Contractor red flags after a storm

The knock within 72 hours

Storm-chasing crews follow hail maps across the country and canvass hit neighborhoods within days. Some are legitimate; the business model still depends on signing you before you compare anyone. Local, established, licensed and insured, with a physical address you can drive past, is the profile that is still there when the warranty matters.

Assignment of benefits dressed as a free inspection

The clipboard paper that 'lets us deal with the insurance for you' may assign your claim's benefits to the contractor. Once signed, checks and negotiating power can route to them, and disputes become theirs to settle on their timeline. You never need to assign your claim to get a roof replaced. If the paper contains the words 'assignment,' 'benefits,' or 'irrevocable,' it goes in the pile for later reading, not the pile for signing.

“We’ll eat your deductible”

In most states, a contractor absorbing, waiving, or rebating your deductible is insurance fraud, full stop, and several states now make paying your deductible a required, documented part of the claim. The mechanics are always the same: the contractor inflates the invoice to the insurer to bury the deductible inside it. A company whose first offer to you is a fraud scheme has told you its pricing philosophy.

Pressure keyed to the storm

'Insurance only gives you 30 days' (not how policies work), 'we have one crew slot left this month,' 'this price is good today.' Roofing after a widespread hail event is a months-long market; a legitimate contractor's bid survives a week of thinking. Anyone whose offer expires when they leave the driveway has priced the pressure, not the roof.

Cash up front, or big deposits before material delivery

Standard practice is modest deposits tied to material delivery and progress payments tied to work. A large check before a shingle exists is how homeowners fund a crew's exit from the state. Pay by card or check, never cash, and match payments to visible progress.