Roof Insurance Claim HelpBased in Lewisville, TX

The Difference

What to know before you decide.

When there is real hail or wind damage, the claim follows a fairly standard path in Texas. You report it to your carrier, who assigns an adjuster to inspect the roof. The adjuster writes an estimate of what the damage costs to repair or replace. The carrier pays according to your policy, less your deductible. Where the estimate misses damage, such as decking, vents, ridge, gutters or the code items a replacement requires, the roofer documents what was missed and the estimate is revised.

We deal with the insurance company for you on the roofing side: the damage findings, the photos, the measurements and the back and forth over what the storm did. The claim and the decisions stay yours, and you know where it stands throughout.

Two parts of the payment confuse nearly everyone. Many Texas policies pay replacement cost in two checks. The first is the actual cash value, which is the cost of the roof minus depreciation for its age. The second releases the withheld depreciation once the work is finished and the final invoice is sent. Your deductible is subtracted either way, and under Texas law a contractor cannot waive, absorb or rebate it. Anyone offering to cover your deductible is offering to break the law with your claim.

Deductibles on wind and hail are often a percentage of the dwelling coverage on your policy, commonly one or two percent, instead of a flat amount. On a home insured for $400,000 a two percent deductible is $8,000, so it is worth reading that page of your policy before a storm, not after.

Once the claim is approved, the roof is replaced with premium shingles over double bonded synthetic underlayment, with ice and water barriers and vents, and the paperwork the carrier needs to release the rest of the payment follows the finished job.