How to Find Out if the Roofer at Your Door is a Storm-Chaser, in less than 5 minutes.

A roofing contractor cannot legally negotiate with insurance companies’ adjusters or help with roof damage claims settlements. A licensed public adjuster is the only entity other than the insured who is legally allowed to negotiate on your behalf during the long and complicated property damage insurance claims process.

Because they have a lot of experience in working on roofs, but that is not the same as expertly handling the filing, negotiation, appraisal and appeals involved in the insurance claim process. Many roofing contractors have years of experience in repairing and replacing roofs that have been paid for by insurance companies but that doesn’t mean that they played any part in getting the actual work approved. Check out the section below about what contractors are and are not legally allowed to do.

There’s a big difference between a contractor’s knowledge and a licensed insurance adjuster’s expertise. The difference is in the training and education required of a public adjuster during the licensing process. The difference is so great that in Pennsylvania and Maryland, roofing contractors are not allowed to advertise that they can negotiate insurance claims. The law goes on to name public adjusters as the only entity allowed to do that! More below…

According to Pennsylvania and Maryland insurance law (and the law in most other states), a roofing contractor is ONLY allowed to “prepare an estimate of the loss, discuss the estimate with their customer, and answer any questions the insurance company’s adjuster has”. That’s all a contractor is allowed to do.

A licensed public adjuster, however, is allowed to perform the following services to assist in the roof damage insurance claim process. Keep in mind that all contractors are expressly prohibited from offering these services:

– Investigate, appraise, evaluate, give advice or assist their customer in adjusting a claim.
– Prepare the insurance claim for their customer.
– Negotiate the claim with the insurance company on their customer’s behalf.
– Advise their customer on the insurance policy’s coverage.
– Advertise that they can negotiate or investigate a claim on their customer’s behalf.

Therefore, licensed public adjusters are legally able to provide representation to homeowners in the roofing insurance and roof damage claims process in an exclusive way that no one else can.

Public adjusters, like almost all other professions, have individual specialties and niches. A great way to maximize your representation during a property/roof damage insurance claim process is to work with a public adjuster who specializes in that type of insurance. For example, an adjuster who has a background in roof damage claims and who has worked in the roofing, construction and property damage mitigation industry will be uniquely equipped in terms of knowledge and expertise to help get the full value of your roof approved by your insurance company. But when it comes to executing the actual repairs, you will need a qualified, licensed and insured local roofing contractor. Finding a local partnership between a licensed public adjuster and a local roofing contractor is your best chance to get the most coverage of your roof damage by insurance.

When interviewing roofing contractors you’ll want to ask them if they are affiliated with any public adjusters. Get an idea of how knowledgeable they are in the insurance claims process and whether or not they know their own legal limitations in representing homeowners. The last thing you want is for an unqualified person to be improperly representing your interests to your insurance company.

In the greater Hanover PA and northern Maryland area Superior Services of PA & MD is the only local roofing contractor who has exclusive partnerships and affiliations with licensed independent public adjusters. Our public adjusters have the training and educational background in insurance law required to get your roof repair or replacement paid for by insurance. What’s more, our extensive experience as a roofing contractor allows us to offer the most thorough and cost-effective repairs so that insurance companies are happy to work with us! It is a unique “double-threat” roofing insurance claim handling service that no one else in the area can match.

Well no, the two services are provided by two different entities. We are a local, licensed roofing contractor proudly enjoying an exclusive partnership and affiliation with Hanover PA’s only licensed public insurance adjuster. We bring them in when it is appropriate and we make the introduction, but it is up to the homeowner (the insured) to hire the public adjuster if they are convinced that they can benefit from their services, which is usually the case.

Thereafter, the public adjuster works directly for the homeowner, completely independent of Superior Services’ involvement in the job. Their legal duty is to provide the most thorough and complete representation of your (the homeowner’s) interests. The PA will handle the insurance negotiations during the complicated roof damage claim process. These certified and licensed professionals use their extensive training and education to tackle any and all problems as they arise during the filing, appraisal and settlement of the roof damage claim. This includes appealing denied claims.

It’s always great to see what they are able to do when it comes to getting home- and property owners what they are legally and rightfully due from their insurance coverage. And what’s even better is that the homeowner can rest assured knowing that the public adjuster is working for them, not the insurance company and not even us, the contractor.

Once the claim is settled and work is ready to begin, Superior Services takes over as the licensed roofing contractor to execute the roof replacement or repair.

When you work with Superior Services and our affiliated public adjusters from start to finish, the public adjuster fee is “waived” or, more accurately, it is absorbed in the cost of the roof damage repair or replacement that is executed by Superior Services and subsequently paid for by insurance. So it is essentially free when you allow us to handle your roofing insurance claim. We believe this is almost always best for our customers, because as a home/property owner you have enough to worry about when there’s a problem with your building that needs to be fixed or roof damage that needs to be repaired or replaced. It can be stressful and we know that.

One of the many features of our excellent roofing insurance services is that between Superior Services and our public adjuster affiliates there is almost nothing that you, the insured, need to worry about. You’re all set. In the very rare cases where a homeowner contacts Superior Services, gets set up by us with a public adjuster, has their roof damage claim approved, but does not hire us to execute the repairs (maybe there’s a nephew or neighbor who does roofing – that’s cool with us!) then the public adjuster still needs to be paid for their services separately, and that is usually a tiny percentage of the insurance claim pay-out. Sweet and simple!

Check out the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General and Department of Insurance for licensing info. Don’t forget to look us up! We carry the required home improvement contractor licensing in Pennsylvania and Maryland both, and our public adjuster firm Chateau Public Adjusters are similarly licensed as required. See the links below for all the licensing info you need.

– Public Adjuster & Licensing Info: Pennsylvania | Look-Up
– Public Adjuster & Licensing Info: Maryland | Look-Up
– Pennsylvania HIC Licensing: Verify a Contractor’s License
– Maryland HIC Licensing: Verify a Contractor’s License