deployments).
New adjusters should expect more competition for this work. When there is no major catastrophe forcing firms to add adjusters quickly, firms can be more selective about whom they assign files to.
Take Desk or Remote Claims Assignments
Desk adjusters handle claims from an office or remote setting rather than traveling to every loss location. The work can include reviewing field information, estimates, documentation, and other parts of the claim file.
Start with IA firm career pages and the rosters you are already on. Look for terms such as “desk adjuster,” “inside adjuster,” “remote claims adjuster,” and “claims examiner.”
Before accepting an assignment, ask how long the commitment lasts. A short remote assignment may fit neatly between deployments. A position that requires several months of availability is a different decision.
Review Estimates or Supplements
If you already have strong estimating experience, look for work reviewing scopes, estimates, supplements, or claim documentation.
Start with adjusting firms and claims organizations that already know your work. When searching job boards or company career pages, try terms such as “estimate reviewer,” “supplement reviewer,” “property claims reviewer,” and “estimate quality control.”
Note that rules vary by state, so check the applicable state insurance department before taking work that could cross from estimating into regulated adjusting activity.
Expand Into Other Types of Claims
Property CAT work is not the only place to use an adjuster license and claims experience. Auto, daily claims, desk work, staff roles, and other claim areas can provide additional sources of income when catastrophe activity slows.
Start with the claim types closest to skills you already have. For example, an experienced property adjuster who is comfortable with inspections, documentation, estimating, and customer communication may have an easier transition into related field or desk work than into a specialty that requires an entirely new skill set.
Before purchasing a license, certification, or course, check what the jobs you actually want require. Licensing requirements vary by state and claim type.
Want a deeper look at how claims work changes throughout the year? Read:
Why Adjuster Demand Ebbs and Flows, and How to Find Work Year-Round.
Build Experience With Adjuster Adjacent Jobs
If claim assignments aren’t opening yet, look for work that pays while building skills you can use later in adjusting.
Property inspections, construction, restoration, and documentation work are not the same as handling insurance claims, but they can give you useful experience with buildings, measurements, field documentation, and deadlines.
Start with job sites like Indeed and LinkedIn. Then check company career pages and search locally for property inspection companies, field service companies, restoration contractors, roofing companies, property managers, and construction businesses.
Try searching for terms like “property field inspector,” “field service inspector,” “property inspection contractor,” “restoration technician,” “construction documentation,” and “property photographer.”
Make Money Doing Property Inspections
Property inspection assignments can involve checking property condition or occupancy, documenting exterior or roof conditions, taking photographs and measurements, and completing reports.
That work can help you practice skills used in field adjusting, including taking useful photographs, measuring structures, documenting conditions, communicating with property owners, and completing reports.
But do not judge an inspection assignment by the advertised fee alone. Calculate the whole job.
Say an inspection pays $75 and requires 36 miles of driving round trip. As of July 1, 2026, the IRS optional standard mileage rate for business driving is 76 cents per mile.
Using that rate only as a rough vehicle cost benchmark, 36 miles represents $27.36. If driving, inspecting, uploading photographs, and completing the report takes two hours, the assignment works out to about $23.82 per hour after that mileage benchmark and before taxes or other expenses.
Look at the fee, mileage, total time, and expenses before you accept an assignment.
Build Property Knowledge With Construction or Restoration Work
Construction and restoration work can be especially useful if you want to handle property claims. Property claims professionals need an understanding of buildings and construction costs when evaluating property damage.
Work for a contractor, roofer, remodeling company, mitigation company, or restoration contractor can offer experience with building materials, measurements, repair methods, demolition, cleanup, job documentation, and the order in which repairs happen.
The job does not become claims experience just because insurance is involved. If you work for a contractor, keep that role separate from representing a policyholder or negotiating an insurance claim.
For example, the Texas Department of Insurance states that a roofer or contractor cannot act as a public insurance adjuster on a claim while also performing the repair work.
