The hail storm that moved through McKinney and Allen two nights ago was impressive! I’ve been through many but have never seen one that hailed that hard for at least 30 minutes straight. No rain, just hail. I’ll bet the hail lasted 20-30 minutes.
Already, roofing company yard signs are sprouting throughout our area like flowers. Hopefully your home wasn’t hit, but if it was, here are some things you might want to take into consideration.
- It goes without saying if your roof is leaking, contact your insurance company immediately. There’s nothing gained by delaying a roof claim under this scenario. It’s your responsibility to address the problem right away. If you delay getting the new roof on and there’s further water damage your insurance company might deny the claim.
- If you’re unsure whether your roof has had damage, I would call a reputable roofer to examine it first. Again, if the roofer tells you the roof is leaking or in danger of leaking, that’s the time to call your insurer. If the roof checks out, there’s no reason to call your insurer.
- We’ll see a flood of out of town storm chasing roofers knocking on doors looking to make a fast buck. They might even have a local phone number and give you a tempting, cheap deal, but they’re probably working out of the back of their truck with no office location. If there’s a problem, they’re long gone. I would highly recommend using a local roofer with a solid reputation. Just contact me and I’ll be happy to provide you with several roofers we can recommend.
- Many roofing companies have software which allows them to see street by street which homes were hit with hail and even the size of the hail. Roofers won’t waste their time knocking on doors where the hail missed or was in smaller sizes, but they’re be all over the neighborhoods that were hit hard.
- I’ve personally seen a homeowner put on two brand new roofs within the same month. The home was hit twice when two hail storms moved through one right after the other. I don’t know the statistics on the average life expectancy of a roof in north Texas but before you pay top dollar for a very expensive 40 year roof, I’d give it some consideration.
One last thing … Your roofer might offer you a “deal” whereby they can get your insurance deductible paid for you. Beware of those schemes. I copied the following from our insurer, Dean Hansen of Farmers …
If a roofer or contractor says “I can make it where you are not out of pocket for your deductible” they are committing insurance fraud and you can get some unexpected legal trouble. In times of large widespread damage, insurance companies will be more diligent to make sure that doesn’t happen. IMO anyone who is willing to commit insurance fraud makes me wonder how honest they will be in doing my repairs or honoring a warranty.
Make sure you have proof that you paid the full adjustment amount listed on the insurance paperwork including your deductible… of course the cleared checks. -Dean Hansen
Here is an article about that.
If you have questions, please feel free to contact Dean. We highly recommend him and his information is at the bottom of the post.
