Got an education on current roofing costs!

[Dargo]

Dargo, excuse me why I play devils advocate for a moment....

Why is your roof so stinking high? What kind of shingles did you have?

Should I move up there and do it, I can talk enough spanish to hire some guys and get her done.:thumbsup: Also can order us some cold beers in spanish.

Standard high quality dimensional shingles, around 70 squares in size. Roofers don't like the long drop to the ground and the 12/12 pitch.

 

[Dargo]

How old was the roof? Depending on the type of coverage you have, you may be getting the "value" of the old roof and not the replacement cost.

I have way too much at risk not to have complete replacement coverage. If my guest house wasn't built like a brick sheet house, there would be 20 more square added to the main house total. The roofing on my guest house claimed to be guaranteed up to 130 mph. I just sort of laughed that off, but even though it was only an F1 tornado, we had winds around 105 mph and nothing on my guest house moved.

 

[johnrex62]

I guess I have just been lucky over the years. In the last 30 years I have had several burglaries and a couple storm damage claims in the various places I have lived. I have never had any difficulty getting my claims paid out quickly.

My most recent was a roof replacement for wind damage last February. The adjuster was on site in three days and I had a check in my hand in 4 more days for the depreciated amount. I had more trouble finding a roofer that would take the job. A couple gave me quotes and never returned my calls afterwards, and another would not take the job due to time constraints.

I got my final check a few days after the job was completed, and it included the depreciation for a few items I had not fixed yet but were under $500 and the adjuster told me it was easier to payout the remainder rather than keep calling about receipts for the screens and fence repairs.

I upgraded my roof to a metal roof and paid the difference out of my pocket, but the ins estimate was in line with what the roofer's estimates were. A little higher than a couple, but not by much.

Good luck and don't get frustrated. It may take time, but keep on top of them and it should work out okay.

 

[dmccarty]

i would call the state insurance commission before retaining a lawyer.

Call the Insurance Commission before the lawyer.

Years ago a coworker had a claim when a tree fell on his house. I cannot remember if he had a second claim from another storm. Out of the blue the insurance company canceled his policy because they were afraid he would have another claim. The coworker was looking for a new insurance company when I suggested he talk to the Insurance Commission.

Shortly thereafter, his policy was no longer canceled, nor did his rates go up.

We are/were having issues over a health insurance claim. The claim was going back and forth for MONTHS. The doctor's office was very patient in all of this, kept refiling, calling, etc but it got to a point where I said enough is enough. The wifey handles all of this, but I told her to tell the doctor's office to send us all of the paper work and that they should tell their contact in the insurance company that we would be talking with the Insurance Commission.

The matter is not completely closed at this point but the insurance company did what they should have done back in January. We have to verify that what they did is per the policy and go from there. We did talk to a person in the Insurance Commission to know the process. The person we talked to was very helpful. At this point the ball is in our court and we have a check. The question is, is the check for the right amount. :laughing:

Our insurance company has been outstanding in handling claims. We are in different states so who knows how the company would work in your state but check out the Farm Bureau.

Later,
Dan

 

[JB4310]

That's a huge roof so the price sounds right. the big name insurance companies are usually pretty good about paying claims. From my experience actually very liberal paying home owners claims.

I lost a job this spring to a company that bid $27,000. for a job that I bid $6,000. for :confused2: It was a slate roof and built in copper gutter system that was damaged over the winter. Basically the insurance company payed for 70 years worth of wear and tear to this house, and this was the adjuster that brought in the other contractor.

I say most of the time home owner claims go thru no problem. But I am dealing with another slate roof customer that had a no name company and they don't want to pay squat for winter storm damage. Said they want to meet me at the job to go over what needs to be done. This has been dragging for months, I told them it's not my job to do their work.

JB

 

[HenRut]

Complain to the state insurance commissioner before hiring a lawyer. If that doesn't work, hire a lawyer to pressure/sue the insurance company (tacking on attorney's fees AND post-storm damage due to company's foot-dragging). As hard as it may be, think long and hard before jumping ship to a new insurance co. immediately. Any new insurance company will see the recent claim and maybe the one five years prior and rate you through the roof (no pun intended). And there's no guarantee they'll treat you any better if/when you file a claim with them. One man's great insurance company is another's satan-in-a-suit. Same company, different result. Depends on claim history, state, regional losses, profit goals, etc. the list goes on.

