Why It’s Important to Have Your Roof Insurance Claim Supplemented

Finding roof damage after a strong storm starts the overwhelming process of dealing with your insurance company. Your insurance company will guide you through the beginning stages of the process and send out an adjuster to inspect your roof. 

If your claim is approved, you’ll get an insurance estimate for the scope of work your insurance company will pay for. But like all humans, insurance adjusters make mistakes and leave important things off your estimate. 

That’s where your roofing contractor comes in and does something called supplementing. But why is it important?  

Because the insurance process can be confusing and, if you haven’t been through it before, overwhelming, we’re going to break it down for you. 

Why your roof insurance claim needs to be supplemented

Once your insurance company approves your claim, they’ll give you a claim estimate for the scope of work required to replace your roof back to the way it was before the storm hit.

Like I stated earlier, the unfortunate truth is most insurance adjusters leave line items off the claim estimates they give to homeowners. Sometimes they even leave off crucial code upgrades required to ensure your roof is up to code in compliance with your state.

When an insurance adjuster leaves something off your estimate, they aren’t giving you enough money to do the job. If this happens (and it happens a lot), your insurance claim has to be supplemented. 

Supplementing your insurance claim means putting in the work to ensure every line item (including local codes) your roof needs is covered by the insurance company. If a roofing contractor isn’t willing to help or give you tools to take on the insurance company, don’t even think about hiring them. 

Some insurance companies might give you some push back on supplementing. But as long as you’re willing to put in the work and hire a reputable roofing contractor, your roof will get everything it needs. 

3 things to do if you have an insurance claim for roof damage

Now you know why your insurance claim needs to be supplemented. But there are some things you need to do to ensure the insurance process goes as smoothly as possible. 

1. Hire a roofing contractor that handles insurance claims

As soon as your insurance claim is approved, you’ll be ready to start the replacement process. The first step, if you haven’t already, is to hire a great roofing contractor. 

Anytime you get any work done through homeowners insurance, you need to hire a roofing contractor with experience handling insurance claims. They’ll know the insurance claim process, how to read your claim correctly, help get everything included (supplementing), and how to do the work in compliance with your insurance company. 

For a deeper breakdown of why this is important, check out this article on why you should hire a roofing contractor that works with insurance claims. 

2. Show your roofing contractor your insurance estimate

After finding a roofing contractor to handle your insurance replacement, it’s crucial to show them your claim paperwork. This paperwork has important information they need to do the job correctly, including what needs to be supplemented in the event something is left off the original claim estimate. 

It also protects you from inadvertently committing insurance fraud by making sure everything your insurance company paid for is included in the contractor’s scope of work. And if you have any hesitations about showing your claim paperwork, your insurance company usually has a statement in their fine print telling you to share it with your roofing contractor. 

For example, Travelers has the following statement: 

“Therefore, you and/or contractor should review this estimate carefully and let us know immediately if you have any questions prior to beginning any work.”

If your own insurance company tells you to, then it’s safe to say that you should share your paperwork.

3. Don’t get multiple quotes for your insurance claim

Once your claim is approved, there’s no reason to get estimates from different roofing companies. This is mainly because insurance companies come up with the price to replace or repair your storm-damaged roof, not a roofing contractor. 

Insurance companies use software called Xactimate to come up with the price estimate for your roof claim based on the general pricing average of the materials in your area. Because of this, there’s no reason to try to find a roofing company with the lowest estimate because the price is already set by the insurance company.

If the roofing company’s estimate does end up being more than your insurance’s initial estimate, there’s no reason to panic. This is where hiring a roofing contractor that helps you supplement comes in handy. 

A reputable roofing company gives you the power to supplement anything left off the claim, so you can get the full cost of your roof replacement covered by the insurance company. But just because you shouldn’t get multiple estimates doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do your research and talk to multiple roofing companies to find the right one for you. 

Once your claim is approved, the most important thing to look for in a roofing company isn’t pricing, it’s trust. This is just one reason why you shouldn’t get multiple estimates from different roofing contractors.