The roof insurance claim process, step by step

1. Stop the water first

Your policy expects you to prevent further damage. If the roof is open, it gets tarped. Keep the receipt for that, because temporary protection is normally part of the claim. Roof leaks and storm damage are scheduled within 48 hours, and we tell you when the crew is coming.

Do not start the permanent repair before the insurer has seen the damage, or has told you in writing that they do not need to.

2. Document before anything is touched

• Photograph the damage from the ground, the date and time, and anything that fell: limbs, shingles in the yard, hail on the deck.
• Photograph the inside: stains, drips, wet insulation.
• Get the roof photographed from the roof. Hail bruising and lifted shingles do not show from the ground, and that is what the adjuster will be looking at.
• Note the weather. The date of the storm is what ties the damage to one event.

Damage from one storm is a claim. Damage from twenty years of weather is not, and a contractor telling you otherwise is setting you up for a denied claim.

3. Decide whether to file

It depends on the damage against your deductible. If the repair costs less than the deductible, a claim gets you nothing and goes on your record anyway. If a storm took out a whole slope, it is probably worth filing. We document what is there and tell you plainly whether it looks like a claim or a repair you would rather pay for. Read missing shingles after a storm.

4. Call the insurer and meet the adjuster

You file the claim, not the roofer. The insurer assigns an adjuster who inspects the roof and writes their own scope. Have the photographs and the written scope from the roofer ready, so the adjuster is looking at the same details you are: the lifted shingles, the broken seals, the dented vents, the damaged flashing.

The adjuster decides what is storm damage and what is wear. Where their scope and ours differ, the photographs settle it more often than an argument does.

5. Read the settlement before you sign anything

• Replacement cost against actual cash value. Many policies pay a depreciated amount first and release the rest when the work is done. Ask which one you have.
• The deductible comes out of the payment. A contractor offering to "waive" it is asking you to defraud your insurer.
• Assignment of benefits. Read carefully before signing anything that hands your claim to a contractor. Ask what it means first and take your time.
• If you have a mortgage, the check may be made out to you and the lender. That adds a step, so ask early.

6. The work, and the inside of the house

Once the scope is agreed, the repair or the replacement is carried out, photographed on completion and the paperwork goes back to the insurer. A roof that leaked long enough to stain a ceiling has done damage inside as well, and that belongs in the same documented scope rather than a separate claim afterwards.

What we do not do is promise an outcome. The insurer decides. What we do is photograph the roof properly, write a scope that works alongside the claim, and do the work when the route forward is settled. See storm damage roofing.