After a hailstorm, a homeowner standing in her driveway asks the question every roofer has heard: can you take care of my deductible? Saying yes might win the job that afternoon. In several states it is also against the law, and so is the other easy storm-season promise, that the roofer will handle the claim for her.
This article walks through four states that wrote these rules into statute (Texas, Colorado, Minnesota and Florida) as examples of how the rules work. They are not the only states with rules like these, and the details differ, so read your own state's law before you print a flyer.
The deductible is the homeowner's to pay
Texas. A seller of goods or services commits an offense if, without the insurer's consent, it advertises or promises to pay, waive, absorb or decline to collect the insured's deductible, to give a rebate or credit that offsets it, or in any other manner to help the insured avoid paying it; actually doing any of those things on a job paid from a claim is an offense too (Tex. Bus. & Com. Code §27.02(c)). The offense is a Class B misdemeanor (§27.02(d)). A contract of $1,000 or more for work reasonably expected to be paid from a property insurance claim must carry a notice, in at least 12-point bold type, that begins: “Texas law requires a person insured under a property insurance policy to pay any deductible applicable to a claim made under the policy” (§27.02(b)). The statute covers anyone selling goods or services paid from a claim, so siding and gutter crews are inside it as well as roofers.
Colorado. A roofing contractor doing work to be paid from a property insurance policy shall not advertise or promise to pay, waive or rebate all or part of any insurance deductible (C.R.S. §6-22-105(1)). If it does, the insurer is not obligated to consider the contractor's estimate, and the homeowner or the insurer may sue the contractor for the damages the violation caused (§6-22-105(2)).
Minnesota. A residential contractor, defined as a residential roofer, residential building contractor or residential remodeler (subd. 1(c)), may not, as an inducement to a sale, advertise or promise to pay all or part of any deductible, directly or indirectly, or offer to compensate the insured for any service. The statute names three examples: paying the homeowner for letting you inspect, for making a claim, or for referring you (Minn. Stat. §325E.66, subd. 1(a)(1)). An insurer need not consider the estimate of a contractor who breaks the rule, the insured or insurer may sue, and the commissioner of labor and industry enforces it (subd. 1(b), 2 and 3).
Florida. A contractor may not offer a residential property owner a rebate, gift, gift card, cash, coupon, waiver of any insurance deductible, or any other thing of value in exchange for letting the contractor inspect the roof or for making a claim for roof damage (Fla. Stat. §489.147(2)(b)), and may not pay or accept anything for referring work paid by property insurance (§489.147(2)(c)). A violation can bring discipline under §489.129 and a fine of up to $10,000 per violation, and the acts of anyone paid to solicit for the contractor count as the contractor's own (§489.147(3) and (4)(a)).
Texas adds a practical reason homeowners cannot quietly skip the deductible. An insurer that issues a policy with replacement cost coverage may hold back the recoverable depreciation until it receives reasonable proof that the policyholder paid the deductible: a canceled check, a money order receipt, a credit card statement, or a copy of an executed installment plan or other financing arrangement that requires full payment of the deductible over time (Tex. Ins. Code §707.004).
Adjusting the claim is a licensed job
The second promise, “we'll deal with your insurance company,” runs into public adjuster licensing.
Where showing an adjuster the damage you found ends and negotiating the claim begins is not drawn the same way in every state. Colorado writes that allowance into its statute; the Texas, Minnesota and Florida sections above do not spell one out. Ask your state's insurance department before you offer to meet the adjuster.
Florida's rules for storm ads and roof contracts
Of the four, Florida goes furthest on solicitation. Any written or electronic communication by a contractor that encourages a consumer to contact a contractor or public adjuster to make an insurance claim for roof damage is a “prohibited advertisement” unless it states three things, in type at least 12 points and at least half the size of the largest type used: that the consumer pays any deductible; that it is insurance fraud, a third-degree felony, for a contractor to knowingly or willfully, and with intent to injure, defraud or deceive, pay, waive or rebate a deductible; and that it is insurance fraud, a third-degree felony, to intentionally file a claim containing false, incomplete or misleading information (§489.147(1)(a)). The definition names door hangers, business cards, magnets, flyers, pamphlets and emails, and soliciting a homeowner with one is barred (§489.147(2)(a)).
The contract has its own requirements. A roof repair or replacement contract must include a notice that the contractor may not offer the inducements above, or the homeowner may void it within 10 days (§489.147(5)). It must also carry, in bold type of at least 14 points on the signature page, a statement advising the owner to contact the insurance company to verify coverage before signing (§489.147(7)). A contract signed within 180 days of events covered by a governor's state of emergency, for a home in the declared area, may be cancelled without penalty within 10 days or by the official start date, whichever comes first, and the contract must say so in 14-point bold type (§489.147(6)).
The old assignment-of-benefits model is closed for newer policies. For residential or commercial property insurance policies issued on or after January 1, 2023, a policyholder may not assign any post-loss benefit, and an attempt to do so is void (Fla. Stat. §627.7152(13)). That subsection came from Senate Bill 2-A, chapter 2022-271, which took effect on December 16, 2022 except where it provided otherwise. On those policies the roofer's contract is with the homeowner, not with the claim.
Colorado gives homeowners a similar exit for claim-funded work: an owner may rescind a residential roofing contract within 72 hours after receiving the insurer's written notice that the claim is denied in whole or in part (C.R.S. §6-22-104(1)(a)), with a limited exception for supplemental work that could not reasonably have been foreseen.
What to say instead
The homeowner asking about the deductible usually wants the job to cost less than she feared. You cannot make the deductible disappear, but you can be the contractor who explains it straight. A script, as an example, for a state with a rule like the four above:
“The deductible is part of your policy, and the law here doesn't let a contractor cover it or rebate it. What I can give you is an itemized estimate, photos of everything I found, and a firm schedule. Your insurance company decides what's covered, so check with them before you sign anything.”
Two parts of that script are required in places. Minnesota and Florida both bar giving an insured an agreement authorizing repairs without a good-faith estimate of the itemized and detailed cost of services and materials (Minn. Stat. §325E.66, subd. 1(a)(2); Fla. Stat. §489.147(2)(e)), and Minnesota requires the contractor to give written notice of the statute's requirements with its initial estimate (subd. 1(b)).
Two things the script leaves out on purpose. It does not inflate the estimate to swallow the deductible: in Texas, a credit that offsets the deductible, or helping the insured avoid it “in any other manner,” is part of the offense. And it does not promise anything about coverage, which is the insurer's decision and, in Minnesota and Florida, outside what a contractor may advise on.
A storm-season checklist
Pricing the job honestly is the other half. Pricing a roof by the square walks through a full replacement estimate, and the roofing and siding pages show how an online price range works for those trades, including how insurance-claim and storm-damage jobs are flagged or sent to a site visit instead of priced on the spot.
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.