If a storm damages your roof, you need to fix it quickly to protect your building’s occupants and the building structure itself. When you don’t fix the damage, it can lead to further roof damage in the future. Let’s review how to claim storm damage on your roof.
How to Make a Successful Storm Damage Claim
When you find your roof has damage from a wind or hail storm, it’s best to use the following steps to file a roof insurance claim:
- Review your roof insurance policy: Double-check your policy to see if it covers wind and hail damage. Sometimes, people take wind and hail damage out of their roof insurance policy to save money, only to find they need that coverage later. Also, insurance companies in some Atlantic states don’t include wind and hail damage in basic insurance policies and instead require businesses and homeowners to purchase separate hurricane insurance. Once you review your policy, you’ll understand what your insurer is supposed to cover.
- Contact your insurer immediately after the damage occurs: Contacting your insurer soon after the damage occurs gives you more time to resolve the problem. It also prevents the damage from getting worse. The sooner you contact your insurance company, the sooner you can make your claim.
- Ask a roofing contractor to give you a repair estimate: Get a repair estimate from an independent roofing contractor before your insurer sends an adjuster to assess the damage. Why? Your insurer is a business, and they could rule that the damage isn’t as bad as it really is so they don’t have to give you the full possible insurance payout for your storm damage policy. An independent contractor provides an estimate that you can use to measure the adjuster’s assessment and estimate.
- Keep track of your paperwork: Organize all relevant paperwork, take pictures of the damage, and keep records of interactions with your contractor and the insurance adjuster. When you keep track of the claims process and document the damage to your roof, you’re more likely to make a successful insurance claim.
When you follow these steps during the claims process, you can file a claim with your insurance for roof damage and see a positive result.
Can You Request Estimates From Multiple Roofing Contractors?
You can request estimates from multiple contractors, but it’s not a good idea. If you get multiple estimates and present them to your insurance adjuster, they may choose the lowest estimate so they can give you a lower payout. Stick with one estimate and measure your insurer’s coverage offer against it.
Does Roof Insurance or Homeowner’s Insurance Cover General Wear and Tear on a Roof?
No. You must maintain your roof properly if you want to file an insurance claim for storm damage. These policies do not cover roofs damaged by neglect. If your roof was neglected when the storm damage occurred, you most likely can’t make a successful insurance claim.
Why Ask Kirberg for Your Storm Damage Estimate?
If you need to report roof damage to your insurance company, Kirberg is here to support you. We’ve been fixing roofs for over a century, and we have navigated the insurance claims process with our customers many times. When you need a storm damage estimate, we use our knowledge and experience to assess the damage correctly and give you a realistic estimate. Then you can present that estimate to your insurance company and take it with you throughout the claims process.
Keep Kirberg by Your Side as You Make Your Insurance Claim
If you’re ready to make a storm damage insurance claim, reach out to Kirberg Company today. We provide the assessment and estimate you need to make a solid coverage case to your insurer. Our technicians perform thorough inspections on many types of roofs, so we can assess your storm damage accurately and efficiently. We want to help you make a solid insurance claim, and we put all resources into doing that. We’ve been around long enough to see it all, and we use that knowledge to help our customers navigate the insurance claims process.
