What you receive
The deliverable is the document itself. A roof damage report that names the property and the date, draws the roof, labels the elevations, and then works through the findings one at a time, each numbered, each placed on the plan, each photographed closely and again from far enough back to show where it sits. Where size matters there is scale in the frame. Where the cause is clear the report says what it appears to be. Where it is not, the report says that instead.
Behind the findings sits a repair scope: the work the roof needs, item by item, with quantities and materials named, written so that a contractor who has never seen the building could price it and another could price the same thing and be compared.
What we do, and what we do not
We inspect roofs and we write documents. That is our own work, and what the report is, and all it is, is evidence you can put in your own file and hand to whoever you choose. Nothing in it is legal, financial or insurance advice, and coverage is decided by your policy and your carrier. Where a claim needs somebody to act for you, we can introduce you to a partner who is a licensed public adjuster or an attorney in your state, and that partner deals with you directly.
The report itself does not say what your claim is worth, does not interpret your policy, and does not tell a carrier what it ought to pay. It describes a roof. It also does not describe parts of a roof we did not see. Anything covered, unreachable or ambiguous is written up as covered, unreachable or ambiguous, because a document that hides its own limits is worth nothing the moment somebody finds one.
When people book one
Before reporting a loss, when an owner wants to know what is actually up there. Before meeting an adjuster, so the conversation starts from a record. After a contractor has given a verbal opinion that nobody wrote down. Before selling, when a buyer has asked a question about the roof that nobody in the house can answer.
The common thread is a decision that somebody else will make from paper. Where that is true, the quality of the paper is the only part of it you control.
Common questions
What is actually in the report?
It opens with the plain facts: the address, the date of the visit, the weather, what we were asked to look at and how the roof was accessed.
- Then a plan of the roof with the elevations labeled
- Then numbered findings, each placed on that plan and photographed
- Each described in ordinary words, with what it appears to be and our confidence
- Then the limits: slopes not walked, what was covered, what stayed unanswered
- Then the repair scope, item by item, with quantities and materials named
At the end, any material you gave us that we relied on, listed as yours rather than ours. The order is deliberate. A reader who does not know you or the building should be able to start at the front and understand what is wrong without calling anybody. That is the test we write it against.
Could another contractor price the repair scope?
That is what it is for. A scope that says repair the roof is useless, and a scope naming the work in line items with quantities and materials is one two contractors can quote against.
- It lists what comes off and what goes back on
- Underlayment, flashing, edge metal, ventilation, fastening, disposal and access
- Quantities are given wherever a quantity can be measured
- Where a thing needs the roof opened, the scope says so
Decking is the usual example, because nobody knows how much is soft until the covering comes off, so it is named as an item to assess once the roof is stripped rather than guessed at. Hand the scope to any contractor you like, including one you already use. We write the document, and what anyone charges is between you and them.
Will you change the report if my carrier disagrees with it?
We will correct an error, and we will not change a finding because somebody wants a different answer. Those are two separate things and it is worth being clear about both.
- Show us a misread detail, a mislabeled elevation, a photograph on the wrong slope
- We issue a corrected version, say what changed and why, and charge nothing
- We will not restate an unclear finding as a certain one
- Nor remove a line about wear or add a cause we did not establish
A report that bends to the reader has no value in a file, including no value to you. If new information turns up, a slope that can now be reached or an area uncovered once the roof was opened, that is a new visit and an addendum with its own date. The original stands as it is.
Do you send the report to my insurance company?
Not on our own account. The report goes to you, and what happens to it after that is your decision. We inspect roofs and write documents.
- You may send it to your carrier or give it to a contractor
- If you would rather somebody handled the claim, ask and we will introduce you
- The partner is a licensed public adjuster or an attorney in your state
- They work with you directly and use the report as they see fit
Send the whole document rather than the pages you like, because a report with the limits section removed reads as a sales piece and a reader who notices discounts the rest. Check your policy conditions and any date on your carrier's letter for when to send it. Nothing here is legal, financial or insurance advice, and your policy and your carrier decide coverage.
What if part of the roof could not be reached safely?
It goes in the report as a slope that was not reached, with the reason, and nothing is written about what is on it. That happens more often than people expect.
- A pitch too steep to walk without equipment nobody planned for
- A section slick with frost or moss, or a covering too brittle
- A slope over a fragile structure, or wind that has not finished
- We record what can be seen from a safe position and say so
The report reads viewed from the ladder at the north gable, not walked, and distant photographs are labeled as such. Where the unreached section is the one you care about, we will tell you what it would take to get there properly, a lift, a drone flight or a better day, and you decide. We will not rate a slope we did not examine.