Last spring, a storm rolled through Pflugerville and dropped golf ball-sized hail for 20 minutes straight. By the time it cleared, we had calls coming in from homeowners all over the area who had no idea what to do next. If you're reading this after a storm just hit your neighborhood, here's exactly what to do — in order.
We know you want to go up there and look. Don't. Wet shingles are slippery, and hail leaves bruising you won't see until you're already up there on a compromised surface. Give it at least a few hours. If it's evening, wait until morning. The damage isn't going anywhere, and a fall from a one-story roof can put you in the ER just as fast as a two-story one.
What you can do right now is walk the perimeter of your house and look for obvious signs: dented gutters, smashed downspouts, cracked vent caps, or granules — those little sand-like pieces from your shingles — piled up around your foundation or in your window wells. If you're seeing granule loss at ground level, your roof took a beating. That's not a maybe. That's a claim.
If hail broke a window or punched through a skylight, don't wait on that. Call us. We'll come out and cover it with plastic sheeting or a tarp at no charge — that's not something we bill for. Just get us on the phone. That kind of emergency cover-up is also typically a reimbursable expense under most homeowner policies, so document it, but let us handle the work.
This is the step most homeowners skip, and it costs them money. When you call your insurance company first, they send out their adjuster. That adjuster works for the insurance company. They're not on your side — they're there to assess the minimum liability. We're not saying they're dishonest, but their job is to keep payouts in check.
When you have a roofer on-site first, we can identify every point of damage before the adjuster arrives — and be there during the inspection to walk the roof with them. We've done this hundreds of times on roofs across Buda, Kyle, Manor, Pflugerville, Round Rock, Cedar Park, Leander, Georgetown, Hutto, and all over Austin. We know what hail damage looks like on 3-tab shingles versus architectural shingles versus metal roofing. We know the difference between impact damage and normal wear.
Here's something else worth knowing: we handle all the documentation for you. Photos, damage notes, measurements — that's our job. You don't need to climb anything or figure out what to photograph. We'll put together a complete picture of what the storm did before the insurance adjuster ever sets foot on your property. A good local roofer gives you that assessment at no charge. We do. If there's nothing worth claiming, we'll tell you that straight. We'd rather earn your trust with an honest answer than oversell a claim that raises your premiums for nothing.
Timestamp matters too. Texas weather data is public, and insurance companies pull storm reports to verify that hail actually fell at your address on the date you're claiming. We've had clients in Round Rock and Cedar Park who waited three or four weeks to file — the claims still went through, but the delay created unnecessary friction. Get a roofer out fast. File within a week. That's the move.
Once you file, your insurer will assign a claims adjuster and schedule an inspection, usually within a week or two. Before that appointment, know your deductible. In Texas, most policies have a separate wind and hail deductible that's a percentage of your home's insured value — typically 1% to 2%. On a $400,000 home, that's $4,000 to $8,000 out of pocket before insurance pays anything. Know that number before you assume the claim covers everything.
Now, this next part depends on what kind of policy you have — and it matters a lot. There are two main types: ACV (Actual Cash Value) and RCV (Replacement Cost Value). ACV policies pay out based on the depreciated value of your roof at the time of the storm. RCV policies pay the full cost to replace it with like materials, minus your deductible. If you have an older roof and an ACV policy, your payout could be significantly less than what a replacement actually costs. We're planning a full breakdown of ACV vs. RCV in a future post, because it deserves more space than a paragraph — but the short version is: check your policy type before you assume what you'll receive.
For RCV policies specifically, here's how the payment process works: if the adjuster approves the claim, you'll receive an Actual Cash Value payment upfront — that's the replacement cost minus depreciation. For a 15-year-old roof, that depreciation can be significant. The remainder, called recoverable depreciation, gets released after the work is completed and you submit the final invoice. This two-payment process trips a lot of homeowners up. Don't start a roofing project planning to use the second check as a down payment — it comes after the job is done.
If the adjuster denies the claim or low-balls the estimate, you have options. You can request a re-inspection, hire a public adjuster, or invoke the appraisal clause in your policy. We've seen legitimate hail damage denied on the first pass in neighborhoods all over South Austin, the Hill Country, and out east toward Bastrop and Elgin. A denial isn't always the final word.
Hail damage on shingles isn't always obvious from the ground. What you're looking for are impact marks — dark spots where the granules have been knocked away and the underlying mat is exposed or bruised. On a newer roof, it looks almost like a cigarette burn. On an older roof, it can blend in with normal wear, which is exactly why an experienced eye matters.
In Central Texas, we deal with everything from quarter-sized hail that leaves marginal damage to baseball-sized stones that crack through shingles entirely. The storms that hit Georgetown and Hutto in 2023 were some of the worst we've seen — roofs that looked fine from the street had hundreds of impact points when we got up there and counted. That kind of damage accelerates aging, compromises your roof's water-shedding ability, and will show up as a leak 12 to 36 months later if it's not addressed. The storm may be over, but the damage keeps working against you.
After every major storm in the Austin area, out-of-state roofing crews flood neighborhoods within 48 hours. They'll knock on your door, offer a free inspection, and pressure you to sign an Assignment of Benefits or a direction-to-pay form on the spot. Some of them do decent work. A lot of them don't. And when they're gone, they're gone — no local office, no warranty you can actually collect on, no accountability.
We've repaired storm-chaser work on roofs in Steiner Ranch, Lakeway, Dripping Springs, and beyond. Every year after a big storm season, same story. Missing flashing, improper nail patterns, mismatched shingles, no ice and water shield at the eaves — work that passed a quick photo inspection but failed within two years. Hire someone with a permanent Austin-area address, a real contractor license, and reviews that go back more than one storm season.
If your neighborhood just got hit — or if you're not sure whether last month's storm left damage — call us for a free roof inspection. We'll get up there, tell you exactly what we find, and help you figure out whether a claim makes sense.
Schedule Free Inspection (512) 948-8343