Hail & storm damage
Your claim, handled properly.
Colorado leads the country in hail claims, and most homeowners go through the process exactly once. We do it every week. Here is how it actually works — and what a good contractor does at each step.
Start here
You almost certainly can't see it from the ground.
Hail doesn't usually punch holes in a roof. It bruises the shingle, knocking loose the mineral granules that shield the asphalt mat underneath from ultraviolet light. From your driveway the roof looks exactly the same as it did the day before the storm.
What's actually happened is that the clock has been reset. The exposed mat starts breaking down under Colorado's very intense sun, and the roof that had eighteen years left now has four or five. The leak shows up long after your claim window has closed, and at that point the replacement is entirely your expense.
That's the whole reason a free post-storm inspection is worth twenty minutes even when everything looks fine. There's no cost and no obligation, and the downside of skipping it is an entire roof.
The process
Five steps from storm to finished roof.
You're responsible for your deductible and for filing the claim itself. We handle everything in between.
Free documented inspection
Before you call your insurer, find out whether you actually have a claim. We get on the roof and photograph everything — hail strikes, granule loss, soft metal damage, and the condition of flashings and vents. You get the report whether or not there's damage, and there's no charge and no obligation either way.
You file the claim
If there's real damage, you call your insurance company and open the claim. It has to come from you — the policyholder — not from us. We'll tell you exactly what to say and give you the documentation to reference, but we never file on your behalf and you should be wary of any contractor who offers to.
We meet your adjuster on the roof
This is the step that matters most and the one most homeowners skip. Adjusters are covering a lot of roofs in a short window after a storm. When we're up there with them, damage gets found that would otherwise be missed, and the scope of the approved work reflects what the roof actually needs.
Supplements when the scope falls short
The first estimate frequently leaves out code-required items — ice and water shield, drip edge, proper ventilation, additional layers discovered during tear-off. We document those and file a supplement with your carrier so they're covered rather than coming out of your pocket.
Work gets done, final payment released
We complete the roof, provide the documentation your insurer needs, and they release the recoverable depreciation. You pay your deductible. That's your share, start to finish.
Know this before you hire anyone
In Colorado, a contractor who offers to cover your deductible is committing a crime.
State law prohibits roofing contractors from paying, waiving, or rebating an insurance deductible, and from advertising that they will. It's insurance fraud, and the homeowner who goes along with it is exposed too. If someone makes you that offer, that's your answer about everything else they'll tell you.
Colorado law also gives you the right to cancel a storm-damage roofing contract within 72 hours of being notified that your carrier denied the claim, and requires the contractor to return your deposit. Any reputable roofer will put that in the contract themselves.
Common questions
What homeowners ask us.
- Will filing a claim raise my rates?
- Hail and wind are classified as acts of nature rather than at-fault claims, so a single storm claim generally does not raise an individual policyholder's rate the way an at-fault auto accident would. Carriers do raise rates across an entire region after major storms regardless of whether you personally filed. If you have damage, not filing usually means paying for a roof yourself that your policy already covers.
- Do I have to pay my deductible?
- Yes. In Colorado it is illegal for a contractor to pay, waive, rebate, or absorb your insurance deductible, and it's a criminal offense for them to advertise that they will. Any roofer offering to 'eat the deductible' or 'work with you on it' is telling you something important about how they run their business. Your deductible is your only out-of-pocket cost on an approved claim.
- How long do I have to file?
- Most Colorado policies give you one year from the date of loss, though some allow two. The practical problem is that hail damage doesn't leak right away — it fails several years later, long after the window has closed. That's why a free inspection in the weeks after a storm is worth doing even when nothing looks wrong from the ground.
- My claim was denied. Is that final?
- Not necessarily. Denials often come down to an adjuster who spent ten minutes on a roof during a week when they were assigned a hundred. You can request a re-inspection, and we'll meet the second adjuster with our documentation. We won't promise a reversal, but we'll tell you honestly whether we think the denial was wrong.
- Do I have to use the contractor my insurance recommends?
- No. You choose your own contractor in Colorado. Insurer 'preferred' programs exist to control the carrier's costs, and that isn't always the same thing as your interest. Your policy obligates them to pay for a proper repair regardless of who performs it.
No cost, no obligation
Think you might have storm damage?
We'll inspect the roof, document what's there, and tell you honestly whether it's worth filing. If there's nothing, you've lost twenty minutes.