A guide, not a sales page
Two deductibles you did not know you had. A depreciation deadline nobody mentions. An exclusion that removes coverage from the part of your roof most likely to leak.
None of it is hidden — it is all in your policy. But no one reads a policy until they need to, and by then the decisions that mattered have usually been made.
What we are, and are not. We are roofers. We inspect, document the damage, and meet your adjuster on the roof so you both see the same evidence. Filing, negotiating and settling a claim is licensed public-adjuster work, and in Texas a roofing contractor cannot do it. Anyone offering to is offering something they are not licensed for.
Read this first
Every homeowner policy lists duties after a loss, and near the top of that list is an obligation to notify your insurer promptly once you know the property has been damaged. It is a duty you agreed to, not a courtesy.
It matters because a delay can jeopardise an otherwise valid claim — and because "prompt" is a separate requirement from the outer filing deadline. You can be inside the deadline and still be argued to have failed the prompt-notice duty. If you know there is damage, report it. You can decide what to do about it afterwards.
From the storm to the final payment. Timescales vary by insurer and by how busy they are after a major event — after a hurricane, everything takes longer.
Photograph what you can see from the ground, with the date. Note when the storm happened. If a contractor has inspected, get their findings in writing first — you want to know what you are reporting before you report it.
You do this, not your contractor. Describe what you observed, not what you think it will cost. Two different clocks start after a storm. The deadline to file is usually set by your policy's suit-limitation clause — commonly two years from the date of loss in Texas. The deadline to recover your depreciation is separate, often much shorter, and it is the one that costs people money.
An adjuster comes out, usually within a week or two. They work for the insurer. Ask your contractor to be present — not to argue, but so the same damage is being looked at by both parties at the same time.
The scope lists what the insurer agrees to pay for, line by line. Read it against your contractor's estimate. Missing line items are normal and fixable — see supplements below.
You choose the contractor, not the insurer. They may suggest one; you are not obliged to use them.
With replacement cost coverage, the withheld depreciation is paid once the work is finished and invoiced. Miss this step and you leave money with the insurer.
Filing a claim you will lose can count against you. Claims history affects premiums and, in a hard market, renewal. If the damage is close to your deductible, it is worth asking whether filing is the right move at all — a contractor who tells you honestly is worth more than one who encourages every claim.
Texas law prohibits a contractor from waiving your deductible. Anyone offering to "cover the deductible" or "work with what insurance pays" is proposing something illegal, and it puts your claim at risk as well as theirs.
Four words that decide what you actually receive. If you read one section of this page, make it this one.
What you pay before the insurer pays anything. Often a percentage of the dwelling coverage rather than a flat sum — 1% or 2% is common in Texas, which on a $400,000 home is $4,000 or $8,000.
Check yours on the declarations page. It is not always the number you remember.
Replacement cost minus depreciation. A fifteen-year-old roof is valued as a fifteen-year-old roof, not a new one. With an ACV-only policy, that is all you get — the shortfall is yours.
Common on older roofs and cheaper policies.
What it costs to replace the roof today. With RCV coverage you are paid in two installments: ACV first, then the withheld depreciation once the work is complete and invoiced.
The second payment is the one people forget to claim.
The withheld portion. It is released after the work is finished, on production of a final invoice — which is why the paperwork at the end matters as much as the paperwork at the start.
Not recoverable at all under an ACV policy.
Worked example — illustration only
With RCV coverage
$18,000
You pay the $4,000 deductible
With ACV only
$7,000
You cover the remaining $15,000
That $11,000 gap is why the ACV/RCV line on your policy matters more than almost anything else on it. Depreciation rates vary by insurer, policy and roof age — the figures above illustrate the mechanism, not your claim.
Building codes change. A roof installed to 2005 standards may need work that current code requires but the original did not — and a basic policy may not cover the difference.
It is usually called ordinance or law coverage. On an older Houston home it can be the difference between a claim that covers the job and one that leaves you several thousand short.
The number behind the number
Every carrier calculates depreciation differently, and the percentage itself tells you almost nothing until you know what it is being applied to. There are broadly two methods, and the difference between them on the same roof can run into thousands.
