florida roofing 101

hurricane & insurance claims

Under Florida Law Statute, 627.70132 Notice of Windstorm or Hurricane, you have 3 years to file a claim within 3 years after the hurricane made landfall or the windstorm caused the covered damage. Do not wait until the last minute to file a claim, the longer the wait, the more difficult for approvals.

Did You know if your hurricane claim was considered “closed“ you can reopen the claim with one phone call to your insurance carrier?

Do you know if you have damage to your tile roof?

Many homeowners associate a leaking roof with a damaged roof. In many homes, the tiles can be cracked, broken or missing but will not cause a visible leak. Most tile damage cannot be seen from the ground.

Many of the Tile roofs in Florida were constructed with tiles that are no longer manufactured or available for repairs.

If you had a previous insurance claim did your adjuster inform you about the “Discontinued or Obsolete” roof tile?

The Tile Roofing Institute governs the actual building code for tile roofing in Florida. The Tile Roofing Institute has published a list titled: “Obsolete Concrete Roof Tiles Formerly Produced in Florida.”

WHAT CAN HAPPEN IF YOU DO NOT FILE A HURRICANE CLAIM?

The insurance companies had a significant financial impact with regards to tile roofs in Florida due to the Hurricanes. After the 3-year time limit has elapsed to file an insurance claim, the insurance company has the right to inspect your roof to determine if there is existing damage to your roof.

If damage is found on the roof, the insurance company has the right to drop insurance coverage on your home. If coverage is dropped, you could be forced to find a new insurance company. The “new insurance company” will most likely not approve your coverage unless you provide a new roof at your own expense. Why take this risk? You pay your premiums to have coverage.

FAQ: EXISTING ROOF REPAIRS & ROOF REPLACEMENT

What if you already paid thousands of dollars for repairs after the hurricane and did not file a claim?

Many homeowners have paid a Roofer or a Handyman to repair the roof after the Hurricane. We can assist homeowners to be reimbursement by the insurance company for the repair cost they have incurred. This reimbursement will get paid directly to the homeowner. The repairs incurred are considered “temporary repairs” to stop further damage to the home.

The acceptance of a repair check from an insurance company does not mean the claim is closed.

If the insurance company has offered a repair cost for your home? If the insurance company has offered a repair cost to your home, then they are also admitting the Hurricane caused damage to your home. The admittance of this damage opens the flood gates for getting your roof approved for replacement. It does not matter how many tiles were damaged, what matters is if the existing tiles on your roof are still produced today by the same manufacturer.

Many insurance companies will expect you to repair your home with “used” tiles. Why should you accept used materials on your roof?

Did you know that many insurance companies will give you a list of suppliers that sell“used” tile? There is no warranty and history of the used tiles sold to you. The tiles produced today are manufactured differently for strength/quality in comparison to the tiles produced 10 years ago.

MASSEY INSPECTION PROCESS

Wind uplift Test – Many roofs are damaged from Hurricane without broken or cracked tiles.

The building codes have guidelines for how much lift a tile can have before it is considered “damaged”. Hurricane Irma was strong enough to cause “uplift” damage to tile roofs even if the tiles were not cracked. Did your insurance adjuster test for uplift?

Live Video Inspections in real-time. We can inspect your roof while you are inside your home at the time of scheduled inspection or if you are out of state. All you need is a phone or computer and you can see what we see at the same time. We only need access to the roof.

We take on average 100 pictures for each inspection and count the number of broken tiles.

Documentation of how the tiles are broken or cracked. The wind damage on tile has certain characteristics of how it is broken or cracked.

Tile Verification – we document what type of tile you have to determine the origin of the manufacturer.

INSURANCE ESTIMATES

Our cost estimates are “apples to apples” with the insurance company.

Did you know you are not required to get three cost estimates as encouraged by your insurance company?

The insurance companies want you to present them with the lowest cost estimate. Do you really want the cheapest labor and materials on your home?

COLOR MATCHING LAWS

If you have already repaired your roof but the color of the tiles does not match exactly like the original roof, you could be approved for a full roof replacement. There are laws in Florida that pertain to Color Matching. Florida Law Statute, 626.9744 describes the claims settlement practices that pertain to the replacement of items that do not match in quality, color or size.

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