Rules vary by state. Before accepting contractor, restoration, roofing, or other claim-related work, check the licensing and regulatory requirements that apply to the duties you will perform.
Look for Photography and Documentation Work
Look for work built around specific skills rather than full claim handling, such as:
- Property photography
- Construction progress documentation
- File organization
- Report preparation
- Photo labeling
- Property-related documentation
These jobs can help you build strong habits around documentation, organization, and deadlines.
Note: Be precise when describing this work on your résumé. Do not present photography, inspection, construction, restoration, or documentation work as insurance adjusting experience if you were not handling claims.
Earn Income While Staying Flexible for Claims Work
If you need steady cash flow, focus on work you can start quickly and fit around your availability.
The key is to know where to look and how much commitment the job requires.
Find Short-Term Work Through a Temp Agency
Temp agencies can connect you with short-term administrative, customer service, warehouse, hospitality, and similar assignments without requiring you to search for every job on your own.
To start, use the American Staffing Association’s Find a Staffing Agency directory to locate staffing companies in your area. The directory lets job seekers search for staffing agencies, including firms offering temporary positions.
When you contact an agency, tell the recruiter you are specifically looking for short-term or project-based assignments. Ask how long each assignment lasts and what happens if you need to turn down future work.
For adjusters, administrative and customer service assignments have an added benefit: they keep your communication, organization, documentation, and deadline management skills fresh, making the transition into claims handling even smoother.
Pick Up Individual Shifts Through Staffing Platforms
Shift-based staffing platforms are useful when you would rather choose individual workdays than accept a multiweek assignment.
Start with platforms such as Instawork and then search locally for event staffing companies, caterers, hotels, convention centers, and stadium vendors. Instawork allows workers to search available shifts by job type and location.
Useful search terms include “event staff,” “banquet server,” “temporary event work,” “warehouse shift,” and “convention staff.”
This can be a good option when you want to work Tuesday or Friday without automatically committing the rest of the week.
Use Gig Work to Stay Flexible Between Assignments
Gig work can be useful between claims assignments because you can scale it up when work is slow and step away when adjusting opportunities open.
Delivery and rideshare apps such as DoorDash and Uber let you choose when you work. You can also look locally for flexible catering, event, cleaning, property maintenance, or similar project-based work.
Start with the options that fit your schedule and lifestyle. Search terms such as “event staff,” “on call catering,” “vacation rental cleaner,” “property maintenance,” or “event setup” can help you find work that does not require a long-term commitment.
The goal with this kind of work is to earn income without locking yourself into work that makes it harder to accept an adjusting opportunity when one comes.
Look for Seasonal and Short-Term Jobs
Retailers, warehouses, hospitality businesses, event companies, and other employers may add temporary workers during their busiest periods.
Instead of searching only for “part time jobs,” try “seasonal,” “temporary,” “contract,” “on call,” and “short term” alongside the type of work you want.
A defined temporary assignment can be a better fit than an open-ended part-time job because you know when the commitment ends.
Next Steps: Use Slow Periods to Earn, Build Skills, and Stay Ready
The goal during a slow period is not to sit still waiting for the next CAT call. It is to keep money coming in while staying ready for the opportunity you actually want.
For a newly licensed adjuster, that might mean combining property inspections, a short-term staffing assignment, and a few flexible gig shifts during the week.
An experienced adjuster may be able to lean more heavily on daily claims, desk work, estimate review, or supplements.
Either way, keep one foot in the adjusting industry:
Keep your licenses active, your roster profiles current, and your résumé updated. Continue building estimating skills, follow up with firms, and make sure your equipment and documents are ready if a deployment opens.
Get on as many rosters as possible. Being on a roster does not guarantee work, so use slower periods to strengthen the things you can control: your skills, availability, preparedness, and relationships with adjusting firms.
Not sure whether you are truly deployment ready? Use the Adjuster Readiness Scorecard to see what you can strengthen before the next opportunity.
