Guide
Making a roof damage claim
Insurance covers sudden damage. It does not cover a roof that wore out. Almost every disputed claim comes down to which of those two a roof is.
Or call (909) 760-1213Get it looked at
Three questions, and up to three Diamond Bar contractors. Free either way.
Your request is in.
We are matching it now against roofing contractors working in Diamond Bar 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.
Read anything before you sign it
Be wary of any contract signed in a hurry after a storm, particularly one that ties you to the contractor regardless of what the insurer decides.
Mind the deadline
Report promptly even if you have not decided what to do. The clock in the policy runs from the date of the event, not the date you noticed.
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.
Photograph everything, immediately
Take far more pictures than feel necessary, including undamaged areas for comparison. Do it before the tarp goes on, not after.
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.
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.
In short
The homeowners who do well out of claims are not the ones with the worst damage. They are the ones with the best photographs.
Related questions
I have solar panels. What happens to them?
They come off and go back on, and that is a separate cost, often handled by the solar installer rather than the roofer. If the roof is near the end of its life, do the roof first — removing and refitting panels twice is money wasted.
Are the contractors licensed and insured?
We require a licence number and current insurance from every contractor in the network. Verify it yourself anyway. Your state licensing board has a free lookup, and it takes two minutes.
Why three quotes and not one?
Because one price tells you nothing. Three tells you where the middle is, and the outliers are informative in both directions — the very cheapest is usually leaving something out, and the most expensive should be able to say what you are getting for it.
Ready for a real number?
It is free, and nothing obliges you to hire anyone.