“Can I raise my prices after a hurricane?” After a big storm, the work comes all at once: roofs to tarp, trees on houses, water in basements. Materials cost more, crews work overtime, and every homeowner wants to be first. In many states, a declared emergency switches on a price-gouging law that limits what you may charge. The short version: you may usually pass on what your costs actually went up by, and you must be able to prove it.
There is no single rule. Each state that has a law writes it differently. Four of them, Florida, Texas, New York and California, show the range from a vague standard to a hard percentage.
What switches the law on
These laws are tied to a declared emergency, and each state sets when the limit starts and stops:
Does it cover your work?
For storm trades, almost always yes. California defines “repair or reconstruction services” as work by anyone required to hold a contractor’s license, on property damaged in a disaster, and lists emergency cleanup separately. Its Attorney General adds that the law is not limited to the declared county: it is meant to stop gouging elsewhere in the state where demand rises because of the emergency. Florida covers any “goods, services, materials” and more, including lumber, needed as a direct result of the emergency. New York says “goods and services” include repairs made on an emergency basis because of the disruption. Texas names building materials and construction tools, and ends with “or another necessity.”
How each state measures a gouged price
| State | The test | What justifies a higher price | Penalty in the statute |
|---|---|---|---|
| Florida | An “unconscionable price”: prima facie, a gross disparity from your own average price over the 30 days before the declaration, or a price that grossly exceeds the trade area’s average in those 30 days | Additional costs incurred, or regional, national or international market trends | A violation of §501.204, Florida’s unfair and deceptive trade practices law; a court may impose up to $1,000 per violation, at most $25,000 in any 24 hours (§501.164), on top of that law’s other remedies, which include up to $10,000 per willful violation (§501.2075) |
| Texas | Selling, or demanding, an “exorbitant or excessive price”; the statute sets no percentage | The subdivision does not spell one out | Up to $10,000 per violation, plus up to $250,000 more if aimed at a consumer 65 or older (§17.47) |
| New York | An “unconscionably excessive” price, decided by the court; prima facie, a gross disparity from your own price just before the disruption, or grossly more than the trade area’s | The increase preserves your pre-disruption margin of profit, or costs outside your control were imposed on you | Up to $25,000 per violation or three times the gross receipts, whichever is greater, plus restitution |
| California | More than 10% above your price immediately before the declaration | Added supplier, labor or material costs, and then no more than 10% above cost plus your customary markup | A misdemeanor: up to one year in county jail, a fine of up to $10,000, or both |
A few details matter on the ground. Florida’s law also makes it a second-degree misdemeanor, during a declared emergency, to offer goods or services to the public without a local business tax receipt, something an out-of-area crew should check before it drives in. California’s Attorney General notes that violations can also bring civil penalties of up to $2,500 each, injunctions and restitution, and that the Attorney General, local prosecutors and private individuals can all bring cases. Both Florida and California leave room for local price-gouging ordinances, so check the city and county too.
A worked example: California’s arithmetic
California’s is the easiest law to work through, because it uses numbers. Say a roofer’s books show that before the storm it tarped a typical damaged section for $540: $120 of materials and $240 of crew labor, $360 in all, priced at its usual cost plus 50%. Every figure here is invented for the example.
After the declaration, the supplier raises the materials to $180 and overtime pushes the crew cost to $300. Here is what §396(c) allows, read with the markup as a percentage:
| Price immediately before the declaration | $540 |
| Ceiling with no proof of higher costs: $540 + 10% | $594 |
| New cost: $180 materials + $300 labor | $480 |
| New cost plus the customary 50% markup | $720 |
| Ceiling with the cost increase proved: $720 + 10% | $792 |
The gap between $594 and $792 is entirely a matter of paperwork: the supplier invoices and payroll records that show the cost went up, and the past invoices that show 50% was the customary markup. If the roofer had not offered tarping before the declaration, the comparison is harder: the statute’s line of no more than 50% above cost, for a seller with no earlier price, sits in its 30-day subdivision (b), not in the contractor’s subdivision (c). Ask the Attorney General’s office or a lawyer before pricing a service you never sold. How a court reads “the markup customarily applied” in a given case is for the court; the example only shows the arithmetic the words describe.
The records that prove your costs
Every one of these laws turns on a comparison with your prices before the emergency, and most let you justify an increase with your costs. Neither works without records, and the time to make them is before storm season:
Habits that keep you clear
Storm work is the busiest stretch of the year for roofers, tree services and water damage restoration. A dated price list and a folder of invoices, kept up before the season, are what let you charge for your real costs when it arrives.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change and vary by state; check with the agency named above or a professional for your situation.