How does the insurance payout work with a total roof replacement?

Question

Have had storm damage done to roof. The entire roof needs replaced. Have 4 quotes from companies but insurance says only pays certain amount per squre but I have not found a company that does it for tht price. Plus they said they would not cover the flashing or the damaged plywood. Any help on expainations or how to go about this would be great.

Answer 1

First, the insurance company has been able to establish a price for roof replacement in your area.  Appears your damage may be related to a storm which roofers like to drive up the price due to higher demand.  Just because there is a storm doesn't change the price of shingles.  Unless your roof is leaking, there would not be a need to replace it right away.  Roofers will eventually drop their price.

Now, your insurance company will pay you ACV (actual cash value) on the front end.  If your policy allows it, they will pay you RC benefits after it has been fixed.  If you have a compentent roofer that you would like to use, fax them (insurance company)  a copy of your roofer's estimate for review.  This will allow your company to determine where the difference is in the estimate.  In my day, I have run across numerous roofer who did not know how to measure a roof accurately leading to a higher estimate.  With your four estimates, I would venture to guess there is about a 10-15% difference in the amount of shingles wanting to put on your roof.  To me, that is ridiculous.  Your roof, just like your bedroom, is a certain size and does not change.  If they measure correctly, then all your roofers should be within 1 square of each other.  The flashing, as well as drip edge if yo have any, should be included in the estimate.  The decking, would not be included if it rotten or warped due to long term leaking or other issues.  If it got broken (ie tree limb falling on roof) then it should be replaced.  

Keep in mind, your insurance company understands how the game is played during storms and high volume of claims.  Ask your insurance carrier to provide you with a list of names of roofers in your area that will work directly off the estimate they provided.  If they can't, then do as I described above and get a roofer.  The policy will pay you the difference between the ACV and the RC (if your policy provides this benefit).  If you secure a signed contract with a roofer, most insurance companies will go ahead and pay the RC benefits on the front end.

Answer 2

if your insurers say that they can get it done for x amount, then tell them to appoint their approved repairers to do the work for them instead.

they will tell you that they will only pay a certain amount as they have a deal with builders etc who carry out the work for them and they get a discount on the bills.

if you want to find someone to do the work yourself, then they will only pay what they would pay their approved firm for the work.

it usually works out in your favour to therefore get these contractors into do the work for you. you should find that they start alot quicker too.

ring your insurers and ask them to appoint these people for you.

when they complete the work, you just pay them your policy excess

Answer 3

YOu are not the only one,I have met this type of  problem before.I have good experience here to solve the problem though.http://insurance.online-frees.info/insur...

Answer 4

The first two answers could be correct, but there is another possibility here. You may only have actual cash value coverage. This means that your insurance company is paying the depreciated value of your roof, not the replacement value. If this is the case, then the estimate your insurance company is giving you is probably fair, and you're going to have to come out of pocket to have it replaced.

Talk to your agent about the situation.