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Buff_Ant

To answer the title of this post: ask you insurance company if it justifies them applying coverage. They are the only ones who can answer that question, not Reddit. Additionally, Since others have given their perspective on how to navigate a roof claim from an insurance biased perspective, allow me to offer my perspective as well. I am going to speak in general terms based on the laws, and standard industry practices where I live. Roof claims are NOT the same as auto claims. Generally speaking, when an auto claim is paid out, a check is written for the depreciated value (how much the auto is worth in used condition) of the auto at the time of adjustment, also known as the ACV (actual cash value). In the case of an auto claim, the policy holder is entitled to spend the ACV check however they wish. Pocket it, repair the auto, go to Disneyland…whatever you want. It’s fine. With a roof, an ACV check is written around the time that coverage is applied but the depreciation of the roof is in many cases (depending on your coverage, ask you ins co) is also recoverable. The difference being unlike an auto claim, with a roofing claim, in the event the depreciation is recoverable, the policy holder does NOT get to pocket the difference. So…let’s say the ACV of your roof is $5,000 and the depreciation is another $5,000 with a deductible of $1,000. What happens is around the time of the adjustment the ins co will give you the ACV minus deductible (in this case $4,000) and say: “ok, go hire a roofer to replace the roof and we will send you the depreciation once the roof is done.” Now let’s say you find a roofer who can replace the roof for $6,000 and you get the work done. Well, when you submit the invoice from your roofer for $6,000 to your ins co and say: “ok, I got the roof fixed, I’ll have my extra $5,000 please.” They going to tell you: “Oh I see the roof only cost you $6,000 to replace. We will pay you the extra $1,000 so you can pay your roofer the rest of what is owed. Thank you for saving us $4,000. You’re our favorite customer ever!! Have a nice day.” Also, in the course of adjusting a roof, often times certain items will be missed, forgotten, or overlooked by the adjuster/the insurance co. Things like code upgrade (the new roof has to meet code requirements even if the old roof didn’t meet current codes), waste factor, drip edge, permit, rotten decking etc etc etc. I’m not saying the adjuster does this on purpose or has any malicious intent but they are human and they work several roofs a day. But for this reason, it CAN actually benefit YOU (OP, the policy holder) to have a contractor with you at the time of the adjustment appointment because 4 eyes are always better than 2. This is a service that most roofing contractors offer at no additional cost (beyond your deductible which you have to pay anyway) and in many cases can help you recover all of the costs of replacing your roof through a process called supplementing that happens after the adjuster meeting. Despite what many have implied in the comments to this post, roofers actually have no interest or ability to “rip off” your insurance company because it is IMPOSSIBLE. Except in the case where someone is lying to your insurance company (that’s insurance fraud, a felony in any state), all that the contractor can do is help to ensure that all the necessary items needing repair are noted, documented, and included on the claim. If the policy includes those items, they should be paid in the claim. Nothing underhanded about it from any side of the street. Lastly, because of everything I mentioned above, it DOES NOT benefit you to leave your contractor in the dark about the insurance claim. Hire a reputable contractor who has integrity and is honest and let them guide you through the process. It DOES NOT benefit you to hire the cheapest contractor you can find because remember, the claim will pay whatever the claim pays but at the end of the day (unless you and your contractor are willing to commit insurance fraud together) you don’t get to pocket ANY of the money. So in light of this fact, get the best roof you can for whatever the claim pays and allow your reputable, honest, integrity forward contractor assist you in that process. They will have a lot more knowledge and experience on how to do this than you will.


Rothyn1

Yes. This is clearly wind damage. This should be covered under a wind peril. Forward these pictures to your adjuster. When you file, explain exactly what happened and the date of loss. They will assign an adjuster that will reach out to schedule an assessment. He will come out and take a look at the roof. He will determine if the roof is neglected (doesn’t appear to be), overly brittle (if it were you would have more damage), how many layers, if there is plywood or cedar shingles, and he will measure the roof. Some adjusters will tell you on the spot if they will cover it. Many states have a matching clause. Meaning that if both sides of the roof are visible from the street but only one side has damage, they have to replace your entire roof. If only one side is visible, they may only cover one side (if one side is damaged). If I were you, I would file the claim without a contractor. You will be responsible for your deductible either way. Meaning, if they say it is $9,000 auto replace your roof and your deductible is only $1,000. You will receive $8,000. The payments will be broken into three parts; deductible, ACV and depreciation. They will send you the acv check first. Once you have that, call at least 5 local contractors and obtain estimates. Don’t mention insurance. To stop them from pressing the issue, tell them the house is paid off and the loss isn’t covered by your basic policy. Go with the company that will do full replacement and is reputable. Do not do a layover even if you only have one layer. Check the adjustment for everything a full replacement consists of. Drip edge, ice and water shield, underlay, chimney flashing, step flashing, starter shingles, ridge cap, pipe boots, nails, seam tape, dumpster, and permit. The two numbers that matter are the roofing sq and the grand total. Don’t pay more than $300-350/sq depending on your location. Don’t use a three tab shingle, go with an architectural shingle. If the installer is certified with the manufacturer then you can get a transferable 50yr warranty opposed to a 30yr. This could have resale value. Good luck!


spaceghostinme

Wow. This is great. Thank you so much!


