Claim Assistance in Texas

Insurance claim help in Texas comes with a bright line around it, and we would rather explain it up front than let you discover it later. Texas Insurance Code chapter 4102 requires a license to act as a public insurance adjuster, and it prohibits a contractor from adjusting a claim on a property where they are also performing the contracting work. The Texas Department of Insurance states directly that contractors may not act as public adjusters on properties they are working on, and may not advertise that they will — and TDI treats website copy as advertising under 28 Texas Administrative Code § 21.102(1). The Texas Supreme Court upheld those rules in 2024 in the Stonewater Roofing case.

So here is our honest offer: we are your contractor, not your adjuster. Everything below is what a contractor can legitimately do, and it turns out to be most of what actually moves a claim.

We inspect at no cost and photograph every elevation, documenting hail bruising, granule loss, lifted or creased shingles, damaged flashing and vents, and any interior evidence of water entry. We produce a detailed written line-item scope of the repair or replacement, in the format adjusters actually work from. We meet your adjuster at the property and answer technical questions about the building — what we found, where, and what the repair requires. If the adjuster's scope omits something we documented, we can show them the photographs and the measurements. What we do not do is negotiate the settlement, argue coverage on your behalf, tell you how to present the claim, or promise to "handle everything with the insurance company." Those are adjusting activities, and in Texas they belong to a licensed public adjuster who is not also doing the work.

It starts with an inspection, ideally before you file, so you know whether there is a claim worth making. If there is, you report it and the carrier assigns an adjuster, whose inspection typically lands within roughly one to two weeks depending on how many claims that storm generated — after a major North Texas event, that queue stretches. We meet the adjuster on site. The carrier issues a scope and an initial payment, generally the actual cash value with recoverable depreciation withheld. Work is completed, and the remaining depreciation is released on proof of completion. One Texas-specific wrinkle worth planning around: under Insurance Code § 707.004, an insurer with replacement cost coverage may refuse to release withheld depreciation until it receives reasonable proof that you paid your deductible — a canceled check, a money order receipt, a credit card statement, or an executed installment plan requiring full payment over time.

Since September 1, 2019, Texas Insurance Code § 707.002 has read: "A person insured under a property insurance policy shall pay any deductible applicable to a first-party claim made under the policy." Business and Commerce Code § 27.02, amended by the same bill, makes it a Class A misdemeanor for a contractor to advertise or agree to pay, waive, absorb, rebate or otherwise help an insured avoid that deductible — and the insured can commit an offense too. Any contract for a thousand dollars or more that will be paid from insurance proceeds must carry a notice in at least 12-point boldfaced type saying exactly that. What is legitimate is financing: Hearth plans, including 0% options, let you pay a deductible over time while remaining genuinely obligated for the full amount. What is not legitimate is a roofer making the deductible disappear, and a contractor who offers that is advertising their willingness to commit a crime on your project.

Sometimes the honest answer is that you do not have a claim. If the damage is cosmetic, if it falls under your deductible — which matters more in Texas, where wind and hail deductibles are frequently a percentage of your dwelling limit rather than a flat amount — or if the cause is wear, poor prior workmanship or a maintenance issue rather than a storm, filing costs you time and puts a denied claim on your record for nothing. We would rather quote you a straight retail repair. That is also why the inspection is free and comes with no obligation: sometimes the most useful thing it produces is a documented "your roof is fine."