Roofing and insurance claim questions, answered straight

Yes. Our vetted local roofing partner inspects the roof, photographs every slope with dates, and gives you a written report you keep — whether or not there is damage. No charge and no obligation. The honest reason free inspections exist across the industry is that they are how roofing companies find work; the difference is what happens when the answer is that your roof is fine.

The field of every slope, flashing and penetrations, edges and gutters, ventilation, the attic where accessible, and corroborating surfaces such as air-conditioning fins and window screens. It also includes a hands-on check of the sealant strips, which is the one thing a drone cannot do. It ends in a written report with dated photographs organized by slope.

Most single-family roofs take under an hour on site, with the written report following by email. Complex roofs with many planes, or homes with interior damage to assess as well, take longer.

Usually not. Hail bruising frequently does not break the shingle surface and is often easier to feel than to see. Ground-level signs — granules in the gutters, dented soft metals — tell you something happened; they do not diagnose the roof.

Once a year is a reasonable habit, and again after any significant hail or windstorm. The value compounds: a dated series of reports documents the roof's condition over time, which is exactly the evidence that is impossible to produce retrospectively when an insurer says damage was gradual.

Physical damage caused by a sudden weather event: hail impact that bruises or fractures the shingle mat, wind that lifts, creases or removes shingles or breaks their sealant strips, and impact from wind-driven debris. It is distinguished from gradual deterioration such as ultraviolet aging and normal granule loss, which insurance does not cover.

Routinely, and it is the most expensive misunderstanding in this whole subject. Hail damage removes the granules protecting the asphalt mat and can bruise the mat itself without creating a hole. The roof stays watertight, sometimes for years, while its remaining life shortens. Waiting for a leak is the worst available strategy.

Not on that basis. Hail falls in narrow, uneven swaths, so one side of a street can be hit hard while the other is untouched. It is also a standard door-knocking pitch. Get your own roof documented and decide from that.

There is no single threshold, and we are not going to publish one. It depends on hail size, density and shape, wind speed and angle, and the age, condition and type of the roof covering. Small hail driven hard into an aged roof can do real damage; larger hail falling gently onto a new laminated shingle may not.

If it is needed to prevent further damage, yes — TDI expects reasonable steps and tells you to keep the receipts. Photograph the damage before you cover it. What you must not do is make permanent repairs before the insurer inspects.

It covers replacement when the roof was damaged by a covered event such as hail or windstorm, subject to your policy and your deductible. It does not cover a roof that has simply worn out. TDI states plainly that your insurance company will not pay for a new roof just because it is old or worn out.

Replacement Cost Value pays up to the full cost to repair your roof at current prices. Actual Cash Value pays less if the roof is older or showing wear, because depreciation is subtracted. TDI also notes an insurer may switch your policy to actual cash value as the roof ages, usually at renewal — so check your declarations page rather than assuming.

That is normal on a replacement cost claim. TDI describes these claims as typically paid in two checks: the first covers actual cash value, and the second, covering the withheld depreciation, comes after repairs begin. If the repairs never happen, the second check generally never arrives.

Yes. TDI states that contractors cannot legally waive your deductible under Texas law, and House Bill 2102, effective September 1, 2019, reinforced that requirement in the Texas Insurance Code. Any offer to waive, absorb or rebate it is proposing something illegal.

It can be. TDI notes that wind and hail deductibles may differ from the deductible applying to the rest of your policy, and they are often a percentage of dwelling coverage rather than a flat amount. Find the specific figure on your declarations page before you decide whether filing is worth it.

There is no single statewide deadline — filing deadlines are set by your policy. Be wary of anyone who tells you a fixed number of days applies to every Texas homeowner. TDI's guidance is to file as soon as possible after hail or windstorm damage, which is sound regardless.

Read the stated reason first, because it determines what you can usefully do. Denials for wear and tear are evidence disagreements and are the most answerable. You can supply new documentation and request a reinspection. If you believe your insurer handled the claim improperly, TDI takes consumer complaints.

No. Negotiating a claim on your behalf is public adjusting, a licensed activity in Texas, and neither this site nor the roofing partner we connect you with holds that license. What the partner does is inspect, document, produce a written report, and meet your adjuster on site to walk them through what was found. Your insurer decides your claim.

No. Texas does not license roofing contractors at the state level, and the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation does not administer roofing licensure. Anyone in Texas can legally call themselves a roofer, which is exactly why 'we're licensed' means little here without a specific answer to 'licensed by whom, for what?'

General liability insurance and workers' compensation, verified with the insurer rather than a forwarded PDF. A durable Texas business presence. Any voluntary certification such as RCAT or a manufacturer certification, verified with the issuer. References and Better Business Bureau standing, both specifically recommended by TDI. And at least two itemized bids, also TDI's recommendation.

At least two — that is TDI's own guidance. Make them itemized so you can compare line by line rather than by total. A lower total with fewer line items is not cheaper, it is less work.

A reasonable deposit against materials is normal. Paying in full up front is not, and TDI advises never prepaying in full. Never sign a contract with blank spaces in it either — also a specific TDI warning.

It depends on your city, and the differences across the North Dallas corridor are real. Denton requires a roof permit for all residential roof or re-roof projects. McKinney lists roofing among the work requiring a permit. Frisco offers a self-service permit for same-material replacements. Check your own city — and let the contractor pull it.

We refer you. Texas Roofing Now is an independent referral service — we research and publish the guidance on this site and route free-inspection requests to a qualified local roofing partner. That partner, not us, carries out the inspection, writes the report, meets your adjuster if you ask them to, and does any roofing work. We may be compensated for the referral, you are not charged for it, and you are under no obligation to use the contractor we introduce you to.

Because we are a new company and have none yet. Rather than borrow, imply or invent them, we left the section out entirely. When we have real reviews from real customers, they will appear here with attribution. Until then, judge us on what we publish.

No, and we say so wherever they appear. We are a referral service, not a roofer, so there is no work of ours to photograph — the imagery is licensed illustrative stock and the damage diagrams are illustrations we produced. Nothing on this site is captioned or implied to be our own inspection, our own crew or our own completed work.

Through the contact form. Every request goes to us with the details you provided, we reply by email, and we arrange the inspection with our roofing partner. It is a deliberate decision: nobody here is working a phone script, and nobody from this company will knock on your door after a storm.

Primary sources, mostly the Texas Department of Insurance, cited on each page. Where we could not verify something against a primary source, we say so rather than fill the gap — for example, we cite TDI's plain-language statement that deductible waiving is illegal rather than quoting statutory text we have not verified. TDI's own consumer helpline is 800-252-3439, which is a state resource and not a number that reaches us.