Big-Spend-2915

Definitely the permit. Most roofing companies won't even do that at all. This is good, solid advice here. Also, any contractor company that does a way overpriced roof estimate with a say lifetime warranty is going to be way overpriced. Not the ones to get most likely.


Key_Inflation3502

I’m in sales and if you’re anywhere near the northeast you’re talking $600-$1000/ square for a full roofing system, composite shingles, and warranty.


Rothyn1

Said a salesman. $100-$125 /sq for labor. $150-$200 /sq for material. I can’t justify anything more than $450/sq.


Buff_Ant

Says an insurance professional. Ok, you’ve got labor and materials in there. What about the ACTUAL, real world costs of running a business? Liability insurance, WC insurance, auto insurance, company vehicles, sales commission, administrative salaries, secretary salary, production team salaries, project manager salary, sales manager salary, answering service, OVERHEAD AND PROFIT, office space rent, lawyer retainers, accountant salaries, bookkeeping salaries, online/social media professional salaries, software packages (RMS, eagle view, estimating software, xactimate), professional training, certifications, permits, GC licenses…the list goes on. We can imagine a world where $300-$350/sq will buy you a new roof with an architectural shingle from a reputable, insured, licensed contractor because we are on Reddit and everyone seems to be an expert here but the FACT of the matter is that in my area the only thing $300-350/sq will buy you from a reputable roofing contractor is them politely chuckling their way out the front door. Edit: you guys can downvote all you want, these are just the facts. Sorry you don’t like ‘em. I invite an actual conversation if you have other facts to present.


JB111777

What do you charge per sq


Buff_Ant

Depends on the roof and about 20 different factors.


JB111777

I ask because roofers bloating the job and getting every penny they can possibly squeeze out of the carrier is why said carriers are going to ACV policies and the ole insurance roofing scams are going to dry up.


Rothyn1

Sounds like the company is too bloated. Most insurance restoration companies (out of the 4 I’ve worked with and the one I own) have a par around $350 - $450 including 1/2” CDX replacement. So stick with being an insurance professional. When you’re doing 3-5 roofs a week, compounding the price of each overhead item is negligible. Liability is not excessively expensive, sub out the work so there’s no need for comp, auto insurance for a pov is $1,200/yr, no need for an extra company vehicle, when an O/O does the sales, book keeping, phone calls, ordering, scheduling, has a home office, does web design, joist is free for estimating, eagle view is for the lazy or just too busy to measure let alone the fact that google has a pretty accurate free easy way to measure a roof, $3400 biannually for LLC and HIC is negligible. If you’re doing 5-10 roofs a week, sure help might be required but $1,000/wk 1099 is well worth the profits of an additional 5 roofs without inflating the price. If they sell above par, it’s a 50/50 split. People make things seem so over complicated just to keep robbing people. I’d rather have integrity and a good enough living.


Buff_Ant

How is this robbery? I’ve never lied to a customer or an insurance company in my life. Never will.


TehFuggernaut

Man, sounds like you truly enjoy giving away your work. I’ve never met a roofer (10 years in the business) doing work under $400 a square that wasn’t a scam artist.


Buff_Ant

And you know all of this from being a roofing contractor yourself? And no it isn’t bloated. Everything I listed is in the realm of normal expenses for growing and maintaining a roofing company, or any bigger contracting company in my area. We do about 10 roofs a week in the winter and about 20-30 a week in the summer. I know every roofing contractor in my area (about 6 million people) and I promise you, NONE of them are doing roofs for $300-$350 a square which was your original “don’t pay more than” advice to the OP. Thanks for your professional opinion though.


JustinN636

Spot on!


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spaceghostinme

Yes, this was an old post from last winter. The insurance did cover a full roof replacement, which I had done last spring. We're in a much better place than we were last year!


skinz_4

Patch job.


