Roof insurance claims, step by step

A roof claim done in the right order is mostly paperwork. Done in the wrong order — contractor first, insurer last, signatures at the door — it is where homeowners get hurt twice: once by the storm and once by the process. The order below is the protective one.

1. Document before anything is touched

Photograph everything, from the ground and inside the attic: missing or creased shingles, dented vents and gutters, granules in the downspouts, water staining on decking or ceilings. Date-stamped phone photos are fine. If water is actively coming in, deal with that first — the emergency guide covers the first hour — but photograph the damage before and after any tarping, and keep the receipts. Reasonable emergency mitigation is typically reimbursable; undocumented work is typically not.

2. Read your policy before you call

Three things decide most roof claims, and they’re all in the declarations pages: your deductible (many policies now carry a separate, larger wind-and-hail deductible), whether the roof is covered at replacement cost or actual cash value (ACV pays the depreciated value — on an old roof, that can be a fraction of replacement), and any exclusions for roofs over a certain age. Knowing these before you file tells you whether a claim is even worth making: a claim that comes in under the deductible still sits on your claims history.

3. Call your insurer — before signing with any contractor

File promptly and describe what happened factually, with the date of the storm. The insurer sends an adjuster to assess the damage. You are allowed to have a contractor of your choosing present at the adjuster’s inspection, and a good local roofer will often attend — that’s normal and useful, because they can point at damage an adjuster on a schedule might miss. What you should not do is hand the claim itself to a contractor, and any paper that does so — an assignment of benefits, a “we deal with your insurance so you don’t have to” agreement — deserves the treatment described in the storm-chaser guide.

4. The adjuster’s estimate is an opening position, not a verdict

If the adjuster’s scope misses damage or underprices the work, your contractor can submit a supplement with photos and measurements — this is routine, and insurers expect it. If the disagreement is fundamental, you can request a re-inspection, invoke the appraisal clause most policies contain, or engage a licensed public adjuster (who works for you, for a percentage). Escalate in that order; most gaps close at the supplement stage.

5. Choose the contractor the way you would without a claim

The insurance cheque doesn’t change what a good roofer looks like: licensed in your state, insured with certificates you’ve verified, local, with a review record you’ve actually read — the vetting checklist applies unchanged, and the directory shows you any roofer’s full rating breakdown before they’re standing in your kitchen.

The deductible rule, plainly

You pay your deductible. A contractor who offers to waive it, absorb it, rebate it through a “discount,” or invoice the insurer high to cover it is committing insurance fraud and making you a party to it — several states have made the offer itself illegal. It is also the single most reliable tell that everything else they’ve told you deserves a second look.

What a clean claim looks like, start to finish

• Photos and mitigation receipts from day one
• Policy read; deductible and valuation basis understood
• Claim filed with your insurer, by you
• Your chosen contractor present at the adjuster inspection
• Scope agreed, supplements handled in writing
• Contract signed for the agreed scope — after the claim is approved, not before
• Deductible paid by you, balance per the payment schedule, final payment after walkthrough

Slow is smooth here. The storm already happened; the only thing rushing changes is who ends up holding the mistakes.