Roof Insurance Claims in St. Augustine, FL

The adjuster is coming Tuesday. The tarp has been on the roof since the storm, you have fifty photos on your phone, and a truck with out-of-state plates has already been by twice. This site connects you by phone with an independent local roofing contractor who documents roof damage in St. Johns County. This site is not a public adjuster, not a law firm, and not an insurer, and none of what follows is legal advice.

The contractor's job in a claim is the paperwork

In a claim, what the contractor does is document. They walk the roof and photograph each slope, count creased and missing shingles or bent panels, mark where underlayment is torn, and note whether the decking is wet. They separate what the storm did from what was already worn, which on a 2003 shingle roof is the whole question. From that they write the scope line by line: materials, quantities, labor, the permit, and whatever has to be removed to reach the damage.

On a house that also took water at the floor, which happens in Davis Shores, Lincolnville, and Vilano, they keep the roof scope separate from the flood damage, because those are different policies and different adjusters. It is common for the contractor to be on the roof when the adjuster is, so both are seeing the same shingles.

Hurricane deductible, claim deadline, replacement cost: read these before the adjuster comes

Before a single thing is moved, take pictures of the damage inside the house and outside. Have the roof tarped and save that receipt, since emergency protection is usually a covered part of the claim and the policy obligates you to stop further damage. Phone the insurer and come away with a claim number.

Next, pull the declarations page and check three things: the hurricane deductible, usually 2 to 5 percent of dwelling coverage on a named storm; the deadline for notice of claim; and whether the roof is insured at replacement cost or actual cash value. On an actual-cash-value schedule an older roof pays out less, and Tuesday is a bad day to learn that.

Wind damage, wear, and rising water: how a policy sorts them

We cannot tell you what your policy will pay; the adjuster decides. In general terms, a Florida homeowner policy exists for the sudden kind of loss, like wind damage from a single storm. Wear, age, a shingle seal that let go over years of nor'easters, and leaks that have been running for months are usually treated as maintenance and excluded. Rising water from the bay or the river is a flood policy matter, not a homeowner policy matter.

Once the insurer issues its decision, the repair is a storm damage or replacement job with a permit pulled through the county or the city. If the claim ends up in dispute, that is work for a licensed public adjuster or an attorney; a roofer has no role in it.

One year to file, no assignment of benefits: Florida's 2022 rules

In 2022 the Florida legislature went back to the property insurance statutes twice. Three changes matter for a roof claim. The window to report a new claim dropped from two years to one from the date of loss, with 18 months for a supplemental claim. On residential policies issued on or after January 1, 2023, a contractor can no longer take an assignment of benefits and run your claim, which means the claim remains yours. And as of May 2022, roof age alone is not grounds for a carrier to refuse renewal when the roof is under 15 years old or an inspection shows at least five years of life remaining.

The pitches that should end a conversation: an offer to waive your deductible, which is fraud; a form to "authorize an inspection" that is actually a contract; and anyone who discourages you from reading before signing. After Matthew, Irma, and the 2022 and 2024 storms, this county has seen every version.

Many St. Johns County homes that lost private coverage after those years ended up with Citizens Property Insurance, the state-backed carrier, which has its own roof-age and inspection rules at renewal. A roof inspection report from before the storm is the single most useful document in a claim, because it proves what the roof looked like the week before, and a wind mitigation form on file shows what the roof was built to.

When you call about a claim

Bring the address, the date of the storm, your claim number, the adjuster's appointment if one is set, and the declarations page from your policy. Say whether the roof is tarped, whether the house also took water at the floor, and whether the home is occupied. Call (904) 895-7548.