After a significant storm, a lot of roofing companies arrive in the area at once. Most are legitimate businesses doing exactly what the industry does. Some are not, and the difference is not obvious from your doorstep.
Here is how to tell them apart — the four things to verify, the red flags worth walking away from, and the questions that sort it out in about five minutes.
The short version
Verify before you sign: license (where required), general liability and workers' compensation, a physical local address, manufacturer certification if a manufacturer warranty is promised.
Walk away immediately from: any offer to cover your deductible, pressure to sign today, a demand for most of the money up front, or anyone claiming your insurer sent them.
Get: two or three written assessments, three local references from the last year, and a workmanship warranty in writing.
Verify four things before you sign anything
1. A license, where your state requires one
Roofing licensing varies enormously by state. Some states license roofing contractors specifically, some cover it under a general contractor license, and in some places there is no state license at all — only local registration.
Look up what your state actually requires rather than accepting a laminated card as proof, and verify the number on the state board's site. A card proves someone owns a laminator.
2. General liability insurance AND workers' compensation
Both. They cover different disasters.
- General liability covers damage to your property — a dropped bundle through a skylight, a truck through the garage door.
- Workers' compensation covers injuries to their crew. Roofing is one of the most dangerous trades in the country, and if an uninsured worker is hurt on your roof, that can become your problem, through your homeowner's policy.
Ask for certificates of insurance, then verify them with the insurance agent named on the certificate, not with the contractor. Certificates are trivially easy to forge and take one phone call to confirm. Ask specifically whether the policy is current and whether it covers subcontracted crews.
3. A physical local address
Not a PO box, not just a truck with a magnet on the door. Ask where the office is, and be willing to look it up.
This matters for one reason: a workmanship warranty is only as good as the company still existing when you need it. Storm work naturally draws out-of-state crews, and plenty are legitimate — but a company with an office, a yard and a local phone number three years from now is a different proposition from one working out of a rental truck.
4. Manufacturer certification, if a manufacturer warranty is promised
Enhanced manufacturer warranties — the ones that cover materials and labor for decades — are only valid when installed by a certified installer. Certification is verifiable on the manufacturer's own website, and the manufacturers make it easy to check.
If someone promises a fifty-year warranty, ask which manufacturer and which certification level, then look it up while they are standing there.
Red flags worth ending the conversation over
| Red flag | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Offering to cover, waive, absorb or "eat" your deductible | Insurance fraud in most states. Can void your claim and expose you. |
| Pressure to sign today, or "this price is only good now" | On an insurance job the carrier pays an agreed scope. There is no such thing as a today-only price. |
| A contingency agreement pushed at the door, before any inspection | Many versions bind you to that contractor for the whole claim, with a cancellation fee. |
| Asking for most of the money up front | A deposit is normal. Most of the total before material arrives is not. |
| Offering to inspect while you are out, or already being on the roof | You have not authorized anyone to be up there, and you cannot see what they did. |
| Claiming to be sent by your insurance company | Insurers do not send contractors. This one is simply false. |
| No written estimate, or a total with no line items | You cannot compare it, and neither can your adjuster. |
| Refusing to give references, or giving only out-of-state ones | The point of references is that they are near you and reachable. |
| Suggesting damage be "helped along" or added to | Fraud, and it puts your entire claim at risk, not theirs. |
The deductible one deserves emphasis, because it is presented as a favor. It is not a favor. Several states have statutes naming this practice specifically, it can void your claim entirely, and it is the clearest possible signal about how the rest of the job will be handled — because a company willing to commit fraud to win your job is telling you what it does when nobody is watching.
What a contingency agreement actually is
You will probably be handed one. It is worth understanding rather than fearing.
A contingency agreement says: if your insurance claim is approved, you will use this contractor for the work, at the price the carrier's scope establishes. It is a legitimate and common instrument — it lets a contractor invest time in inspecting and documenting your claim without you committing to a dollar amount nobody knows yet.
The problems are in the details:
- Some versions bind you to that contractor for the entire claim, including any supplement, with no way out if the relationship sours.
- Some carry a cancellation fee, often a percentage of the claim, which can be substantial.
- Some authorize the contractor to speak to your carrier on your behalf in broader terms than you intended.
Practical rules: never sign one at the door before anyone has been on the roof; read the cancellation clause specifically; and check your state's right of rescission, which for a contract signed at your home is often three days. Our glossary entry on contingency agreements covers the mechanics.
Questions that tell you a lot, quickly
- "Who will actually be on my roof — your employees or a subcontracted crew?" Both are normal. The answer tells you who is accountable and whose workers' comp applies.
- "What is your workmanship warranty, in writing, and how long have you been in business here?" A ten-year warranty from a company that will not exist in two years is worth nothing.
- "Will you handle the insurance paperwork and any supplement, or is that on me?" There is no wrong answer, but you need to know before you find out the hard way.
- "What happens if the adjuster and you disagree about the scope?" A good contractor describes a documentation process. A bad one describes a fight.
- "What did you find on my roof that is NOT storm damage?" This is the best single question on the list. Any competent inspector noticed blistering, old repairs or wear. Someone who says everything is hail damage either did not look or is not telling you what they saw.
- "Can you give me three local references from the last year?" Then actually call them, and ask about the paperwork rather than the roof.
- "Will you be pulling the permit?" The contractor should. A contractor asking you to pull the permit is transferring liability to you.
On door knocking
Roofers knocking doors after a storm is not itself a red flag — it is how the industry has always found work, and plenty of good local companies do it, including ones your neighbors have used for years.
The signal is not that they knocked; it is how they behave once you say "let me think about it."
A good contractor leaves you information and a way to reach them, and follows up once. A bad one will not leave, escalates, invents a deadline, or comes back with a manager. That five-second test sorts most of it.
Get more than one opinion
Two or three assessments, in writing, from local companies.
Compare what each one says is damaged, not just the price. On an insurance job the carrier pays an agreed scope regardless of who does the work, so a much lower bid usually means a smaller scope — not a better deal for you. It very often means cutting underlayment, skipping the drip edge, or reusing flashing that should be replaced.
Genuine disagreement about scope between two contractors is normal and informative. An assessment wildly different from everyone else's — in either direction — is worth understanding before you act on it.
You choose the contractor, not your insurer
A carrier's "preferred" or "program" contractor list is a recommendation, not a requirement. You are free to hire any licensed and insured roofer you want.
What the carrier controls is the amount they will pay, through the scope of loss. What you control is who does the work. Do not let either party tell you otherwise.
Before you talk to anyone
Two things make every one of these conversations easier:
- Know whether hail actually reached your address, and roughly what size. It reframes the whole conversation and it takes ten seconds.
- Know whether you have a claim worth filing. The deductible math, your policy's replacement cost terms and the filing deadline all have a say. Work through the seven questions first.
And once you have hired someone, what happens after you file a roof claim covers the payment sequence — including the second check most homeowners never collect, which a good contractor will chase for you and a bad one will not mention.
Check your own address first
Before you call anyone, find out whether hail actually reached your area and how big it was. Our free hail tracker reads the same NOAA radar record the industry uses, and it takes one address and about ten seconds.
If the radar shows a real storm over your house, you can ask us to pass your details to one vetted local roofer for a free inspection. That is your choice and a separate box — we do not share your name, address or phone with anyone unless you tick it.