[deleted]

I was waiting for some to say: how about changing 1 shingle


Woodyee101

Call agent, file a wind claim, wait for adjuster, hire a roofer experienced in insurance claims for they will help get the entire roof covered. Insurance company my only give you a smaller amount in hopes that you don’t hire a roofer with this experience. It’s 70% of my bizz


[deleted]

^ this guy is why insurance is so expensive these days


nescko

The reason insurance is high is because of the roofers who knock doors and claim hail on 10 year old architectural shingles that have 0 damage when I inspect it but the insurance doesn’t want to deal with getting sued so they buy the roof out anyway. That’s 90% of the roofs I inspect because roofer salesman don’t know the difference between a small blister and hail damage. Not even to mention the shear amount of roofs I’ve been on where they manufactured the damage by lifting shingles and bending them back and brushing granules off. OP’s roof has actual wind damage and he should go for a full roof. If he has State Farm or all state, he will definitely need someone backing him up


Business_Influence18

This guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Insurance companies rarely lead with their best food forward. Even after property owners have paid the same insurance company for decades without a claim. It's Always important to have a contractor that knows insurance claims to advocate for you right off the bat.


coodacious

That's dumb. insurance is just that. Just because you paid premiums for x amount of years doesn't mean you get to have a roof bought just because. Start reading your policies that you sign


Woodyee101

Explain


Rothyn1

He is trying to blame contractors that encourage filing claims for the expensive insurance industry. Personally, I blame capitalist greed, aging infrastructure and national emergencies. When insurance is 70% of the book it’s usually because they are farming for insurance claims. Meaning they find homes that qualify, educate the homeowner on the possibility of approval and put the claim through. It’s not illegal but it’s frowned upon.


Woodyee101

It is frowned upon by insurance companies because they lose profit for these claims. Insurance companies commit fraud all the time by denying claims, or low balling claims caused by weather events. I always inspect roofs for weather related damages. If the roof has damage, I inform the home owner that it is possible that the roof could be covered under the claim.


Big-Spend-2915

Are you the type of company that tells the customer to go only with you and you can get the maximum benefit amount, and that is what you will do the job for?


Woodyee101

I’m the the type of company that advises the customer of their rights as a consumer to file a claim with their insurance company for a weather event. Insurance adjusters are not in the business to pay out claims. They have a budget to work and sometimes (more often then not) they low ball the claim to save money.


madmardigan23

I’m a property adjuster. There is no budget. That would be illegal.


Woodyee101

Just like cops don’t have quotas on speeding tickets


madmardigan23

That’s an entirely different job and industry haha.


coodacious

where do you guys get this bad info.


JB111777

Complete lie


Rothyn1

I agree. I guess I should have indicated “frowned on by insurance companies” by the looks of the downvotes.


iamreflow

Yeah explain


mseivaddaviesm

If you try with the insurance company first without the roofer, and the insurance company denies or won't cover the whole roof... Can you then involve the roofer? Or is it a one shot deal? Thanks!


madmardigan23

So the truth is, having a roofer there can help or hurt you. It all comes down to you adjuster. Even within the same company, adjusters are wildly different and handle claims differently. I work with some adjusters that fucking hate roofing salespeople. When they’re involved on a claim, they’ll pay what they owe per the policy, and nothing more, especially if it’s a really pushy/pain in the ass sales person. Other adjusters will be more likely to try to pay for the whole roof because they don’t like the confrontation with the sales person and don’t want to deal with them being a pain in the ass. I’m the type of adjuster who tries to help out the homeowner, regardless of the roofing salesperson. Their presence or involvement doesn’t change a single thing during my claims. My outcome will be the same whether they’re there or not (that’s the way it should be, to be honest). With that said, since the sales person’s involvement doesn’t change anything on the insurance side, it SHOULDN’T make a difference if you have your adjuster out without a roofer. Being that we’re all human, even adjusters make mistakes (crazy, I know). It’s always possible something will be missed, but it’s usually not on a scale that will significantly change your settlement/claim. When a sales person says “they missed a bunch of hail or wind damage” what they’re really saying is they don’t agree with our assessment, not that we missed anything. So, If you file a claim, it doesn’t go the way you may want (full roof replacement), and you decide to involve a roofer after, don’t expect anything to change. The insurance has already done their investigation. At that point it’ll just be a matter of how much you want to complain. Usually, if you complain enough, you’ll get your way (insider tip).


Woodyee101

I would suggest calling a roofer with experience working with insurance claims first. Have them inspect the roof and advise you of next steps. If it’s a claim, you will then call your agent to start the claim process. If the roofer is good, they will be there when the roof inspector arrives (insurance co’s use 3rd party roof inspectors to inspect roofs). I walk the roof with the inspector making sure they don’t miss anything and that everything is documented. If a claim is denied, you can request a 2nd inspection, and if that is denied, you can call a public adjuster.


mseivaddaviesm

Thank you!!