Method one
Depreciation is applied across the whole job. Since labor is typically 50 to 60% of a roofing bill, this produces a far larger withheld amount.
$11,000 held back until the work is finished.
Method two
Labor does not depreciate at all, and on many policies only the shingles and ridge cap do. Underlayment, flashing, vents and accessories are paid in full.
Only $3,000 held back — on the same roof, at the same 50%.
Same roof. Same stated depreciation. An $8,000 difference in what arrives first. Some carriers depreciate labor and materials together; others depreciate materials only, and several of the largest — including the Texas windstorm pool — fall into the second group.
So when you see a depreciation figure on a scope, find out what it was applied to. Ask the adjuster directly: is labor depreciated, and which line items are being depreciated? The answer changes your first check substantially, and it changes how much is riding on finishing the work before the deadline.
Figures above illustrate the mechanism, not your claim. Depreciation rates, methods and depreciable line items vary by carrier, policy form, roof age and material.
The deadline nobody mentions
With replacement cost coverage you are paid twice: the ACV amount up front, then the withheld depreciation once the work is finished and invoiced. What almost nobody is told is that the second payment has a deadline of its own — and it is not the same as the deadline to file.
Deadline to file a claim
~2 years
Usually set by the suit-limitation clause in a Texas homeowner policy, measured from the date of loss. Separate from any requirement to give prompt notice, which most policies also impose.
Deadline to recover depreciation
6 months – 2 years
Set by your policy, and it varies enormously between carriers. Some allow two years from the date of loss. Others allow one. Some allow as little as six months.
Why it matters. If the work is not completed and invoiced before that second deadline passes, the withheld depreciation is not paid. On a $22,000 roof that can be $11,000 or more, lost for no reason other than a date.
If the deadline is coming, or has passed
This is the single most useful thing on this page and almost nobody knows it. If you cannot complete the work before the deadline, write to your carrier and ask for an extension of the depreciation recovery period. In our experience carriers grant them.
It has to be in writing, and it is far easier before the deadline than after. But even afterwards it is worth asking — we have seen a carrier honor the endorsement well past the deadline for a homeowner who could show he had been in and out of hospital while his wife was treated for cancer.
Do not let the deadline simply pass. An email asking for an extension takes five minutes and can be worth thousands.
The question almost nobody asks
Most carriers pay at the market price when the work is done. If material costs have risen since the storm, the settlement reflects that.
Some pay at the market price on the date of loss instead. On a roof replaced eighteen months after a storm, in a period of rising material costs, that difference can be thousands of dollars — and it falls on the homeowner, who incurred the cost at today's prices, not the old ones.
Ask which basis your policy uses before you decide how long to wait. If it pays at date-of-loss pricing, delay costs you money in a way it does not on other policies.
Ask two questions and get both answers in writing: what is the deadline to file for this date of loss, and what is the deadline to complete the work and recover depreciation? They are rarely the same, and the second should set your schedule.
Read before you file
Most homeowners find out about these when a claim comes back short. Both are worth checking before you file, because both change how the damage should be documented.
Exclusion one
Some carriers exclude metal flashing entirely. Not the shingles — the flashing, and sometimes every penetration through the roof: pipe boots, vents, chimney and wall flashing, skylight surrounds.
That matters more than it sounds, because most roof leaks start at a penetration rather than in the open field of the roof. A policy that covers shingles but excludes flashing covers the part of the roof least likely to fail and excludes the part most likely to.
What to do: find the exclusions page of your policy and read what it says about flashing and penetrations, or ask your agent directly. If it is excluded, you still want the damage documented — it affects the scope of the roof repair even where the insurer will not pay for that line.
Exclusion two, and the more expensive one
Damaged ceilings, insulation, drywall and flooring are usually the costliest part of a storm claim. Whether any of it is paid for turns on a distinction most homeowners have never heard of.
Trigger one
The storm must have physically opened the roof — shingles blown off, hail perforating the shingles, the decking, the flashing or a penetration. Water then enters through that opening.
All TWIA policies work this way, and so do most large carriers. No opening, no interior payment — however much water came in.
