Before Following a Contractor’s Appraisal Recommendation

Your contractor knows what the repair costs. That is real information, and appraisal may well be the right path. Before it is invoked, confirm the full loss has been identified and that the disagreement is genuinely about the amount.

What your contractor is and isn't equipped to answer

A roofer or general contractor is qualified to define and price the repair work in their trade. That is genuinely useful, and a contractor who notices that the insurance company's number does not cover a real repair is doing you a favor by saying so.

An insurance claim, though, can contain issues that sit outside any one trade: what the policy covers, whether the insurance company is liable for a category of damage, which benefits apply, how depreciation and code coverage work, and how the claim has been handled. A contractor also cannot negotiate your claim for you under Texas law. So a contractor's appraisal recommendation is a useful signal about the repair number, not a complete read of the claim.

Appraisal itself is broader than a unit-price comparison. In setting the amount of loss, the panel may evaluate the extent of damage, quantities, and whether repair or replacement is necessary. What it cannot do is construe the policy or decide whether the insurance company owes coverage for that loss. So the order of operations matters: identify the complete loss and the real nature of the disagreement first, then invoke the process that resolves what is left.

Five checks before you invoke appraisal

1. 1

   Has the insurer accepted every damaged component, not merely the roof generally?

   Read the estimate line by line. Approval of a roof replacement says nothing about gutters, screens, soft metals, interiors, or detached structures.

2. 2

   Does the contractor estimate cover only the contractor's work?

   Most repair estimates are scoped to that trade. That is appropriate, and it also means the estimate is not the full measure of the loss.

3. 3

   Are interiors, gutters, fencing, contents, mitigation, code or other benefits involved?

   These are frequently separate line items or separate policy benefits. If they belong in the claim and are not in it yet, the loss is not fully developed.

4. 4

   Is any part of the insurer's position based on cause or coverage?

   Language about wear and tear, deterioration, maintenance, or an excluded cause signals a coverage or causation issue. Appraisal determines amount, not coverage.

5. 5

   Have supplementation and reinspection reached a genuine impasse?

   Appraisal is for a mature disagreement. If a documented supplement or a reinspection request is still outstanding, there may be a shorter path.

Why the sequence matters

Appraisal can only value the loss that has actually been developed and presented. If a category of damage was never documented or claimed at all, an award on the amount does not add it back. And if part of the insurance company's position is that it does not owe coverage for an item or category, appraisal does not decide that question. Working through the five checks above usually makes the right next step obvious: more documentation, a supplement, licensed claim representation, legal advice, or appraisal.

For the process differences, see public adjuster vs. appraisal in Texas. For timing and what SB 458 changed, see when to use appraisal for a Texas property claim. If you already know appraisal is where you are headed, our Texas property insurance appraisal services page explains the appointment and the fee basis. If the estimate simply left work out, start with items left off the estimate or underpaid claim help.

Keep your contractor in the loop

None of this displaces the contractor you have chosen. We work alongside contractors regularly: they hold the repair, we handle the insurance side of the file. Coordinating the two usually produces a cleaner claim than either side working from a partial picture.

General information, not legal advice. Policy terms and applicable law control any given claim. Frost Property Loss Advisors LLC, Texas Department of Insurance firm license #3513777.