I filed a claim. What's next?

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You're not alone in your question! They don't always make it clear. But the answer is simple: 99% of the time, the insurance carrier assigns the claim to an adjuster within a day or so and he/she calls you to arrange an inspection soon thereafter. Sometimes the adjuster will subcontract out to a third party inspection company like 'Seek Now.' Regardless, you can usually expect a call within a couple business days to schedule an inspection. It is important that you let us know when the inspection is scheduled to take place so that we can be there! Regardless of if we are there or not, you'll want to be sure to share our estimate with the adjuster at this meeting.

We want to be there at the inspection to hold the inspector accountable for a thorough and honest inspection. At the end of the day, the insurance company is the decision maker. However, it's not as black and white as you might think. It could be something as simple as the inspector looking at the gutters or fascia in the wrong lighting/angle, so they don't see the hail dents. Or maybe they didn't look at the fence stain, which also shows evidence of hail. It's true that some inspectors, even from the insurance companies, may totally neglect to look at certain aspects of collateral or even roof damage.

Regarding the roof itself, the first thing the inspector typically looks at is the soft metals. Typically the vents, for example, will show indentations when the inspector drags a piece of chalk over the surface. They should do the same thing on any flashing, chimney chase covers, etc to see slight indentations from hail.

When they look at the shingles, they will draw a 10x10' "square" and count the hail strikes inside of it. They do this on each slope. Typically, they need to find eight hits per square. This is the most subjective and most important part of the inspection. It is so important that your Prestige Field Rep is present at this inspection!

A third-party inspector won't tell you much about his inspection because- he/she just reports his findings to the adjuster. If the insurance adjuster is the one who performs your inspection, you'll typically hear his findings immediately, before they leave.

Once you've had your inspection, you can read our blog post 'Insurance inspected the roof. Now what?'