Trigger two
Wind forces water through penetrations or under shingles that are still in place. Nothing is missing, nothing is broken, and from the ground the roof looks untouched — but water reached the ceiling.
Policies that recognise this cover the interior damage. Policies that do not will look for an opening, fail to find one, and decline.
Where this decides a claim
Chimney and wall flashing. A common storm leak is water driven in behind flashing that is still physically attached. Nothing blew away. On a storm-created-opening policy that is likely to be declined — the adjuster finds intact flashing and no opening. On a policy that recognises wind-driven rain, the same leak may be covered.
And there is a third possibility that is nobody's fault but time's: flashing that failed because it was old, not because of the storm. That is wear and tear, and no policy covers it. Part of an honest inspection is telling you which of the three you actually have.
Four questions for your agent
Ask before you file, and get the answers in writing. Every one of them changes what the claim is worth, and none of them will be volunteered.
Before you assume you know it
Most Texas homeowner policies carry a different deductible depending on what caused the loss. Homeowners usually remember one of them, and it is rarely the one that applies to a roof.
Deductible one
1% or a flat $500
Theft, fire, a burst pipe, most non-weather losses. Often the lowest of the three, and often the only one a homeowner remembers.
This is usually not your roof deductible.
Deductible two
~2%
Storm damage to the roof. This is the one that applies to most hail and wind claims in Houston.
Two percent of your dwelling coverage, not of the claim.
Deductible three
2% – 10%
Triggered when the damage comes from a named storm. Commonly 2%, but we have seen 5% and 10% on Gulf Coast policies.
Check this one specifically. It is the one that ruins budgets.
The part that catches people out
The percentage is of your dwelling coverage, not of the claim.
On a home insured for $400,000, a 2% wind and hail deductible is $8,000 — regardless of whether the roof claim is $12,000 or $40,000. A 5% named-storm deductible on the same home is $20,000.
Find your Coverage A figure on the declarations page and do the arithmetic before a storm, not after. It is also worth asking your agent whether a lower percentage is available and what it does to the premium.
The trap
Your deductible applies to each event separately. That sounds fair until two storms are involved, which in Houston they usually are.
How it plays out
The interior damage is real, the coverage may well exist, and the homeowner still ends up paying for it.
How to avoid it
You file the claim yourself — a contractor cannot do it for you, and one who offers to should give you pause.
Where the number is
The summary sheet your insurer sends at every renewal, usually the first page. The claims line is on it, along with your policy number, your deductible, and whether you have ACV or RCV coverage.
It is also on the card in your policy documents, in your insurer's app, and on the back of most billing statements.
Have ready before you call
What to say — and not say
Say what you observed. "Hail on the 14th. There are granules in the gutters and dents on the vents." Facts, dated.
Do not estimate the damage or the cost. That is the adjuster's job, and an off-hand guess can anchor the claim lower than it should be. "I think it's just a few shingles" is a sentence that has cost people thousands.
If you do not know, say you do not know. That is a complete answer.
It happens often, it is normal, and it has a name: a supplement. Not knowing that is why some homeowners end up paying a shortfall out of pocket that the insurer would have covered.
An adjuster spends perhaps an hour on your roof and works from a standard pricing database. They are not being dishonest — they simply cannot see everything from a single visit, and some things are genuinely invisible until the old roof comes off.
Commonly missed:
A contractor who says "we'll just work with whatever insurance pays" is telling you they will cut scope to fit the check. That is how a roof ends up missing the leak barrier.
It can, and claims history affects renewal as well as price — particularly in a hard market. A weather-related claim is generally treated differently from a liability one, but it still appears on your record.
If the damage is close to your deductible, it is worth asking whether filing makes sense at all. A contractor who encourages every homeowner to file is not looking after your interests.
There are two deadlines and they are not the same. The deadline to file is usually set by your policy's suit-limitation clause — commonly two years from the date of loss in Texas — though most policies also require prompt notice regardless. The deadline to complete the work and recover your depreciation is separate and often far shorter: some carriers allow two years, some one, and some as little as six months. Get both confirmed in writing.
This matters more with hail than anything else, because hail damage frequently does not leak for months. A spring storm can surface as a stain in autumn, close to or past the limit.
