The Story
After any significant hail event in North Texas, the door-knocking begins within days. Out-of-state plates. A clipboard. An offer to "get your roof done for just your deductible."
Most of the people knocking are ordinary salespeople doing an ordinary job. Some are not. And the ones who aren't tend to be gone by the time the problem surfaces, which is usually two or three years later when the workmanship warranty turns out to be attached to a company that no longer exists.
The Mechanism
A few things worth knowing about how this industry actually works in Texas:
- TEXAS DOES NOT LICENSE ROOFING CONTRACTORS. There is no state roofing license to check. This surprises almost everyone. It means the burden of verification sits entirely with you.
- "WE'LL WAIVE YOUR DEDUCTIBLE" IS A RED FLAG, NOT A DEAL. Under Texas Insurance Code §707.003 a contractor may not pay, waive, rebate, or absorb your insurance deductible, and it's an offense to advertise that they will. Your deductible is a term of your policy. An offer to make it disappear is an offer to misrepresent the transaction to your insurer — and the exposure lands on you as much as on them.
- A ROOFER CANNOT ACT AS YOUR PUBLIC ADJUSTER. Under §4102.163 a contractor can't act as a public insurance adjuster on a property it's contracted to repair. If someone offers to both negotiate your claim and do the work, they are describing something they aren't permitted to do.
- MECHANIC'S LIEN RIGHTS ARE REAL. A contractor who isn't paid can file against your property. So can unpaid subcontractors and suppliers, in some circumstances, even if you paid the general contractor. This is a good reason to care whether your roofer actually pays their suppliers.
The Opportunity That Comes To You
Every one of these is free to verify, and asking costs nothing.
Questions that separate the durable from the temporary:
- What is your physical business address in Tarrant County, and how long have you been at it? Not a PO box. Not a truck.
- Can I see your certificate of general liability insurance, and workers' compensation? Ask for it to be sent by the insurer, not photocopied.
- Who exactly holds the workmanship warranty, for how long, and what happens to it if the company closes?
- Are you a manufacturer-certified installer, and can I verify that directly with the manufacturer?
- Will you provide lien waivers from your suppliers and subs on final payment?
- Can I have three references from this ZIP code from work done three or more years ago? Recent references only prove they can start a job.
Then two rules with no exceptions: get it in writing before work begins, and never pay in full up front. A deposit is normal. Full prepayment is not.
If a company gets uncomfortable during that list, the list did its job.
The Opportunity You Create
Here's the part that's genuinely in your control, and it's the reason this issue exists in a newsletter that also wants your business.
The homeowner who already has independent documentation of their roof — dated, photographed, condition assessed — is a fundamentally harder person to mislead. They know what shape their roof was in before anyone knocked. They can tell the difference between a real finding and a manufactured one. They aren't relying on a stranger's phone photos of a roof they've never seen.
Documentation isn't only leverage with insurers and appraisal districts. It's protection against the person standing in your driveway telling you what your roof needs.
A homeowner who already holds an independent, dated record of their roof is a much harder person to mislead. They know what shape it was in before anyone knocked. They can tell a real finding from a manufactured one, because they aren't relying on a stranger's phone photographs of a roof they have never seen themselves.
Documentation first, decisions second. In that order it is very hard for anyone to sell you something you don't need.
Next issue is the last of the first series: putting it all together into a file, and what a well-documented house is actually worth in the four conversations where it matters.
Free HomFax inspection at your home. 45 minutes. Timestamped and geotagged photo survey of every slope and elevation, soft-metal evidence, condition and remaining serviceable life, NOAA hail history for your ZIP.
Written report, emailed, yours permanently — and yours to hand to whichever contractor you choose, or to nobody at all.
Book: /book Or reply with a day. Or call (844) 466-3290 and ask me the six questions above.