Roofing Scams After a Storm and How to Shut Them Down | Hommy
Roofing Scams After a Storm and How to Shut Them Down
One inspector showed up with a pre-ripped shingle in his pocket. Here are the scams that follow a storm, the laws that make them crimes, and the four things that stop all of them.
Hommy
July 16, 2026 · 13 min read
The Better Business Bureau documented a homeowner whose free roof inspector arrived with a pre-ripped shingle already in his pocket, ready to be produced as evidence of storm damage. That is the whole industry in one image: the damage arrives with the inspector.
Most post-storm roofing scams are variations on a few patterns, and nearly all of them are stopped by the same handful of habits. Here is how they work, what the law says, and what to do.
The free inspection that creates the damage
This is the most documented pattern, and it has criminal cases behind it rather than just warnings.
In December 2025 a North Carolina roofing project manager was arrested after a two-month state insurance department investigation, accused of bending and damaging shingles on a homeowner roof and then claiming wind and hail damage worth about 30,000 dollars. A Louisiana contractor was charged in 2024 with damaging a roof during a cold-call inspection and then advising the owner to file a storm claim. A Georgia contractor faced similar allegations after being hired to inspect.
The defense is simple and it costs nothing: photograph your own roof from the ground before you let anyone up there. Every one of those cases turned on establishing who caused the damage.
Walk the perimeter and take date-stamped photos from the ground, plus anything visible from an upstairs window. Do it now, before storm season, not after someone knocks. You cannot prove what a roof looked like before an inspection if you never photographed it.
The deductible waiver, which is a crime in both states
It sounds like generosity. "We will waive your deductible" or "we will eat it" or "no cost to you at all". It is a crime, and the contractor is the one committing it.
In Texas it is an offense for a seller expecting payment from insurance proceeds to pay, waive, absorb, rebate, or otherwise help an insured avoid their deductible. The penalty is a Class B misdemeanor.
In Florida a contractor who knowingly pays, waives, or rebates all or part of an insurance deductible, with intent to injure, defraud, or deceive, commits a third-degree felony.
The dodge that regulators have already seen through: a Florida insurance fraud case involved salespeople who had homeowners sign an assignment of benefits alongside a sham advertising agreement, a yard sign, positive online reviews, referrals, and then credited the deductible amount as payment for the advertising. Defendants faced decades of exposure and tens of thousands in fines.
One more thing worth knowing: a homeowner who knowingly goes along with a deductible waiver may be taking on fraud exposure of their own. The offer is not a gift, it is an invitation into someone else crime.
Adjusting your insurance claim is a licensed activity, and your roofer is not licensed to do it.
Texas law says a roofing contractor may not act as a public adjuster or advertise to adjust claims for any property where they are providing or may provide roofing services, and it does not matter whether they hold a license or have a power of attorney from you. That last part is deliberate: it closes the workaround.
Florida prohibits the same thing, and goes further. A Florida roofing contractor may not interpret policy provisions, advise you on your coverage or duties, or adjust a claim, unless licensed as a public adjuster. They also may not give you a repair authorization agreement without a good faith itemized estimate of services and materials.
Where the line sits: meeting the adjuster on the roof, pointing out damage, and handing over photos and documentation is fine and genuinely useful. Negotiating your claim is not.
The Texas Attorney General sued a Dallas-Fort Worth roofing company over roughly 500,000 dollars of paid work that was never completed, including money taken from elderly Texans and from insurance proceeds. Florida consumer alerts describe the same shape: someone working the neighborhood who is never seen again after the check clears.
Both states give you real leverage here, and most homeowners do not know about it.
Texas: in a declared disaster area, a contractor may not require any payment at all before beginning work, and may not require partial payments beyond an amount reasonably proportionate to work performed and materials delivered. The contract has to be in writing and say so in conspicuous bold type. Violating it is a deceptive trade practice.
Florida: taking more than 10 percent of the contract price up front obligates the contractor to apply for permits within 30 days and begin work within 90 days of permits being issued. Failure carries criminal penalties graduated by the amount taken, and intending to give the money back eventually is not a defense.
So in Texas after a declared disaster, "I need a deposit to get started" is not a negotiation, it is a red flag. And in Florida, paying more than 10 percent starts a clock you can enforce.