No. They may recommend one from a preferred program, and there is nothing wrong with those contractors — but the choice is yours. You are entitled to use whoever you want, provided the work is done properly.
A denial is not always final. You can ask for the reason in writing, request a re-inspection, and submit further documentation. If you believe the denial is wrong, a licensed public adjuster or an attorney can act on your behalf — a roofer cannot.
Common reasons: the damage was judged to be wear rather than a covered peril, the loss fell below the deductible, or it was reported outside the filing window.
No, and it would be improper for us to. Filing, negotiating and settling a claim on your behalf is the work of a licensed public adjuster. We are roofers.
What we do is inspect the roof, document the damage slope by slope, produce an itemised scope, and meet your adjuster on the roof so both parties are looking at the same evidence. That documentation is what a fair claim is built on.
Most carriers pay the market price at the time the work is done. If material costs have risen since the storm, the settlement reflects that.
Some pay the market price as of the date of loss. On a roof replaced a year or more after the storm, that difference can be thousands of dollars, and it lands on you.
Ask which basis your policy uses before deciding how long to wait. On a date-of-loss policy, delay costs you money.
Not necessarily. Carriers have discretion, and we have seen one honor the endorsement after the deadline had passed for a homeowner who could show he had been in and out of hospital while his wife was treated for cancer.
It is discretionary rather than a right, and nobody should plan around it. But if illness, bereavement, deployment or another genuine hardship is the reason, put it in writing and ask.
Usually because of how the water got in. Most policies — including all TWIA policies — pay for interior damage only where there was a storm-created opening: shingles blown off, or hail perforating the shingles, decking, flashing or a penetration.
If wind drove rain under shingles that are still in place, or in behind flashing that never blew away, the adjuster finds no opening. Policies that recognise wind-driven rain cover that; policies that require an opening do not.
There is a third possibility worth knowing: flashing that failed from age rather than from the storm. That is wear and tear, and no policy covers it.
Not always. Some carriers exclude metal flashing and roof penetrations entirely — pipe boots, vents, chimney and wall flashing, skylight surrounds.
That matters because most roof leaks start at a penetration rather than in the open field of the roof. Check the exclusions page of your policy, or ask your agent before you file.
It depends on the carrier, and the percentage alone tells you very little until you know what it is applied to.
Some depreciate labor and materials together. Since labor is typically 50 to 60% of a roofing bill, that produces a large withheld amount — on a $22,000 roof at 50%, around $11,000 held back.
Others depreciate materials only, and often only the shingles and ridge cap. Underlayment, flashing, vents and labor are paid in full. On the same $22,000 roof at the same 50%, that might be $3,000 held back rather than $11,000.
Ask the adjuster two questions: is labor depreciated, and which line items are being depreciated? The answer changes your first check substantially.
Most Texas policies carry three. "All other perils" — theft, fire, burst pipes — is often 1% or a flat $500, and it is the one homeowners remember. It usually does not apply to a roof.
Wind and hail is commonly 2%. Hurricane or named storm is commonly 2% but can be 5% or 10% on Gulf Coast policies.
And the percentage is of your dwelling coverage, not the claim. On a home insured for $400,000, a 2% deductible is $8,000 whether the roof claim is $12,000 or $40,000.
Usually not, and this catches people out. Deductibles apply per occurrence. If an adjuster attributes the ceiling stain to an earlier storm, it is not covered under the hail claim and you are told to open a separate one — which means a second deductible, often more than the interior repair is worth.
Photograph and date interior damage when it appears, even if you do not file. A dated photograph is what ties damage to a specific storm, and it is far easier than arguing attribution a year later.
Every homeowner policy lists duties after a loss, and one of them is to notify your insurer promptly once you know the property has been damaged. It is an obligation you agreed to, not a courtesy.
It is separate from the filing deadline. You can be well inside the outer deadline and still be argued to have failed the prompt-notice duty by waiting months to report damage you knew about.
If you know there is damage, report it. You can decide what to do about it afterwards.
This page explains the process. If you have damage now, or a claim that has been approved and you are choosing a contractor, these will be more use:
Or call (713) 766-3464 and describe what happened. Inspection and written findings are free either way.
