Find Out What the Policy Actually Pays Before You Price the Roof

The problem in one breath

You price a storm roof off the adjuster's estimate and off what the homeowner remembers about his coverage. You sign it. Then the roof is on, there's no second check coming, and the difference is standing on your side of the table.

Why it happens

Most of what this trade knows about storm money assumes full replacement — a check up front, then the held-back piece once the work is proven. That is the map in Play 13, "Your Storm Money Comes in Stages". It holds where the paperwork says it holds, and the only paperwork that says so is the homeowner's own policy — which you never see.

You ask about shingle color and decking; you never ask for that. So you price off memory — "my agent told me it's full replacement" — and he's not lying to you, he's repeating what he heard the day he signed up. The worst time to read a policy is after you signed the job.

The play

1. Ask for the declarations page at the first appointment. Same breath as the address: "Two things before I price this — your declarations page and the list of endorsements on it." Endorsements are the add-ons attached to a policy, and what any of them does to a roof claim is a question for his carrier, not a guess for you.

2. Put the questions to the carrier in writing, with the claim number on them. An adjuster's word on the phone isn't something you can bid against, or show a homeowner six weeks later. Email. Claim number in the subject. Four short numbered questions, nothing else. What comes back on paper is what you price against.

3. Get four answers before your pencil moves. Does this roof settle at replacement cost or at actual cash value? Is there a second check to go back for after completion, or is what's coming all there is? What's the deductible? Is a lender named — because that's its own wait, walked in Play 15, "Know Whose Name Is on the Check"?

4. "The homeowner said it's full replacement" isn't an answer. Don't argue with him; he's not the one who has to be right. Ask him to forward the declarations page, or to ask his carrier with you copied in: "Let's get it from them in writing so I price this right for you."

5. With no second check, the bid and the payment schedule both change. Price the roof you're going to build, not the roof the carrier's number will fund. Rebuild the schedule (Play 07, "Set When You Get Paid") around money landing in fewer pieces, with no line quietly waiting on a check nobody is sending. Where the difference lands on the homeowner, say the number out loud — that's Play 21, "Say the Out-of-Pocket Number Out Loud, Early".

6. Remember whose policy it is. You're not on it. He is, and he can get an answer out of his carrier that you never will. Don't take the claim off him — hand him the questions and keep yourself copied.

Do this this week

Add one line to whatever sheet your salesmen carry into a storm appointment: "declarations page and endorsement list — ask before you leave the driveway." Then text every man who sits at a kitchen table and tell him it starts on the next one. Ten minutes.

The tool

No spreadsheet — the card below is the tool. Four questions in order, a blank for each answer, the date you asked, who told you, and a box for whether it came in writing. Fill it in at the appointment and staple it to the front of the job file. Two rules: the date goes down every time, and a blank stays blank until somebody puts an answer on paper. A guess written in ink is worse than an empty line — an empty line sends somebody back to ask.

BEFORE YOU PRICE IT — the policy questions, in order

Homeowner ____________________  Address _______________________
Carrier ______________________  Claim # _______________________
Adjuster _____________________  Phone / email _________________

PAPER I ASKED FOR
  [ ] Declarations page       asked ______   in hand ______
  [ ] List of endorsements    asked ______   in hand ______

FOUR ANSWERS BEFORE I PRICE  (in writing, not over the phone)

  1. Does this roof settle at replacement cost or actual cash value?
     Answer _______________________________________________
     Who told me ____________  asked ______  got ______  [ ] in writing

  2. Is there a second check to go back for after completion?
     Answer _______________________________________________
     Who told me ____________  asked ______  got ______  [ ] in writing

  3. What is the deductible on this claim?        $ ____________
     Answer _______________________________________________
     Who told me ____________  asked ______  got ______  [ ] in writing

  4. Is a lender named on the claim or the check?   [ ] yes  [ ] no
     Answer _______________________________________________
     Who told me ____________  asked ______  got ______  [ ] in writing

SAID OUT LOUD BUT NOT PUT ON PAPER
  ____________________________________________________________
  ____________________________________________________________

PRICE THIS JOB?
  [ ] all four answered in writing - go
  [ ] blanks left - ask again before the bid leaves the office

If your crew is 1099

If your salesmen are subcontractors, don't drill them on a script — make the paperwork the standard. A storm file isn't complete, and doesn't get priced, until the declarations page and the endorsement list are in it or it's marked "asked, refused." That's a rule about the work product, and it belongs in a sub's agreement. No field crew is touched either way.

One more thing: this play is how we run a shop — it's not legal advice. Rules change by state and by contract, so before you act on the legal-sounding parts, run them past your own attorney or accountant. It's your business, and what you do with any of this is your call and your responsibility.