Houston's free roof inspections for property owners · no obligation
Free Roof Inspection in Houston
A proper inspection tells you what your roof actually needs — which is sometimes nothing. You get photographs, the photographs of what we find, and an honest answer, whether or not there is any work in it for us.
A five-year-old roof does not need replacing over one missing shingle. Storm damage is a different matter. The inspection decides which you have, not a salesperson.
- $0For property owners
- 13Years in Houston
- 5,000+Roofs completed
- 4.8★Over 400 reviews
Before you let anyone up there
No Hammers. Just Chalk and a Camera.
Here is something most homeowners never hear: some roofers fake damage to inflate insurance claims.
They mimic hail strikes with a ball-peen hammer. They lift and break shingles to create what looks like wind-damage creasing. It is fraud, it costs insurers millions, and you pay for it through higher premiums — assuming the claim is not denied and left as your problem.
It also destroys a roof that may have had years left in it.
Never let a roofer onto your roof with a hammer.
The only things needed for an honest inspection are safety equipment, chalk and a camera. Chalk to mark what is found. A camera to prove it. Nothing that makes a mark of its own.
Watch what comes out of the van. It is the simplest test there is, and it applies to whoever you have booked — including us.
What happens
What an Inspection Actually Covers
About an hour on an average roof, plus time afterwards going through what we found with you.
A conversation first
What you have noticed, when it started, whether anything has been repaired before, and how old the roof is. Five minutes that saves an hour of looking in the wrong places.
The roof, slope by slope
Shingles, flashing at walls and chimneys, valleys, pipe boots, vents, ridge and edge metal. Drone survey for anything that cannot be safely walked. Everything found gets marked in chalk and photographed.
The attic, where there is access
Often the fastest route to an answer. Damp decking, daylight, rusted nail heads and blocked soffit vents all show from underneath before anything shows outside.
Instruments where they help
Thermal imaging for moisture below the surface, a moisture meter to confirm it, and a shingle gauge to measure what is actually left of the shingle.
Gutters and drainage
Granule build-up tells you how much shingle surface has gone. Standing water and overflow points tell you where the roof is not draining.
Findings, reviewed with you
Photographs on screen, an explanation of each one, and a photo record you keep — whether or not there is any work in it for us.
The part that decides your claim
Telling Hail From Wind From Neither
These three look similar to an untrained eye and mean completely different things to an insurer. Getting it wrong costs you either a denied claim or a replacement you did not need.
Hail
Random, scattered impact marks with granule loss and a soft bruise you can feel. No pattern — hail does not fall in lines. Usually accompanied by dents on soft metal: vents, flashing, the mailbox, air-conditioning fins.
Covered peril. Frequently does not leak for months.
Wind
Creasing, lifted tabs and shingles missing in a directional pattern — usually starting at an edge or a ridge and working inward. The damage has a direction to it because the wind did.
Covered peril. Often visible from the ground.
Blistering — not storm damage
Small raised bubbles on the shingle surface, from trapped moisture or heat within the shingle itself. Common in Houston, and common on shingles with a polymer-modified asphalt layer.
Not covered — it is a manufacturing or heat issue, not a storm one. Regularly mistaken for hail, and a claim filed on it is a claim denied.
Knowing the difference stops you paying for work you do not need — and stops you filing a claim that will be refused and left on your record. If what we find is blistering, we will tell you it is blistering.
Before you book
Who the Free Inspection Is For
Free
- Property owners — the roof is yours
- Management companies
- Building managers
No charge, no obligation, and you keep the report either way.
From $125
- Pre-purchase inspections — a house you are buying but do not yet own
A pre-purchase report is a different piece of work: written for a buyer, on a property with no existing relationship, and often produced to a deadline in a contract. It is worth doing properly, which is why it is charged for.
Paid after the inspection, before the roof condition report is issued. Nothing up front, and we confirm the price when you book — larger, steeper or more distant properties can be more than $125.
Common Questions
How does a pre-purchase inspection work?
You are usually working to an option period, so tell us the deadline when you call — that is the first thing we check. We confirm the price for that specific property before booking; $125 is a starting point and larger, steeper or more distant properties can be more.
Payment is taken after the inspection, before the roof condition report is issued. Nothing up front.
The report covers the roof's current condition, remaining service life as far as it can be assessed, and anything that would need attention — written so it is useful in a negotiation, not just a list of observations.
How long does an inspection take?
About an hour on an average roof, plus time afterwards going through the photographs with you. Larger, steeper or more complex roofs take longer.
Do I need to be home?
Not for the roof itself, though we do need access to the attic where there is a hatch — and that is often where the answer is.
Most people prefer to be there for the walkthrough at the end, since seeing the photographs explained is more useful than reading a report afterwards. If you cannot be, we send everything and go through it by phone.
How long is an estimate valid?
Typically 30 days. Material prices move, and after a major storm they can move quickly — demand spikes across the whole region at once.
If yours has expired we will re-issue it rather than start again, provided the roof has not changed.
Will you tell me I need a new roof when I do not?
No, and this is the whole point of the exercise. A five-year-old roof does not need replacing over one missing shingle or a single leak.
We also decline repairs we cannot guarantee — on a roof too old or brittle to hold a proper fix, we say so rather than take the money and come back in a year. The inspection decides the answer, not a salesperson.
What does it cost if work is needed?
Repairs start at $195, with most single-issue repairs between $350 and $900. Twenty common repairs are priced in full.
A full replacement on a typical Houston home runs $8,000 to $20,000, moved most by roof size and pitch, how many layers come off, whether decking needs replacing at $90 a sheet, and the material chosen. More on replacement.
Do you work with insurance?
We document damage slope by slope and meet your adjuster on the roof. We do not file, negotiate or settle claims — in Texas that is the work of a licensed public adjuster.
How soon can you start once I approve the work?
Usually within a few days for repairs, and a week or two for a replacement, depending on materials and the schedule.
After a major storm everything stretches — when several thousand roofs are damaged at once, every contractor in Houston is booked. We will tell you a real date rather than the one you want to hear.
Book your inspection
Free for property owners. Chalk, camera and instruments — nothing that can make a mark of its own.
JC&C Roofing Company · 1431 Graham Dr #266, Tomball, TX 77375 · 1220 Blalock Rd #345, Houston, TX 77055 · hello@jccroofing.com