 

[sseelhoff]

It's been 9 weeks now since we had 100 mph winds that took out much of my roof, my privacy fence and 87 mature trees. I'm just screwed on the trees. I lost a lot of my 'natural privacy fence' with all those trees going down. If it weren't for having an excavator with a thumb, I'd still be wearing out chainsaw blades. I was surprised that no fence company would even consider fixing my fence. All wanted to replace it with bids ranging from $11.5k to $14k. Since I ordered a huge amount of extra (partly to get a price break and partly to have spare parts since styles always change and matching parts for a vinyl fence over about 5 years old don't seem to exist) fencing left over in the loft of my barn. I did what I thought was the right thing and spent about 40 hours and all of my spare parts and fixed my fence by myself.

In the 9 weeks since, State Farm has only put two blue tarps on my roof, which were promptly blown off by the next storm that came through. It seems that what they figure it ought to cost to have a roof put on and the actual cost varies by 30% to 50%. So, I've now had 8 estimates on replacing my roof not counting what State Farm figured. The least expensive is $6847.50 more than State Farm's estimate. Now I'm starting to get damage to the ceiling on the 2nd floor from the roof leaking. I've patched and tarred and caulked so many times I can't even count. After taking a tumble Thursday, I've decided that I'm no longer going to climb around on a 12/12 pitch 2 story house that's really tall.

Anyway, what do you think the odds of me getting my money out of State Farm is? After my tumble, I hired the company with the 2nd lowest bid (lowest bid company never called back after giving me the bid 6 weeks ago). Yes, it surprises me that it's going to cost about $25k to put a roof on my home, but it is a big roof with different levels, dormers and a steep pitch. I only went with the same type (but different color - the color I had isn't made any longer, of course) of roof that is on my home. The steel roof that looks like asphalt shingles cost more than my first house and was about double the price; and they don't even remove the old roof! So, I contracted with a roofer last Thursday to get in line and hopefully get him out late next week.

Now State Farm wants to come out the week after next and measure my roof again! They measured it first, agreed that it couldn't be fixed and have about 50 pictures of it along with all the measurements their guy spent 4 hours taking. That's besides having all the measurements from the 8 other bids! I'm tired of waiting on them and I refuse to climb up there anymore. In 26 years with them I've only had 1 other claim. That was about 5 years ago from a power surge when an ice storm caused the transformer in my yard to go boom. I ended up almost $14k out of pocket then after they "fine printed" me. I should have left them then, but hindsight is 20/20. So, what's the odds of me getting screwed again? If they try it again, I'll have to hire an attorney this time. I think 9 weeks is long enough along with 8 bids proving that nobody will do the job for anywhere close to what they want to pay.

Is the $6847 depreciation on the old roof?

There are two kinds of policies-replacement value and actual cash value.

If you have a replacement value policy, the carrier will pay the actual cost to repair, regardless of the condition.

In an actual cash value policy, the insurance carrier will pay the cost of repair, less depreciation, i.e. how much of roof's useful live had been used up.

Under an actual cash value policy if you have a thirty year roof, and it had been applied 10 years ago, they will only pay 66% of the replacement cost.

If it is a replacement value policy, their labor or supply rates may be unrealistic. Their rates may not account for increases in material costs in the last few years, or an increase in labor rates due to higher than usual demand this year.

 

[sld]

1*What if one don't have the money to do that?
I thought that was one of the reasons for having insurance .



2* State Farm is real bad about that.

That is what I am saying. The repair companies do the work and then bill the insurance company. I have never paid a dime out of pocket here in the midwest. In a few cases I have even gotten money back for work that I either didn't need to do or did myself for very cheap.

 

[Dargo]

Is the $6847 depreciation on the old roof?

There are two kinds of policies-replacement value and actual cash value.

If you have a replacement value policy, the carrier will pay the actual cost to repair, regardless of the condition.

In an actual cash value policy, the insurance carrier will pay the cost of repair, less depreciation, i.e. how much of roof's useful live had been used up.

Under an actual cash value policy if you have a thirty year roof, and it had been applied 10 years ago, they will only pay 66% of the replacement cost.

If it is a replacement value policy, their labor or supply rates may be unrealistic. Their rates may not account for increases in material costs in the last few years, or an increase in labor rates due to higher than usual demand this year.

All of my insurance is either full replacement coverage or declared value for certain collectable items.

 

[2manyrocks]

Make a bunch of good photos of the damage with dates on them including the interior damage that is beginning. Send them to State Farm by certified mail and say, This is dragging out too long and remind them they don't want an additional claim for interior mold remediation.