Roof claims tend to go wrong in the same few ways, and most of them have nothing to do with the roof. They come down to who’s allowed to say what, and whether anybody wrote down what the damage actually was. Here’s how the process runs in Alabama and where it usually gets stuck.
Key Takeaways
- Your carrier decides coverage, your roofer decides what the roof needs, you decide whether to file. Three separate jobs.
- Alabama Code section 8-36-2 prohibits a roofing contractor from negotiating your claim or advertising that they will.
- Alabama doesn’t license public adjusters, so a roofer offering to fight your carrier isn’t licensed to do it under some other name either.
- The same statute gives you five business days to cancel a contract if your insurer says in writing that the claim isn’t covered.
Who decides what
Your insurance carrier decides what’s covered. Your roofing contractor decides what the roof needs and what the work costs. You decide whether to file and whether to go ahead. Understanding that those are three separate jobs saves most of the trouble people run into.
The carrier sends an adjuster to assess the damage and applies your policy to it. Your roofer inspects and produces a scope and a price. Claims fall apart when those two assessments happen at different times, from different vantage points, at different levels of detail. Then everybody’s arguing about two different roofs.
What your roofer can legally do
Quite a bit, and one specific thing not at all.
Alabama Code section 8-36-2 says a residential roofing contractor cannot represent or negotiate, or offer or advertise to represent or negotiate, on a homeowner’s behalf on any insurance claim connected to the repair or replacement of a roof. Not do it, and not advertise that they will. So a contractor who tells you they’ll handle the claim, deal with the adjuster for you, or fight the carrier on your behalf is describing something the law doesn’t permit.
Alabama also doesn’t license public adjusters, so there’s no other title that makes it allowed.
What a contractor can do is the whole roofing side. Inspect the roof and photograph what’s there. Measure it. Write an itemized estimate for the repair or replacement. Attend the adjuster’s inspection so both parties are looking at the same evidence at the same time. Document a supplement where the approved scope leaves out damage that’s genuinely present.
The carrier still decides what it pays. Our job is making sure it decides with the roof in front of it.
Roof damage documentation
A claim gets decided on evidence, and most of the evidence comes from the roof inspection. Weak documentation is a one-line quote and a couple of wide shots. Strong documentation looks like this:
- Photographs of each area of damage, close enough to show granule loss and bruising, with enough context to place them on the roof
- Measurements of the roof and of the affected slopes
- An itemized scope separating materials, labor and the individual components being replaced
- A written condition assessment that distinguishes storm damage from ordinary wear
The reason to be fussy is that an adjuster is working through a lot of properties and can’t reconstruct your roof from a vague estimate. Documentation an adjuster can check quickly tends to move faster than documentation that has to be interpreted.
Insurance supplements
A supplement is extra documentation submitted after the initial scope is approved, when the approved work turns out to miss damage that’s genuinely there or leave out something the repair actually needs. Decking that turns out to be rotten once the tear-off starts is the common one, since nobody could see it beforehand.
Supplements are normal and legitimate. They’re not a negotiating tactic, though. If the original scope was right there’s nothing to supplement, and a contractor who treats every job as a supplement opportunity isn’t doing you a favor.
Storm damage vs normal wear
This is the conversation nobody wants and everybody should have early.
Age-related wear generally isn’t a covered peril. A roof with curling tabs and granule loss across every slope has usually reached the end of its life rather than been damaged by one particular storm. Filing on it usually produces a denial, and a denied claim still sits on your record.
An honest roofer will tell you which one you have before you file. It’s a shorter conversation and a less exciting one, and it saves you a claim you didn’t want.
Your cancellation rights
Alabama Code section 8-36-2 also protects you specifically on roofing contracts paid from insurance proceeds. Before you sign, the contractor has to give you a completed, detachable form captioned NOTICE OF CANCELLATION, in bold type. If your insurer then tells you in writing that the claim isn’t covered, or that the payment won’t be enough to cover the contract, you can cancel before midnight on the fifth business day.
That exists so a homeowner can’t get locked into paying out of pocket for a contract they only signed because they expected insurance to fund it. A contractor who doesn’t hand you that form isn’t following the statute.
Where to start
Get the roof looked at properly and get the photographs, whether or not you end up filing. A free inspection costs nothing and it’s the difference between a claim built on evidence and a claim built on an opinion.
We handle storm damage documentation across Mobile County, Baldwin County and the Birmingham metro, for houses and commercial property. Call (251) 725-0036, or find us at 3710 Halls Mill Rd in Mobile.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does insurance cover a new roof in Alabama?
It depends on why the roof needs replacing. Sudden damage from a covered peril like wind or hail is generally claimable. Age-related wear generally isn’t. Your policy and your carrier decide, which is why the useful first step is documenting what actually happened to the roof rather than guessing at coverage.
Will you handle my insurance claim for me?
No. Alabama Code section 8-36-2 prohibits a residential roofing contractor from representing or negotiating a homeowner’s roof insurance claim. What we do is document the roof accurately, provide a properly scoped estimate and meet your adjuster on site when that’s appropriate.
Can you meet my insurance adjuster at the property?
Yes, where it’s appropriate we’ll be there. Having the roofer and the adjuster on the roof at the same time means the damage gets assessed once, against the same evidence, instead of producing two opinions that then have to be reconciled.
What is a roof claim supplement?
Additional documentation submitted when the approved scope of work leaves out damage that’s genuinely present, or misses work the repair requires. Rotten decking found during tear-off is the usual example. We document supplements where they’re justified. Whether the carrier approves one is the carrier’s decision.
Do you charge for a storm damage inspection?
No. Storm damage inspections are free with no obligation. We photograph what we find and give you the documentation whether or not you decide to file.