Insurance or retail? Qualifying a storm roofing lead

Six questions, asked in the first two minutes, tell you what kind of job you are looking at and how much it is worth.

Updated 2026-08-06 · Kazfen

An insurance job and a retail job are different products sold to a different buyer with a different close. Treating them the same is why roofers lose claims they should have won and burn hours on jobs that were never going to happen.

The good news is that you can tell them apart quickly. It takes about six questions.

The six questions

1. Have you filed a claim yet?

The single highest-value question, and it splits the lead three ways. Already filed means committed and moving fast — prioritise. Thinking about it means your expertise is the product, and you are well placed to win. Not going through insurance means retail, and price becomes the conversation.

2. Roughly how old is the roof?

Age drives everything downstream. Under about ten years often means repair. Fifteen to twenty-plus, with storm damage, is the classic full replacement. It also shapes the claim: many policies distinguish replacement cost from actual cash value based on age, which materially changes what the homeowner receives.

3. Do you know your deductible?

Uncomfortable to ask, so most people skip it. Do not. It tells you whether the job is viable at all. A homeowner with a 2% wind and hail deductible on a $400,000 home is looking at $8,000 out of pocket, and that changes the conversation completely. Better to know on the first call than after two inspections.

4. Any interior damage — ceiling stains, active leaks?

Interior damage does two things: it raises urgency sharply, and it strengthens the claim. A homeowner with water coming through a bedroom ceiling is not comparison-shopping.

5. Do you own the property?

Renters cannot authorise roofing work. Occasionally the answer is a landlord or a property manager, which is a longer cycle but sometimes a bigger relationship.

6. Has an adjuster been out, or is one scheduled?

Time-critical. If an adjuster is coming Thursday, you want to be on that roof before Thursday, or ideally at the meeting. If one has already been and the scope came back low, that is a supplement conversation — a different job, and one many roofers are glad to have.

What the answers mean together

Ask in the right order

Sequence matters more than people expect. Opening with "what's your deductible?" sounds like you are sizing up their wallet. Opening with "what's going on with the roof?" gets them talking, and most of the six answers arrive unprompted inside sixty seconds.

Lead with the problem. Follow with claim status. Fill the rest in as it comes up, and only ask directly for what you still do not have.

Disqualifying is a skill

The instinct is to inspect everything. But an inspection costs you a half-day when travel is counted, and during a storm week that half-day has an obvious opportunity cost.

Being straight — "honestly, with a roof that age and no storm damage, a claim probably will not go anywhere, but here's what a repair would look like" — costs you a low-value job and earns something more useful. Homeowners remember the contractor who told them the truth, and they tell their neighbours.

This is general operational guidance for contractors, not insurance or legal advice. Policy terms, deductible structures and claim rules vary by carrier and by state.

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