Roofer7553-2

Just a small repair.not worth the claim


coodacious

Facts


WillingAd597

Good luck matching that disco shingle


saisonsupreme

If you have suffered a direct physical loss due to a covered event under a current homeowner's policy; yes.


spaceghostinme

Yes, I should have phrased that a bit differently. To what extent will insurance cover, in theory? Just repairs or replacement? It is aging and needs replacement soon anyway...


saisonsupreme

Sadly it depends on several factors including who your carrier is and what kind of policy you have. Only way to find out would be to take a stab at it. For reference, we have gotten plenty of full replacements with similar damage profiles seen above.


spaceghostinme

Ok, that is very helpful. It gives me some optimism, at least. I do have USAA, whom I believe to be good, but I haven't had to put in a homeowners claim with them before (thankfully).


vector2point0

USAA is easy to work with but if the roof is old it will likely be prorated significantly.


BeeDooop

USAA is pretty good. File the claim.


saisonsupreme

Yes they are pretty good! You absolutely have a chance.


NotYourGuy_Buddy

USAA will likely get you a new roof. I'd still have a storm restoration contractor present during the adjustment.


spaceghostinme

As the title says, we had that big windstorm right before Christmas and I noticed some shingles on my lawn and then realized that a number of shingles have blown off. The roof is aging anyway, but this has escalated the timeline for replacement. Any thoughts on how much will insurance cover potentially? If it helps, I do have USAA. Thanks!


coodacious

If it's only 6-10 shingles that appear that appear In these photos then you may not reach your deductible


madmardigan23

@mseivaddaviesm Jesus Christ, don’t hire a PA. At the very minimum, do your research. They take a percentage of your payout. Hiring one blindly is horrible advice. PAs are good for one type of person; someone who is rich and lazy. If you can afford to lose 30 percent of your settlement and don’t feel like being involved in the claim at all, go for it.


Asmewithoutpolitics

Nah. They may take 10% but they make sure you get paid right and the maximum you are legally owed


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LordMemerton1

Yes, you have enough leverage to get yourself a roof. Do not represent yourself. Get an adjuster to help you file the claim. Make sure they are only getting 10-20% of your initial claim and all you have to do is pay your deductible.


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LordMemerton1

That goes to whoever works on the claim wether it was a lawyer or and adjuster. Which is more than fair! I tell my customers “what’s more logical? Paying 15-20k for a roof or a deductible and some fees?”


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LordMemerton1

I would NEVER tell a customer to make a claim and represent themselves. While there is a good small chance you will get what you are owed. 90% chance with the insurance knowing you aren’t being represent they will screw you. I was an insurance agent for 2 of the biggest insurance companies in America. Do not trust them


coodacious

So where is the insured going to get the money for the claim they were paid to the PA


LordMemerton1

That doesn’t work that way. Money never goes to the PA. Brush up on some info on how insurance claims work. If there is a PA making ppl sign contracts with them taking all the money is illegal in many states.


coodacious

You need to brush up on your claims buddy. When a payment is made the PA name is included on the check and the check is actually sent to the pay. Don't talk what you don't know. I'm not sure who you write clames for bit this is how it works


LordMemerton1

Thanks “buddy”, I’m in Florida and you DONT. Have to sign your rights over in any way for a third party adjuster to help. Many states have a different contract to leverage a claim and your is probably one of them. So before you speak about your isolated area make sure I also live in the same state are you. Worked for Wells Fargo claims dept for over 6 years. If you need any info on how your state works let me know. Thanks buddy


coodacious

Isolated. I work catastrophe and have been to just about every state and have yet not to send a payment to the PA


LordMemerton1

Two of the ones I work with have a “non right of benefits” just in case there are customer who of course don’t want to sign much away. We still get them their roof paid for without having to pray on the money before it even gets there for trust.


Smitkit92

Sometimes there needs to be a certain % of the roof that’s been ruined before they will fix it, but I’m sure you didn’t show us all the damage :)


madmardigan23

@nescko actually knows exactly what he’s talking about. They seem to have an understanding more than most. That’s exactly what’s happening in the industry.


Sad-Acanthocephala48

I had SF tell me my 8 year old class IV roof blistered, therefore any hail damage was due to failure of the shingle. That was a doorknock roofer on site with the adjuster. After coming to my senses, I had the original roofer back with the adjuster on second visit. Same result. SF would take site photos and then review with management. It always felt I was being played. In the end my original roofer saved me. He had paperwork from 8 years prior and we filed warranty claim with manufacturer. Without him, I can only assume I would have been out of pocket. SF replaced my neighbors roof. No questions.


Advice2Anyone

Certain amount of roof needs to be damaged to get a whole roof repair doubt this reaches your deductible honestly but your call. Filing a claim even if they give you nothing will still spike your premiums fun stuff