How a roof claim actually works

Read anything before you sign it

An assignment of benefits hands control of your claim to a contractor. There are legitimate uses for it and it is also the single most common way homeowners lose control of a claim. Never sign one on the doorstep.

Mind the deadline

Report promptly even if you have not decided what to do. The clock in the policy runs from the date of the event, not the date you noticed.

Know what your policy actually pays

Replacement cost pays what it costs to replace the roof today. Actual cash value pays that minus depreciation, which on a fifteen-year-old roof can be most of it. Find out which you have before you file, along with your deductible.

Photograph everything, immediately

Wide shots that show the house, close shots that show the damage, and pictures of the inside where water came through. Dated, before anybody touches anything. An adjuster can work with photographs; they cannot work with a description.

Stop further damage, and keep the receipts

Policies expect you to take reasonable steps to prevent things getting worse, and they generally reimburse the cost of doing so. Tarps, emergency call-outs, a temporary patch. Keep every receipt.

Get an independent assessment first

Filing a claim that turns out to be under your deductible costs you nothing but is on your record anyway. Find out the scale of the damage before you pick up the phone.

In short

The homeowners who do well out of claims are not the ones with the worst damage. They are the ones with the best photographs.