Your roof has recently been damaged. Naturally, you’re stressed about it. However, you’re also worried about the cost to get your roof repaired or replaced.
It’s time to take advantage of your homeowners’ or roof insurance policy.
If you want to improve the chances of your insurance claim getting approved and to maximize your payout, it’s a good idea to get your roofing contractor involved early on.
In this post, we’ll look at how your roofing company can help you work through the claims and repair process for the best outcome.
What the Insurance Claim Process Looks Like with a Roofing Company Involved
The general process for submitting a roof insurance claim seems pretty straightforward. Your roof gets damaged. You submit a claim to your insurance company. You get paid. Right?
The only problem is that you might not receive an accurate evaluation of the damage or a fair settlement offer if you work solely with the insurance company. And if your claim isn’t approved, you’ll have to come out of pocket to pay for the repairs.
Instead of waiting until the end of the process to loop in a roofing contractor, contact them at the start. Here’s how the process looks when you have them advocating for you from the get-go:
1. Review Your Insurance Policy
If you haven’t reviewed the terms of your insurance policy in some time, give it a look now.
Typically, homeowners insurance covers roof damage that results from storms, lightning strikes, fires, fallen trees, and smoke damage. However, your terms may include other scenarios or exceptions, so make sure your circumstances are eligible for coverage.
Your insurance policy will also include information on deductibles. Keep this information handy when you speak to your roofing contractor as well as the insurance company.
2. Schedule a Damage Inspection
The next step is to schedule a comprehensive inspection with your roofing contractor. They will inspect and assess all damage to your roof.
By bringing a trusted roofer on site to perform the inspection, they can accurately evaluate the amount and severity of the damage. If your roof repairs are eligible for an insurance claim, they’ll let you know on the spot.
3. Prepare Estimates and Documentation
In addition to inspecting the state of the roof and its components, your roofing contractor will document their findings with photos, videos, and notes.
They’ll take a variety of shots of the roof damage and from different angles. Typically, they’ll capture close-ups as well as wide-angle shots for context and perspective.
If they’ve served as your roofing company in the past, they can also collect past inspection reports and repair records to bring along as proof in the insurance claim process. If they weren’t involved, then this is something you should track down on your own.
4. Meet with the Insurance Adjusters
After the initial inspection is done by your roofing contractor, an insurance adjuster will need to come by for their own walk-through inspection.
One of the benefits of working with a roofer is that they can be there to explain their findings to the insurance adjuster and serve as your advocate during the process.
By the way, some insurance agencies use preferred vendors like Foster Roofing. So, when an assessment of roof damage is needed, they call on companies like us to do the inspection and provide estimates. If you can find a roofing contractor that’s approved by your insurance company, this step of the process will go much more smoothly.
Cordel, for instance, was having a hard time getting his insurance company to take action. But Foster Roofing was able to help expedite things:
“Hayden with Foster Roofing was amazing. I was having delays with insurance and he was patient. He even helped me resolve the issue. He made the process so easy and was always a text away. I can’t thank him enough for helping me through the whole process!”
5. Negotiate Your Price
At this point, your contractor should submit an estimate to your insurer, which will include the cost of labor and materials. The insurance adjuster will take this into consideration along with the information they gathered during the inspection.
It’s now the job of your insurer to decide the following:
- Approve or deny your claim.
- Come up with a settlement number. This will be the total cost minus your deductible.
Again, your roofing contractor can and should help you at this stage as they know first-hand how extensive the damage is and how much it will take to repair. If they feel that the estimate given by the insurer is too low, they can negotiate a fairer payout.
This happened with Richard:
“Foster Roofing showed up when expected with a knowledgeable team. Did a great job. They are experts at dealing with insurance companies. Their help with the insurance claim saved me thousands of dollars.”
6. Get Written Approval
Once your insurance claim is approved and you’ve settled on a price, make sure you get written confirmation from both parties — the roofing contractor that will do the work as well as your insurance company. This way, there will be no question about what you are owed and will prevent any possible disputes.
7. Receive Payment
Typically, insurance claims are paid out in installments. You should get the first check within a week or two of approval.
8. Repair the Roof
Your roofing contractor will fix the damages to your roof based on the agreed-upon terms of the insurance claim. In some cases, that may just mean localized repairs to certain areas or components of the roof. In other cases, damage may be so extensive that you need a new roof altogether.
Although there would have been two careful inspections done by this point, your roofer may discover new issues. Before they do any work to fix them, they should repeat this process, starting with Step 2. They’ll have to inspect the problem area, document their findings, provide estimates, and send them to the insurance company for review.
If your insurer approves the damages as part of the claim, they’ll issue you more funds in your next round of payment.
9. Submit Proof of Work to Your Insurer
Once the work is done on your roof, your contractor will need to take more photos and document the completion of the work as described in the claim. This documentation will get sent off to the insurer to review and approve, so that your final payment can be released.
Navigating the Roof Insurance Claim Process with Some Help
In areas like Arkansas where hail and wind storms are common, roofs take a lot of abuse over the years. But that’s what homeowners insurance is for.
Rather than allow the insurance claim process to add to the stress of the situation, get your roofing contractor involved early on. A company like Foster Roofing that has extensive experience and expertise in insurance claims assistance can help the process go smoothly. In addition, they can help you get a fair payout for the damage your roof sustained.
Looking for this sort of support and peace of mind? Reach out to us today for insurance assistance.