In this post, we will walk you through roof damage insurance claims so you can understand what you’re looking at and know exactly what all the information on those pages actually means.
Breaking Down a Roof Claim Summary
On a roof insurance claim, there is a headline across the top that might read like this, “Summary for Coverage A – Dwelling – 35 Windstorm and Hail”. This headline marks the start of the financial summary of the claimed damages. If there was a second building that was damaged, such as a shed, that would be marked somewhere below under “Summary for Coverage B”.
Line Item Total This represents the sum of the unit prices for all damages before tax and before contractor overhead profit. The material sales tax is then typically displayed underneath and the sum of those two items brings you to your subtotal.
General Contractor Overhead and General Contractor Profit The next line item you will see is contractor overhead and profit. These are the costs associated with running the business and coordinating the roofing project, as-well-as the associated profits that the contractor needs to claim to successfully run their business and grow.
RCV (Replacement Cost Value) Adding everything together we get the total cost, referred to as the Replacement Cost Value. This is the grand total cost associated with the repair claim.
Total Amount of Claim If Incurred This is the total amount of money the insurance company will pay out to cover these damages. This is equal to the RCV minus whatever deductible your particular plan has.
Financial Roof Claim Example
Take a look at a real storm damage roofing project our team worked on.
Line Item Total: $31,307.78
General Contractor Overhead/Profit: $5395.66
RCV: $37,350.20
Deductible: $1,310
Total Amount of Claim If Incurred: $36,040.20
As you can see:
Line Item Total + General Contractor Overhead/Profit = RCV
$31,307.78 + $5395.66 = $37,350.20
RCV – Deductible = Total Amount of Claim If Incurred
$37,350.20 – $1,310 = $36,040.20
This homeowner had extensive storm damage on their roof and our team came in and completely replaced their roofing systems. We worked with their insurance company and they only had to pay the $1,310 dollar deductible on their policy and they were able to get $37,350.20 worth of repair and replacement work done.
Line Items
Towards the back of the roof insurance claim, you can see every expense on the roof that the insurance policy covered such as tear-off and removal, shingle installation, chimney flashing, and so on. Adding all these items in accounting for depreciation and such brings you to that Line Item Total you see at the beginning of the financial summary.
Supplemental Items
Very often on storm damage roofing projects, the original line items do not include all the charges ultimately needed on a storm damage repair job. Our team will take careful notes of these adjustments and contact the insurance company to make sure that the customer gets a fair settlement and all the appropriate expenses are covered by the insurance company.
At first glance, a roof repair insurance claim seems complicated but with just a little bit of research, you can quickly get a strong understanding of what you are looking at and be well informed to understand exactly what is being done to your home and how the insurance policy is helping you keep your roof in great shape.
Understanding Your Initial Estimate
We had a family contact our team and ask for one of our members to come out to their home and assess their roof after a severe hail storm had damaged their property. They had already had their insurance company out and the adjuster had an estimate. Their insurance company quoted them for a $12,609 Replacement Cost Value to cover the cost of the roof replacements and a few other small damages.
While this might sound reasonable, that is a significantly lower than what the replacement would actually cost. This is why it is crucial for homeowners to have a qualified roofing contractor provide an estimate as well. This additional estimate can then be used to negotiate a higher claim.
Reassessing Damage
Our team went to the home and did a thorough inspection across the entire exterior of the home. Our goal was not to just take whatever damage the insurance company noticed but to ensure the insurance company would cover every single damage that the hail storm had caused. While some roofing contractor would just take the initial assessment and run, our team thoroughly inspected the home’s exterior and documented every damage associated with the recent storm and found dozens of damages the insurance company had originally not included or had significantly undervalued.
We documented and brought all these damages to the insurance company. After originally rejecting the additional replacements we used our roofing expertise and fought for the home owners to ensure everything was covered and the homeowners got a completely new roof and exterior covered.
Comparison
By taking these extra steps and acting as a resource for the homeowners we were able to increase the repair coverage from $12,609 to $35,367!
The original assessment had only included a small roof replacement and repair work on a few siding panels. Our team was able to increase the coverage to include full siding replacement, new gutters, and window wraps basically completely replacing the home’s exterior with new high-quality materials.
By working directly with the insurance company and using our roofing expertise to prove that there were additional damages caused by the storm damage, we were able to increase the damage covered by almost 3 times. Our work helped that family get a completely new home exterior from just paying the $3,000 dollar deductible on their insurance policy.
When you are dealing with your roof insurance you always want a reliable roofing contractor who is willing to battle for you and make sure you get the most from the insurance premiums you are paying for. Dreamworx Roofing is always happy to help homeowners with any questions they have so please reach out to our team online or over the phone.
How to Get the Most Out of Your Roof Insurance Claim
One of the best ways to get the most out of your roof insurance claim is to hire a quality roofing contractor who will help guide you through this process. While your roofing contractor won’t be able to take care of the process for you, they will have tons of experience working with insurance companies and will be able to guide you through while getting you the most value for your claim.
If you are in the Mechanicsburg, PA area, contact us at DreamWorx Exteriors! We would love to work with you on your next project!
