By Lance Edwards

Whenever a storm system punches through Southeast Texas, the winds rip our tree limbs and punish our roofs to the point of minor shingle repair and sometimes a full roof replacement.

But judging what's best for your roof goes beyond what the eyes can see. You must hire a trust-worthy professional to examine your roofing system before picking up the phone or clicking your insurance app and filing a claim.

That examiner will look for flaps or separation in your shingles, leaks in your flashing, and climb in your attic to see if anything is wet or unusual. Technology tells weather gurus when hail strikes and roofers always have an eye open looking for dents in your vents or shingles.

But sometimes you get a door knocker or storm chaser. Roofers who are taking advantage of you are always going to say "Oh yeah, call your insurance company, book an adjuster and I'll meet them here, then I'll help you turn in your paperwork and fulfill your claim process."

This super easy and lazy tactic simply backs you in a corner. What if you think your carrier is going to buy you a new roof but you have the wrong coverage? Well, then you're stuck with an extremely high out of pocket expense or another loan in your portfolio. Ultimately, you'll have another lovely bill.

Sometimes an insurance company may have an extremely high deductible, leaving you with only $3,000 coverage on a $15,000 roof. Usually when this happens, homeowners get mad, don't want to pay the difference, and when they don't act on the claim, it expires and their insurance drops them. Once you get dropped, you will not get picked back up until your roof is replaced.

This all sounds like a disaster, however, it is preventable. There are a lot of good guys in roofing who will give you the following steps before taking advantage of your insurance claim.

First, make sure somebody from the roofing company you want to use, or maybe three companies you call, physically climb on your roof and tell you they think you could get a claim for hail, wind, etc. It would help to also make them type up their own inspection report for your files. AFTER YOUR ROOF HAS BEEN LOOKED AT, ask for a quote from the roofer, and ask for their help in filing an insurance claim "if necessary." 

Key advice: Most roofing companies should be able to look over your insurance coverage with you, or sit down with you and schedule a call with your insurance agent to see what your policy options are.

The next steps will include an insurance company booking one of its own adjusters to your home to ultimately determine the fate of your claim and pocket book. If you have any damage, you have to live with what your insurance wants to pay out to replace or repair your roof. 

What we tell our clients is once your make that phone call, you've shoved your chips all in on replacing your roof and crossing your fingers to see if you'll have to pay for the whole project or nothing at all.

At Triple C Power Roofing our professionals can review your insurance policy to determine whether your policy is ACV only or RCV as well. To learn more about those terms, you have our phone number in this publication!

After every storm it is important to look up and make sure everything that protects your most valuable asset is intact and secured. Hidden leaks caught early cost only a few hundred dollars to patch. But when they spread, that's when thousands of dollars get spent for no reason. So when your local meteorologist says severe weather is coming tonight, make sure your roofer is on speed dial first thing tomorrow to give you a free gander and make sure nothing got knocked out of whack from mother nature's fury.