What a condition record is for
A roof inspection for insurance purposes is a dated description of a roof, nothing more and nothing less. Somebody has asked what shape the roof is in, or you want that written down before anybody asks. The report answers that question with observations, photographs and dates, in a form that makes sense to a reader who will never stand on your roof.
The value sits in the date. A roof changes, weather happens, and almost every awkward conversation about a roof is really an argument about when something started. A record made on a known day, with images attached, removes that argument for everything that happened after it. Nothing produced later can do the same job, which is why the cheapest version of this is the one you buy before you need it.
What we do and what we stay out of
We inspect and document roofs. That is our own work. We do not sell insurance and we do not advise on cover: your policy document and your carrier govern what your cover does, and nothing in the report, or said on the visit, is an opinion about your policy. Where a claim on that roof needs somebody to act for you, we introduce you to a partner who is a licensed public adjuster or an attorney in your state, and they work the claim with you.
That boundary is not a disclaimer bolted on the end. It is what keeps the document useful. A condition report is credible because it describes a roof and stops. As soon as it starts predicting outcomes or arguing a position, a reader discounts the parts that were straightforward observation, and you have lost the thing you paid for.
So the report records wear as wear. It records a defect as a defect and says what we think caused it. Where a cause genuinely cannot be established from the surface, it says that too, rather than picking the explanation that suits anybody.
Where people use it
Most often at a renewal or an application, where somebody has asked for a current description of the roof. Sometimes as a file that gets updated every year or two, which is the version we would recommend to anyone with an older roof, because a run of dated reports shows a roof being looked after rather than a roof being photographed in a hurry.
Sometimes after work is done, to record the finished state. Sometimes before a sale, when a buyer wants the roof described by somebody with no stake in the price.
And sometimes for no external reason at all. A dated set of photographs of your own roof, taken while it is in ordinary condition, is worth having. If something happens later, the before is the part nobody can go back and create.
Common questions
Will my insurer accept this report?
We cannot promise that, and anybody who does is guessing. Requirements are set by the carrier and they vary.
- Some want a particular form, some want photographs of specific things
- Some want the inspection done by a named category of person
- Some accept a contractor's condition report as it comes
- Ask them before the visit, in writing, and send us the answer
- Where they give a list, we write to it as far as the roof allows
We will not complete a field with something we cannot support from the inspection, because an invented date is worse for you than a blank line. We inspect and document roofs, coverage is decided by your policy and your carrier, and where a claim needs somebody to act for you we introduce you to a partner who is a licensed public adjuster or an attorney in your state.
Can you tell me whether the roof will be covered?
No. That is answered by your policy document and by your carrier, and by nobody else. We are roofing contractors: we look at roofs and write down what we find.
- We do not sell insurance, advise on cover or interpret your wording
- A condition record is useful because it describes a roof rather than arguing
- The moment it predicts what a policy will do, a careful reader discounts it
- Take wording questions to your agent or carrier and ask for an answer in writing
What we can do is make sure the roof is described accurately and completely, so you are reading your wording against facts rather than a guess. If the question later turns into a dispute, that is the point at which we introduce you to a partner licensed in your state, a public adjuster or an attorney, who takes it up with you directly.
Should I get this before or after the renewal papers arrive?
Before, if you have the choice. A record made while nothing is happening reads differently from one made under pressure.
- A dated report taken in a quiet month is simply a description of your building
- The same inspection the week a letter arrives is honest but part of a conversation
- And it arrives with less time to act on whatever it finds
- If it turns up defects, you want the option of fixing and recording the result
- That takes a contractor, a weather window and a second visit
Starting that when a deadline is already running removes the choice, so the useful order is inspect, decide, repair if you decide to, then record the result. If the papers have already arrived it is still worth doing, so tell us the date you are working to and we will say whether the sequence fits.
What if the report finds problems? Does that count against me?
The report describes the roof as we find it. If there are defects, they go in, and we will not leave something out because it is unwelcome.
- A report that only records good news is not evidence of anything
- That is obvious to anybody who reads reports for a living
- Plenty of owners use a first inspection to find out what is there
- Then put right what matters and have the finished state recorded
- Others take the report as it is, because known defects beat an unexamined roof
The report belongs to you. We do not send it anywhere you have not asked us to send it, the decision about who reads it is yours, and what it cannot do is tell you how any of it will be treated, because that sits with your carrier and your policy.
Do you send the report to the insurer for me?
We can send a copy to an address you name, and that is the whole of it. Handing over a document is a delivery, not a conversation.
- We do not discuss your cover with a carrier, an agent or an adjuster
- We do not answer questions about what your policy should do
- Where you want somebody speaking for you, we introduce you to a licensed partner
- That partner is a public adjuster or an attorney in your state
- A technical question about the roof we answer in writing, with you copied in
What a photograph shows or how a detail is built is a roofing question and fair to ask us. Anything about coverage, values, terms or what should happen next goes back to you, and from you to your agent or carrier, because the report is written so it can be read without us.