Roofing Professionals of Texas

A deleted article revealed how claim delay can financially benefit carriers. That should concern every North Texas homeowner. Read the reporting here. Across Dallas, Tarrant, Denton and Collin Counties and surrounding areas, hail claims follow a pattern. Inspection. Reinspection. Partial estimate. Delay. Silence. Under Texas Insurance Code Chapter 542, carriers have deadlines to acknowledge, investigate and pay. Violations can trigger 18 percent annual interest and attorney fees. Most homeowners never track that leverage. In DFW, storm volume creates backlog. Backlog creates delay. Delay creates pressure to settle cheap. We see undervalued roofing scopes missing code items, drawn out supplement cycles, matching disputes in HOA communities, and stalled approvals on commercial TPO and low slope roofing. Commercial or residential, we build roofs that last. Work with a team that knows Texas codes, insurance process, and real construction. Call 469-906-2600 and speak directly with a project...

 

Some insurance companies figured out they can increase profits simply by paying out less. It’s not complicated. When claims don’t get paid, margins go up. Insurance carriers don’t make money by writing checks. They make money by limiting them. Take E. Adams, a 60 year old woman left in a coma after a multi vehicle crash in Washington State. Her carrier, Farmers, denied the claim by arguing the other driver acted intentionally, and therefore the crash was not an accident. No coverage. Or D. Potter. She spent years selling disability policies for Unum. When multiple sclerosis forced her to stop working, Unum denied her claim, calling the condition “self reported.” The same policies she sold to protect others didn’t protect her. These aren’t rare outliers. They’re examples of a system built around deny, delay, defend. Do whatever it takes to avoid paying valid claims. At companies like Allstate, internal training materials have focused on minimizing payouts. Adjusters have been rewarded f...

OSHA’s requirement that states who administer their own occupational safety and health agencies adopt federal provisions related to residential fall protection has the National Roofing Contractors Association hot under the collar. One of the provisions is that fall protection is required in roofing work at heights of 6 feet or greater.  “OSHA has singled out this requirement as one that the states must meet or OSHA will take over enforcement of all construction workplace rules,” said the NRCA in a statement. The group contends that states who use a risk-based approach, where roof height is one of many factors considered when developing regulations, generally experience lower worker death and injury rates than comparable federal states. NRCA CEO Bill Good sent the following letter to Dean McKenzie, OSHA’s acting director of directorate of construction: Dear Mr. McKenzie: We are, of course, incredibly disappointed that you choose ...

Submit your request for storm damage inspection, roof repair or entire roof replacement by calling our office or filling in our online form. We devote the same amount of attention to each request – no matter how big or small! To better assist you, we will ask you about your contact information (name, phone number and email address), what type of service you need, how you heard about our company, and the best time to meet with you. We will then schedule the initial appointment and assign one of our roofing professionals to assess the property. INSPECTION AND INSURANCE CONSULTATION At the day of the appointment, our professionals will inspect your entire property for storm damage. A diagram of the roof and any other problem areas such as siding, gutters, and windows will be prepared and pictures will be taken. If you qualify for insurance reimbursement, we will describe which areas can be claimed. If your property does not have storm damage, we will use the diagram and photos to prepare ...

July 6, 2015      (Insurance Journal) The number of insurance claims from lightning strikes in the United States continued its steady decline, as severe thunderstorm activity eased from near-record levels and dry weather prevailed throughout much of the western half of the country. Despite fewer storms, insurers still paid $739 million in lightning claims to nearly 100,000 policyholders in 2014, according to the Insurance Information Institute. Florida led the way with the number of lighting claims in 2014, followed by Georgia, Texas and Louisiana. The Lone Star State had the highest average cost per lightning damage claim: $10,671. Across the United States, total insured losses from lightning were up 9.7 percent from 2013, though overall incurred losses between 2010 and 2014 are still down 28.5 percent. An analysis of homeowners insurance data by the INSURANCE INFORMATION INSTITUTE and State Farm found there were 99,871 insurer-paid lightning claims in 2014, down 13 per...

