Someone knocked on your door after the storm. Now what?
Some of them are legitimate local companies working a neighbourhood. Some will be three states away by spring. Six questions separate them, and they take about four minutes.
A serious hailstorm goes through, and within about seventy-two hours there are trucks in the neighbourhood and someone is on your porch offering a free inspection. They may have already been on your roof.
Two honest things need saying at once. Door-knocking after a storm is not, by itself, dishonest — plenty of established local roofers canvass hail-hit streets, because that is genuinely where the work is, and a good local company is often the first to arrive. But this is also the single most-warned-about behaviour in the entire roofing trade, and state consumer-protection agencies issue advisories about it after every major storm.
So the useful question is never "did they knock?" It is "will this company still exist when the roof leaks?"
What regulators actually warn about
State consumer-protection offices and BBB regional offices publish the same warning after every damaging storm, and the recurring elements are specific:
The documented pattern
- Out-of-area crews follow the weather They travel to storm-hit regions, work a season, and leave. Not local means no local reputation to protect and nobody to call in year two.
- Pressure to decide immediately Discounts that expire today, "we only have one slot left on this street," urgency attached to a decision that is not urgent.
- Money up front, then gone Advisories describe crews collecting the first insurance check or a large deposit and never returning.
- They want to handle the whole claim Offering to deal with your insurer for you sounds like a favour. It also means they, not you, control the paperwork.
- Damage that appears during the inspection The reason not to let a stranger onto your roof unsupervised. You cannot tell hail bruising from a crowbar mark from the ground.
What the complaint records show happening next
Across public homeowner complaint records against roofing companies, the money-first-work-never pattern is consistent, and the sums are not small:
- “They never completed our roof and stole our insurance money.” Homeowner complaint record, FL
- “took the money my insurance company paid for the roof replacement 7 months ago” Homeowner complaint record, FL
- “they cashed the check for $10,500 so the insurance company cannot reissue it” Homeowner complaint record, FL
- “we have given them our insurance money in the amount of $4000 and they never started the job” Homeowner complaint record, TX
- “Took my $11,500 deposit and canceled on me, still hasn't returned it all back” Homeowner complaint record, OH
- “never pulled permits and did shady unsafe work...he ran off with our money” Homeowner complaint record, OH
- “not a legal entity, not a licensed, bonded, and insured company” Homeowner complaint record, IL
- “site was abandoned” Homeowner complaint record, IL
The consistent thread is not bad workmanship. It is that the money moved before the work did, and after that the homeowner had no leverage at all.
The four minutes that settle it
You do not need to be rude, and you do not need to know anything about roofing. Ask these on the doorstep. A legitimate local company answers all six without blinking — most will have volunteered half of them already.
Six doorstep questions
- What's your local address — not a PO box or a truck? Then look it up on your phone while they stand there. A permanent local premises is the single strongest signal, because it is the thing a travelling crew cannot fake.
- What's your state contractor licence number? Most states have a free public lookup that takes under a minute. Verify the number yourself; do not accept a photo of a card.
- Can I see your certificate of liability insurance and workers' comp? If an uninsured worker is hurt on your roof, that can become your problem. Ask for the certificate to be emailed from the insurer, not handed to you.
- How long have you worked in this county, and can you give me three local addresses from the last two years? Not references they choose — addresses. You can drive past a roof.
- Who pulls the permit, and will you be there for the inspection? A crew that plans to be gone does not want to be tied to an inspection date.
- Who honours the workmanship warranty in five years, and what's the legal name of that entity? One complaint record notes a company that "keep changing their name." A warranty is only worth the entity behind it.
What not to do on the doorstep
Never on the first visit
- Don't sign anything — including a "free inspection authorisation."
- Don't hand over or endorse an insurance check.
- Don't pay a deposit to someone who arrived unannounced.
- Don't let anyone onto the roof unaccompanied.
- Don't agree to "we'll handle the claim for you."
- Don't accept a price that expires when they drive away.
Reasonable and safe
- Take their card, their licence number and their local address.
- Say you're getting two more estimates — watch how they react.
- Call your insurer yourself and open the claim yourself.
- Photograph your own roof and yard before anyone goes up.
- Check the licence and the address before you call anyone back.
- Get every estimate in writing, itemised, with a scope of work.
Why the pressure is always fake here
Urgency is real when water is actively entering the house — that calls for an emergency tarp, which is a small, cheap, separable job you can hire on the spot without committing to a full replacement.
Urgency is not real for the replacement itself. Insurance claims run on months, not hours. There is no discount that legitimately evaporates at the end of a driveway conversation. If the price depends on signing today, the pricing exists to stop you getting a second opinion — which is exactly the moment to get one.
Separate the two jobs out loud: "tarp it today, quote the replacement, I'll decide next week." Any legitimate roofer will take that deal.
Find local roofers to compare against
The point of the doorstep questions is comparison — and the cheapest comparison is two local companies with permanent addresses in your city.
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Related trades after storm damage
Get matched with local roofers
Tell us your city and what the storm did. You get roofing contractors with a fixed local address — the thing a travelling crew can't offer — and you make the calls yourself.
Get matched with a roofer Read the hiring questionsQuestions homeowners actually ask
Should I hire a roofer who knocked on my door after a hailstorm?
Not on the spot, and not without checking them — but not automatically no either. Established local roofers do canvass storm-hit streets, because that is where the work is.
Judge them on permanence, not on the knock: a verifiable local address, a state licence number you check yourself, insurance certificates sent from the insurer, and local addresses of jobs from the last two years. A company that will still be here in five years can answer all four in a couple of minutes.
What is a storm chaser roofer?
A crew that travels to regions hit by hail or wind, works the season, and moves on. They are not local, so there is no local reputation at stake and typically nobody to call when the workmanship warranty matters.
State consumer-protection agencies and BBB offices issue advisories about them after major storms. The recurring elements: out-of-area crews, pressure to sign immediately, large sums collected up front, and an offer to handle your insurance claim for you.
Should I let a roofer inspect my roof for free?
A free inspection from a company you contacted and verified is normal and useful. A free inspection from a stranger who arrived unannounced carries a specific risk: you cannot see what happens up there, and you cannot distinguish hail bruising from damage made with a tool.
If you allow it, go up the ladder with them or watch from the ground, photograph the roof yourself beforehand, and never sign the "inspection authorisation" on the porch — on some paperwork that document also assigns the work or the claim.
Why do roofers want to handle my insurance claim?
Some of it is genuine service — restoration contractors deal with adjusters constantly and are better at the paperwork than you are, and that can be a real benefit.
The risk is control. If the contractor owns the communication with your insurer, you may not see what was claimed on your behalf or what the insurer actually approved. A reasonable middle: let them meet the adjuster and advocate for scope, but you open the claim, you stay on the correspondence, and you see every document before it is submitted.
Is it safe to pay a roofer a deposit?
A deposit on a scheduled job from a verified local company is ordinary — materials get ordered. What the complaint records show going wrong is scale and timing: large sums handed over early to companies that then did not start.
Keep the deposit proportionate and tied to something real (materials delivered, work commenced), pay by card or cheque rather than cash or transfer so there is a dispute route, and never pay a deposit to someone who arrived unannounced on the same day.
How can I check if a roofing company is local?
Ask for the street address and look it up on your phone while you are standing there — satellite view included. You are looking for a permanent premises, not a mailbox store, a vacant lot, or a residential address three states away.
Then check how long the business entity has existed in your state's business registry, and ask for addresses (not curated references) of jobs completed locally in the last two years. Those are things a travelling crew cannot produce.