Guide
Roof insurance claims, step by step
Insurance covers sudden damage. It does not cover a roof that wore out. Almost every disputed claim comes down to which of those two a roof is.
Get an independent assessment first
Filing a claim that turns out to be under your deductible costs you nothing but is on your record anyway. Find out the scale of the damage before you pick up the phone.
Stop further damage, and keep the receipts
Emergency mitigation is normally recoverable and routinely forgotten. Save the paperwork for the tarp as carefully as the paperwork for the repair.
Your request is in.
We are matching it now against roofing contractors working in Orange and the surrounding area.
- Today, usually within the hour. The first contractor calls or texts the number you gave us. ASAP requests go out first.
- Up to three of them, no more. We cap it at three so you can compare without your phone melting.
- They come and look. Estimates are given after somebody has been on the roof, not over the phone.
- You decide, or you do not. There is nothing to cancel and nothing to pay us.
If you do not hear anything today, check your voicemail and spam folder — contractors often call from a mobile number.
Read anything before you sign it
An assignment of benefits hands control of your claim to a contractor. There are legitimate uses for it and it is also the single most common way homeowners lose control of a claim. Never sign one on the doorstep.
Mind the deadline
Report promptly even if you have not decided what to do. The clock in the policy runs from the date of the event, not the date you noticed.
Photograph everything, immediately
Wide shots that show the house, close shots that show the damage, and pictures of the inside where water came through. Dated, before anybody touches anything. An adjuster can work with photographs; they cannot work with a description.
Know what your policy actually pays
The two clauses that decide the cheque are the settlement basis and the deductible. Some policies also carry a separate, larger deductible for wind and hail.
In short
Document first, mitigate second, file third. In that order it usually goes smoothly; in any other order it usually does not.
Related questions
It is leaking right now. What do I do?
Move what you can out of the way, put a bucket under it, and if there is a bulge in the ceiling put a small hole at its lowest point to let the water out in one place rather than bringing the whole panel down. Then mark your request as an emergency — those go out first.
What happens to my information?
It goes to a maximum of three roofing contractors working in Orange, and to nobody else. We do not sell it as a mailing list and we do not post it anywhere public. Our privacy policy sets out exactly what is shared.
I rent. Can I use this?
Only the owner can approve roofing work. If you are renting, the fastest route is to send this to your landlord or property manager rather than gathering quotes nobody can act on.
Ready to see numbers?
No cost, no obligation, and never more than three contractors.