Roof Insurance Claims

Storm Damage? Here Is Exactly What We Do, and What We Don’t

After a storm, the fastest way to protect your home is a licensed roofer on the roof with a camera. Hippo Roofing has inspected and documented storm-damaged roofs across Brevard and Central Florida since 2008. We do the roofing work. Your insurance company decides your claim. Keeping those two jobs separate is what Florida law requires, and it is what keeps your claim clean.

What Hippo does for you

• A free roof inspection as soon as we can get a truck to you, and emergency tarping when the roof is open.
• Photo documentation of every slope, penetration and interior stain, dated, so the condition of the roof on the day of the inspection is on record.
• A written, itemized estimate for the repair or replacement before you sign anything with us. Florida law requires it, and it is the document your carrier will ask for.
• We meet the adjuster at your home to walk the roof and point out what we documented. The adjuster makes the coverage decision, not us.
• The permit, the build and the guarantee. Once your carrier approves, we pull the permit, replace or repair the roof, register the manufacturer warranty in your name, and hand you the Hippo Roofing Guarantee.

What Hippo will not do

• Interpret your policy, negotiate your claim or tell you what your carrier owes. Only a licensed public adjuster or attorney may do that in Florida. If you want help negotiating, we will say so plainly and you can hire one.
• Waive, pay or “absorb” your deductible. It is a felony for a roofer to do it, and a carrier that sees a waived deductible has grounds to deny the claim.
• Tell you that a claim is “sure to be covered.” Wind and hail damage from a single storm often is. Wear, age and old leaks usually are not. Our inspection report shows what we found; the decision to file is yours.

The one-year clock

Florida gives a homeowner one year from the date of the storm to give the insurance company notice of a claim, and 18 months for a supplemental claim (Florida Statute 627.70132). A roof that “seems fine” after a hurricane can be leaking at the nail line six months later, and by then the calendar matters. Get the roof looked at early, even if you never file.

How a storm claim goes with Hippo