How Roof Insurance Claims Work in Nebraska

Usually, yes: hail and windstorm are covered causes of loss in most homeowners policies, and sudden storm damage to a roof is the kind of loss they are written for. What your policy pays, and whether it pays at all, depends on its own wording, so read the declarations page and every endorsement before assuming anything.

Policies commonly exclude wear and tear, poor maintenance and damage that was there before the storm. Three features change what a covered hail or wind claim pays:

• A separate wind and hail deductible. The Nebraska Department of Insurance notes that some insurers charge a higher deductible for wind and hail than for other causes of loss.
• Actual cash value for the roof. Some policies pay a roof at its depreciated value rather than what it costs to replace.
• A cosmetic damage exclusion. This endorsement excludes hail or wind damage that changes how a surface looks (dents, marring, pitting) without affecting its ability to keep weather out. It matters most on metal roofing, siding and gutters, where hail can dent without breaking through.

If the wording is unclear, ask your agent to point you to it in writing. Your insurer decides coverage, and no contractor can promise it.

This page is general information, not legal advice. For what hail damage looks like on a roof, see how to tell hail damage.

Report the damage to your insurance company or agent, and sign nothing with a contractor until you have talked with them. That is the Nebraska Department of Insurance's guidance, and it still lets you have a roofer inspect and document the roof before or after you call.

The department's steps after a storm:

• Document the damage with photos of each damaged area, close up and wide, and note the date of the storm.
• Make temporary repairs needed to prevent further damage, such as a tarp over a hole in the roof. Further damage you could have prevented will likely not be covered. Keep the receipts.
• Hold off on permanent repairs until your insurer has inspected, or the claim may be denied.
• Keep damaged property until the adjuster has reviewed it and approves disposing of it.
• Be there when any contractor inspects your property.
• Do not sign anything until you have talked with your insurance company.

Rocket Roofing General Contractor offers a free inspection, with drone photos at no extra cost, so you know what the roof looks like when you make the call, and 24/7 emergency tarping when a roof is open to the weather. If you have already signed with a contractor, Nebraska law still gives you a window to cancel, explained below.

A wind and hail deductible is a separate deductible that applies only to wind and hail losses, and on many policies it is a percentage of your dwelling coverage (Coverage A) rather than a flat dollar amount. The percentage is of the coverage limit, not of the claim.

An example, for the arithmetic only: a policy with $300,000 of dwelling coverage and a 2% wind and hail deductible has a $6,000 deductible on a hail claim. The insurer pays covered damage above $6,000. If the covered damage comes to less than that, the claim pays nothing, even though the damage is real.

Your numbers are on the declarations page: the Coverage A limit, the deductible for all other perils, and any separate wind and hail deductible, which may be printed only as a percentage. If it is not clear, ask your agent for the dollar amount before a storm, not after.

You pay the deductible yourself. In Nebraska a contractor cannot rebate, discount or cover any part of it, and you cannot accept that from a contractor (see the next section).

No. Nebraska's Insured Homeowners Protection Act (Neb. Rev. Stat. 44-8601 to 44-8608) forbids a residential contractor from promising to rebate any portion of an insurance deductible as an inducement to sell its work, and you stay personally responsible for paying it.

The law defines a rebate broadly (44-8604): any allowance or discount against the contractor's fees, or paying you, or anyone connected with the property, any form of compensation other than an item of nominal value. An offer to cover, discount or "take care of" your deductible is exactly what the law forbids.

Every written contract, repair estimate or work order a residential contractor prepares for work paid from insurance proceeds must carry a notice in capitalized 14-point type, signed by the named insured and sent to the insurer before the claim is paid (44-8607). It opens: "IT IS A VIOLATION OF THE INSURANCE LAWS OF NEBRASKA TO REBATE ANY PORTION OF AN INSURANCE DEDUCTIBLE AS AN INDUCEMENT TO THE INSURED TO ACCEPT A RESIDENTIAL CONTRACTOR'S PROPOSAL TO REPAIR DAMAGED PROPERTY." It goes on to say that the insured is personally responsible for the deductible, and that state law also prohibits the insured from accepting a rebate from a contractor.

A contract for insurance work without that notice, or a salesperson offering to handle your deductible, is a reason to stop. Rocket Roofing General Contractor never waives, pays or rebates a deductible.

Two more protections: a right to cancel a contract for insurance-paid work, and rules for post-loss assignments of your claim.

Cancelling (44-8603). If you sign a contract with a residential contractor for work to be paid from your insurance, you can cancel it before midnight on the third business day after you signed or the third business day after your insurer tells you in writing that all or part of the claim is not covered, whichever is later. Cancel in writing, sent to the contractor's business address shown in the contract. Within 10 days the contractor must return your payments and deposits, though it can be paid the reasonable value of any work you agreed in writing was needed to prevent damage to the property, such as an emergency tarp.