Often presented as harmless: "this just lets us inspect and work with your insurance, it is not a contract". Frequently it binds you to that contractor before any scope or price exists, sometimes reciting that they will do the work for whatever the insurance pays.
The cleanest reason to refuse is the one above: in both states, a roofer negotiating your claim is doing something unlawful. If the document is built around them handling the claim, the document is built around something they cannot legally do.
Assignment of benefits in Florida
AOB was at the centre of Florida claims crisis. Contractors took assignment of your policy rights, filed inflated claims, and litigated.
The law changed hard. A 2019 reform regulated AOB with formalities and a rescission window. Then a December 2022 reform prohibited assignment outright for residential property policies issued on or after January 1, 2023, making an attempted assignment void and unenforceable.
Practically, in 2026 nearly every Florida residential policy has cycled past that date. So if a Florida roofer puts an assignment of benefits in front of you today, that is a reason to stop and ask exactly which policy they think it applies to.
Your right to cancel, which is narrower than you think
Texas gives a three business day right to cancel sales solicited somewhere other than the seller place of business, over 25 dollars, and the seller has to give you written notice of it plus cancellation forms.
Be careful with this one. The statute has exemptions, including transactions the buyer initiated for repairs and transactions needed to meet an emergency. If you called the roofer, or you signed for an emergency tarp, you may have no three-day right at all. Do not sign something you dislike on the assumption you can undo it Monday.
Florida gives a 10-day cancellation right for contracts entered into based on events under a Governor declared emergency, running to 10 days after signing or the official start date, whichever comes first.
Florida also tightened its contract notices in 2025. The emergency cancellation notice type size was lowered from 18-point to 14-point bold, and a new 14-point bold notice was added to the signature page of residential roof contracts, telling owners to contact their insurance company to verify coverage, claims, deductibles, and policy terms before signing. If your Florida roofing contract has no such notice near the signature line, ask why.
Separately, if a Florida roofing contract omits the required notice about prohibited practices, you may void it within 10 days of signing.
Statutes change, and how they apply depends on your contract, your policy, and your location. This is general information, not legal advice. Check the current statute or talk to an attorney before relying on any of it.
Verifying a contractor, which works differently in each state
Florida: check the license at the state licensing portal. A CCC prefix is a Certified Roofing Contractor, valid statewide. An RC prefix is Registered, valid only in the local jurisdiction. Check status and disciplinary history, not just that a number exists.
Texas: there is no state roofing license. None. Anyone can call themselves a roofer. Certification programs exist but they are voluntary trade credentials, so anyone marketing one as a state license is misleading you. Verify city registration instead, since cities like Dallas and Houston have their own requirements, and confirm requirements with that city permit office directly.
Both: get the carrier name and policy number and call the insurer or agent yourself. A certificate forwarded to you by the contractor proves very little. Ask the agent to send it to you directly, and confirm the policy is in force and actually covers roofing work.
“In Texas nobody has checked your roofer credentials before you do. There is no state license to fall back on, which makes the verification step your job.”
Photograph your roof yourself, from the ground, before anyone inspects it.
Call your insurer before you call a contractor, and have them inspect independently. Florida now requires contracts to tell you to do exactly this.
Never sign anything at the door. Not a contract, not a contingency agreement, not an assignment of benefits, not an authorization to inspect. Get three written itemized estimates first.
Never pay in full up front, and in a Texas declared disaster area, do not pay anything before work begins.
If it already happened
Texas: file with the Attorney General Consumer Protection Division. Report insurance fraud to the Texas Department of Insurance fraud unit.
Florida: file with the Attorney General, file a complaint against the licensee or for unlicensed activity with DBPR, and report insurance fraud to the state fraud division, which pays rewards for tips that lead to conviction.
Federal: FEMA runs a disaster fraud hotline, and FEMA never charges a fee for anything.
Liens: in Florida, demand a release of lien from everyone who worked on the house, and a partial release with each progress payment. You can file a notice of contest of lien, which forces the lienor to sue within 60 days or the lien becomes void.
Texas homestead liens: this is a genuinely strong defense. To attach a lien to a homestead, the contract must be written and signed before any labor or materials are furnished, signed by both spouses if the owner is married, and filed with the county clerk. A storm chaser who got one spouse to sign on the doorstep almost certainly has no enforceable lien.
One last thing. A good roofer will still be in business next month, will have a real address, and will not need you to sign tonight. Urgency is the common thread through every scam on this page.
