Guide
Making a roof damage claim
A roof claim is a documentation exercise. The damage matters, but what you can prove about it matters more.
Get it looked at
Three questions, and up to three Rancho Santa Margarita contractors. Free either way.
Your request is in.
We are matching it now against roofing contractors working in Rancho Santa Margarita and the surrounding area.
- Today, usually within the hour. The first contractor calls or texts the number you gave us. ASAP requests go out first.
- Up to three of them, no more. We cap it at three so you can compare without your phone melting.
- They come and look. Estimates are given after somebody has been on the roof, not over the phone.
- You decide, or you do not. There is nothing to cancel and nothing to pay us.
If you do not hear anything today, check your voicemail and spam folder — contractors often call from a mobile number.
Photograph everything, immediately
Take far more pictures than feel necessary, including undamaged areas for comparison. Do it before the tarp goes on, not after.
Mind the deadline
Policies impose time limits on reporting damage, and they are shorter than people assume. Damage found late — hail in particular — is often denied simply because too long has passed.
Stop further damage, and keep the receipts
Emergency mitigation is normally recoverable and routinely forgotten. Save the paperwork for the tarp as carefully as the paperwork for the repair.
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.
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.
Know what your policy actually pays
The two clauses that decide the cheque are the settlement basis and the deductible. Some policies also carry a separate, larger deductible for wind and hail.
In short
Document first, mitigate second, file third. In that order it usually goes smoothly; in any other order it usually does not.
Related questions
Should I take the cheapest quote?
Only if it is the same roof. Most large gaps between quotes are scope gaps. Ask the cheapest contractor which of the other quotes items they have left out, and why.
It is leaking right now. What do I do?
Move what you can out of the way, put a bucket under it, and if there is a bulge in the ceiling put a small hole at its lowest point to let the water out in one place rather than bringing the whole panel down. Then mark your request as an emergency — those go out first.
Do you cover the whole Orange County area?
Yes. The contractors we match on cover Rancho Santa Margarita and the surrounding towns, so if you are just outside the city limits it still works.
Start with a free estimate
No cost, no obligation, and never more than three contractors.