Post-loss assignments (44-8605). A post-loss assignment hands your rights under the claim to the contractor. The Nebraska Department of Insurance explains that once you sign one, the contractor owns and controls the claim without your input, and that you are not required to sign one. If an assignment is signed, it must include a capitalized 14-point notice that you are assigning rights under your policy, it must be provided to your insurer within five business days, and it cannot stop your insurer from communicating with you or your mortgage company.

If anyone asks for an assignment before your insurer has inspected, talk with your insurer first.

The insurer sends an adjuster, either its own staff or an independent adjuster it hires, to inspect the damage and write an estimate. Having your contractor there is your choice; it helps most when the contractor has already inspected and photographed the roof.

Be home for the visit if you can, walk the property with the adjuster, and have your own photos and the storm date ready. Afterward you get the insurer's estimate, which usually shows the covered items, any depreciation and your deductible. Compare it with your contractor's findings: a missing slope, skylight, vent or gutter run is easier to raise now than after the check is written.

Here is what Rocket Roofing General Contractor does on a claim, and what it does not do.

Actual cash value (ACV) is what the damaged roof was worth just before the storm, after depreciation for age and wear. Replacement cost value (RCV) is what it costs to replace it with comparable new material. On a replacement cost policy, the difference between the two (recoverable depreciation) is paid after the repairs are done.

The Nebraska Department of Insurance describes the usual sequence. The adjuster calculates the roof's actual cash value immediately before the storm: if the roof was worth 75 percent of a new one, you are entitled to 75 percent of the estimated cost to repair or replace the damaged area, and your deductible comes off that amount. If the policy provides replacement coverage, the insurer may then pay the difference between the ACV estimate and the cost to repair or replace once the designated repairs have been made, within a set time that is usually 180 days. Your policy states the exact requirement.

What that means in practice:

• A first check smaller than the cost of the job is normal on a replacement cost policy. It is not a denial.
• Ask your insurer what proof of completion it needs before it releases the rest, and keep your invoices.
• On a policy that pays the roof at actual cash value only, the depreciation is not paid later; you cover the difference.
• Put the repair deadline on your calendar, and ask for it in writing if the policy is unclear.

Ask for the decision in writing, then ask for a reinspection with your own evidence. If you still disagree, you can hire a licensed public adjuster or an attorney, ask whether your insurer will agree to appraisal, and file a complaint with the Nebraska Department of Insurance.

• Get it in writing. Ask for the estimate or the denial letter and the policy language it relies on.
• Ask for a reinspection. Send dated photos and your contractor's documentation of what was missed, and ask for a second visit, with your contractor present if you like.
• Appraisal. Many property policies have an appraisal provision for disputes over the amount of a loss: each side picks an appraiser, and an umpire settles what they cannot agree on. Nebraska Department of Insurance guidance, following a 1989 Nebraska Supreme Court decision, says a policy's appraisal provision should permit appraisal only when both parties agree to it after a dispute arises, so in Nebraska it generally takes both sides' agreement.
• A public adjuster. A public adjuster is a licensed professional you hire, and pay, to work your claim for you. Nebraska requires public adjusters to be licensed, and the department's website shows whether one is.
• A complaint. The Nebraska Department of Insurance takes complaints online or through its in-state hotline at 877-564-7323.

A written notice that all or part of the claim is not covered also opens a new three-business-day window to cancel a contract for insurance-paid work, as described above.

Matching is required by rule in Nebraska: when replacement items do not reasonably match the rest in quality, color or size, the insurer must replace all items in the area so they conform to a reasonably uniform appearance (Title 210, Nebraska Administrative Code, chapter 60, section 010.01B). Code upgrades are a different question, answered by your policy's ordinance or law coverage.

Matching. The rule covers interior and exterior losses, and you do not pay more than your deductible for the matching work. Disagreements are usually over what counts as "the area": one slope or the whole roof, one wall or every side of the building. Discontinued shingles and faded siding are the usual cases. If a repair would leave a visible patchwork, ask your insurer to explain its decision in writing.

Code upgrades. Building codes change after a roof goes on. On a roof repair or replacement in Omaha, the city requires the old covering removed down to the sheathing and an ice barrier installed over solid sheathing, and it requires a permit for roof work over two squares (200 square feet), per its roof repair and replacement notice. Whether your insurer pays for code-required items the old roof did not have depends on ordinance or law coverage, which pays the extra cost of meeting current codes after a covered loss. It often comes as an endorsement with its own limit. Check your declarations page, and ask your agent what yours pays.