Do you have a roof damage insurance claim? Are you confused by your insurance estimate being lower than expected?
This is common when an area gets hit by a storm that produces a lot of claims. So, you’re not alone in your confusion.
Fortunately, it’s possible to get more from the insurance company by supplementing the claim. But what does that mean? Why do you have to do it in the first place?
For over 30 years, Bill Ragan Roofing has taken pride in helping and guiding homeowners through the confusion of the claim process. Now, let’s take a deep dive into supplementing a roof damage insurance claim.
This article answers the following questions:
- What does it mean to supplement your roof damage insurance claim?
- Why does your roof damage insurance claim need to be supplemented?
- How do you supplement your roof damage insurance claim?
- What if you don’t want to deal with supplementing your roof damage insurance claim?
What does it mean to supplement your roof damage insurance claim?
If you have an ACV policy, your journey ends after they provide the check for the actual cash value of your roof. But if you have an RCV policy, the insurance company is supposed to provide a payout for what it costs to restore your old roof to a brand-new version.
With this policy, the insurance company provides a scope of work and an estimate for what it will cost to replace. However, most insurance estimates will not cover the full cost.
This is where supplementing comes in. Supplementing a roof damage insurance claim is simply getting more line items covered by submitting a revised estimate to your insurance company.
Some push back on supplementing, but it’s your right as the policy owner to get what you’re owed after paying years of premiums.
Why does your roof damage insurance claim need to be supplemented?
After learning what supplementing is, you’re probably wondering why it has to be done in the first place. Sometimes, an adjuster leaves off certain roofing components or code upgrades required to restore your roof properly.
However, most insurance estimates have to be supplemented because they simply don’t provide homeowners enough to cover a roofer’s estimate. Insurance gets their pricing from Xactimate or similar software to provide a scope of work based on general prices in the area.
However, this doesn’t account for overhead, profit, local dump fees, and other things that vary roofer to roofer. So, while insurance companies have their pricing, roofers have their own prices that must be met to cover their expenses and make a profit.
You may be thinking, “Why can’t a roofer just do it for the exact amount insurance gives me?” Roofing companies are for-profit businesses, and as I said, they need to make a certain amount of profit on each job to keep the doors open.
Now, you can find a roofer who will do it for the amount that insurance gives you. But research the company thoroughly before jumping at their lower estimate, and NEVER listen to a company willing to pay your deductible.
How do you supplement your roof damage insurance claim?
Supplementing a roof damage claim requires due diligence to get as much of our scope of work covered by insurance, including local codes, labor, dump fees, overhead, profit, and everything in between. To do this, you’ll need an estimate from a trusted roofer, review the difference in line items, make the appropriate changes, and submit it to your insurance company for approval.
There are rare occasions when insurance approves it without hassle, but it usually requires some back-and-forth before finally coming to an agreement. If they still won’t budge, you’ll either accept the payout or start another process I’m not qualified to discuss.
As the policyholder, you’re the only one who has the right to supplement. However, a roofer can provide tools and help you with the process.
For example, I provide homeowners with a Supplementing Checklist to help them recognize all the line items insurance should cover with an RCV policy.
What if you don’t want to deal with supplementing your roof damage insurance claim?
There’s no guarantee supplementing will get more or your entire roof replacement covered. You’ll also have to do the work, which means dealing with the insurance company.
Some homeowners just don’t want to deal with supplementing and the potential headaches. So, if you don’t want to fight, you’ll use the initial payout and decide what to do about the rest.
The first option is simply making up the difference out of pocket. You’ll pay more money upfront plus your deductible, but it ends there.
If you don’t have the cash on hand or just don’t want such a big expense, you can finance the full cost. This lets you make monthly payments like a car loan and pays the roofer upfront.
You’ll also get to keep the insurance money (minus your deductible) because the roofer was paid on the front end. However, you still have to submit proof the scope of work was followed correctly to get the second check.
How do you avoid roof damage insurance scams?
Now you know what it means to supplement your insurance claim, why you would do it, how to do it, and your options if you don’t want to deal with it. As I said, it’s incredibly rare that an insurance claim doesn’t need some supplementing.
But you need to determine if you want to do the work to get more covered. Plenty of homeowners don’t want to deal with supplementing, which is understandable.
Unfortunately, some people also start looking for a cheap price. This just opens the door for scams that are way too common in the roofing industry.
I don’t want this to happen to you. That’s why I wrote another article with tips on avoiding potential roofing and insurance scams.
Check out 6 Tips to Avoid Roof Damage Insurance Scams so you don’t get taken advantage of by bad roofers.
