That’s possible due to the skilled hands of HG’s craftspeople. And the very way they’re updated on the latest best practices.
For many local contractors, insurance jobs used to be a headache. Complex processes, unclear expectations, and a constant risk of losing money due to unexpected delays. HG has changed that.
There is a right way to work insurance cases.
It requires a certain level of service. HG has agreements with all the major Norwegian insurance companies regulating how to work insurance cases as craftspeople. The short answer is: they have to be solved the exact same way. Nationwide. Even though each home affected by fire or damage is different.
Then one day, one of the insurance companies says:
– Can you use less plastic?
When one change affects an entire industry
A question like that, means the right way to do things just changed.
Now, hundreds of craftspeople must implement a new routine. This is the nut HG has managed to crack. How to make insurance cases profitable for local businesses while ensuring that every craftsperson knows exactly what to do.
The key isn’t just defining new rules—it’s making them work in practice.
Every time an insurer introduces a change, there’s a balancing act between compliance and crafts. Those negotiating the agreements must understand what’s realistic on-site, while those doing the work must quickly adapt without losing efficiency.
This is where HG’s way of working truly shines:
Clear responsibilities at every level mean that contractors can focus on their craft, while updates are seamlessly integrated into their workflow. Insurance demands don’t just trickle down—they are refined, tested, and adjusted in dialogue with those who know what works. That’s how new routines are implemented smoothly, making sure every professional in the field can do what they do best: deliver high-quality work while ensuring homeowners get back to normal as quickly as possible.
So what actually happens when one insurer wants to use less plastic?
– To solve it, we suggested documenting exactly how we cover and protect each site, says Pål Hagelund from HG.
– Because sometimes, proper coverage is essential to protect a room from paint splatter. That’s something our craftspeople know from experience, but the damage control companies handling the cleanup after a damage case might not. So that became our new routine – taking a photo every time. This ensures transparency and proves to the insurance companies that we’re using only as much plastic as necessary, Pål continues, before adding:
– It also reinforces that we meet quality standards consistently. Every time. No matter where in Norway the insurance case is.
This is just one example of how HG ensures that a single change — big or small — gets implemented smoothly nationwide. With clear communication and structured routines, a new standard can be adopted in weeks instead of months.
It’s a hectic life for contractors working with insurance cases. Roughly every six minutes, a new insurance case arrives at HG, from somewhere in Norway, and it must be handled immediately. More importantly, it must be handled locally.
Because behind every insurance case is someone waiting to return home.
Quick take: HG’s model explained
- A single point of contact for customers
- Skilled craftspeople locally
- A systematic approach to sharing best practices, system knowledge and requirements
How HG ensures every contractor follows the same playbook
– Most of the changes we implement are small, explains Magnus Mostad Nilsen, project manager at Norén Maler og Byggtapetserforretning in Fredrikstad. – But there can be a lot of them.
At Norén, which employs 50 people, 12 to 13 of them work exclusively on insurance cases. Magnus, who has been with the company for 17 years, spends his days ensuring updates from HG’s national agreements reach those doing the job.
– Clear routines are absolutely necessary to make sure my painters perform at their best, says Magnus. – Here we handle between 600 and 1,000 insurance cases a year.
HG has cracked the code for scaling insurance work efficiently. The secret? A system where national coordination meets local execution.
Here’s how it happens:
- HG’s service office negotiates changes with insurers and ensures they’re ready for implementation.
- Five regional managers for insurance relay the updates to local project managers.
- Local project managers train craftspeople and ensure everyone is aligned with the new requirements.
- Random quality checks are conducted on 10% of cases to ensure compliance and identify areas for improvement.
All in combination with clear communication that ensures alignment across regions, maintaining a consistent standard on-site presents its own unique challenges.
Sharing best practices: How one good idea spreads nationwide
Every home deserves respect, but none of them are exactly the same.
– Understanding what insurance work entails requires experience, says Magnus Mostad Nilsen. – You need to understand the standard of the property you’re working in and deliver to that level – nothing more, nothing less. Of course, as craftspeople we want to do more and make everything perfect. But we’re contracted to restore the property to its pre-damage state – not to change it.
This balance lies at the core of HG’s operations.
To make it work, every action is tracked in real time. Contractors document every detail, from start dates to how much plastic and paper is used to protect interiors. Apps and digital tools keep everyone connected, ensuring that work is traceable and aligned with HG’s standards.
Also training is central to HG’s success.
– For the past two years, we've been travelling around with the HG Academy to those who work with insurance cases in Norway, says Pål Hagelund. – Over the course of 2023-2024, we've trained 300 craftspeople. It's mostly about how we behave when we're with our customers and that we respect their homes.
In the follow-up inspections, HG has seen that the quality of the work increased for all the craftspeople who participated in the training. – It's also about passing on good ideas and best practice to others in HG, says Pål. – If we discover one craftsperson who has documented a piece of work really well, or perhaps taken a video of a staircase, for example, that would have been difficult to photograph, we take it with us and use it as best practice.