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt announced that his office has filed lawsuits against five roofing contractors for violating the Kansas Roofing Registration Act by failing to registerwith his office. Schmidt said the following companies have been served with lawsuits: Gregory E. Wright, Wichita, dba Extreme Home Solutions; Shawnee County Mike’s General Contracting LLC, Derby; Mitchell County District Court Roof PRS LLC, Holdrege, Neb., and Chanse Beinke, Smithfield, Neb.; Shawnee County Super Siding LLC and Daniel Roberts, Hutchinson; Reno County Taylor Made Exteriors LLC, Wichita; Sedgwick County The defendants engaged in advertising, soliciting or performing roofing contractor services without with attorney general's office. Schmidt is seeking restitution to consumers who did business with these unregistered companies as well as penalties for doing business without registering

May 1, 2015 A bill that would make it more difficult for property owners to sue insurers for unpaid claims and limit the amount they can collect has passed the Texas Senate, and collision repairers should be concerned with the implications should it pass and later be extended to auto insurance. Senate Bill 1628  was inspired by a boom in property damage lawsuits over insurance claims following hailstorms in Texas, and collision repairers having their own battles with comprehensive insurers over hail might be able to relate to homeowner’s frustrations. The rationale for supporters was similar to a  Florida bill that would have blocked homeowners from assigning benefits — “ambulance-chasing” contractors and attorneys were swooping in after water damage incidents and inflating claims, according to media reports there. Opponents agreed according to sources that litigation was getting a little out of hand in Texas, and the bill states that insurers have stopped offer...

Monday, April 20, 2015 -- The hail pounded a wide swath of our area. Now homeowners are cleaning up what's left. Kathy, a homeowner, only has a few more scoops of debris to collect from her yard, but she's worried enough about her roof to get an inspector out to look for damage . "I think we will call them and have them come out and it would ease my mind just to have it looked at," Kathy said. Insurance agents say it's wise to have your roof checked even if you do not see any obvious damage from hail. We're looking for damage to the shingles, the vents, (and) the matting of the shingles. Agents say if there is damage, homeowners may only have a few months to file a claim depending on their insurance company, but it could be a year or more before a problem develops. Another tip is be sure to research any company offering to do the work.  One of the Presidents at Better Business Bureau, says homeowners should see someone who has been around and has a decent hist...

AUSTIN — Several weeks after signing a contract to get her roof replaced for $25,000 last summer, Mary Jane Pierson of Fort Worth started to worry she was getting scammed. Her repeated phone calls to the roofing contractor weren’t returned or she was offered a litany of excuses about why the job wasn’t getting done: the company’s office flooded, the owner’s wife was in the hospital, shipment of the shingles had been delayed. “I knew there was a serious problem,” she said, recalling the change in behavior of the roofer, whose initial friendly demeanor before he secured the contract — and a check for $14,000 — was gone. Pierson, whose $200,000 brick home is still waiting for a new roof, said the contractor originally came knocking on her door — as did several others — last spring after a massive hailstorm in North Texas. He was very helpful and offered to get her insurance claim moving — so she agreed to sign a contract. “Everything looked on the up and up. So I gave him the first check ...

From  ROGELIO V. SOLIS — AP SunHerald.com  Attorney General Jim Hood is suing State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. over millions of dollars he claims the state lost because the insurance company "maliciously" denied Hurricane Katrina claims for wind losses while the federally funded Homeowners Assistance Program picked up the tab. The lawsuit says: "State Farm benefitted substantially and illicitly from HAP, because HAP grants ameliorated the financial pain to State Farm policyholders caused by State Farm's wrongful denial or underpayment of claims for wind damage under its homeowner policies. "State Farm in effect converted a program designed to help Mississippians who were devastated financially by Katrina into a subsidy for itself." State Farm had no immediate response to allegations outlined in the 50-page lawsuit, but in past cases brought by policyholders has denied any wrongdoing. The lawsuit, filed in Hinds County Circuit Court, accuses State Farm of ...