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Red flags at your front door.
After a storm, the first knock usually isn't your insurance company. Here's how to tell a contractor who wants to build your roof from one who wants to run your claim.
Storm season in North Texas follows a script. Hail hits, the doors get knocked, and somewhere in the pitch you'll hear a version of "don't worry about the insurance, we handle all of that." Some companies are now saying it on television.
Most of the contractors knocking are legitimate businesses that do good work. But that one line is where a repair offer turns into something Texas law says they cannot do. This page gives you the law in plain English, the exact phrases to listen for, and what each one costs you if you sign anyway.
The law, in plain English
Three parties can negotiate a property insurance claim in Texas: the policyholder, a licensed attorney, or a Texas-licensed public adjuster. Nobody else. (Tex. Ins. Code §4102.051)
Roofers get their own statute. A roofing contractor cannot act as an adjuster or advise on a claim for any property they're repairing, even if they personally hold an adjuster license. (§4102.163, upheld by the Texas Supreme Court in 2024)
And since 2019, it has been a criminal offense for a contractor to pay, waive, absorb, or rebate your deductible. Your carrier can demand proof you actually paid it before releasing full claim funds. (Tex. Ins. Code Chapter 707)
None of this is a technicality. The legislature wrote these laws because homeowners were getting hurt.
Six phrases that should stop you cold
If you hear any of these, keep the roof estimate. Lose the claim pitch.
1. "We'll handle the insurance for you."
The classic. Handling the insurance means interpreting your policy and negotiating your settlement, and a contractor is licensed to do neither. What they can do: inspect the damage, write the estimate, meet the carrier's adjuster and point out missed damage, explain repair methods and code requirements, discuss supplements and clarifications on your estimate.
2. "We'll meet the adjuster and make sure everything gets covered."
A contractor can be present at the inspection to point out damage to their trade. "Making sure it gets covered" is advocacy on the claim, and that's adjusting. When the person negotiating your settlement gets paid only if you buy a roof, ask yourself whose settlement they're negotiating.
3. "We'll take care of your deductible."
Illegal since 2019, full stop. And the exposure doesn't stay with the roofer: if your carrier asks for proof of payment and you claim you paid a deductible you didn't, that's your signature on the fraud. A contractor who opens with this is telling you exactly how they run their business. Believe them.
4. "Sign this now so we can get you on the schedule."
The document matters more than the urgency. Some of these contracts assign your claim rights, lock you in contingent on insurance approval, or bury a fee for "claim assistance" the contractor can't legally provide. Nothing about a hail claim requires a signature on the spot. (And a contract built on illegal claim handling may be voidable, which sounds like good news until you're litigating it.)
5. "We know what your policy covers. We do this every day."
They've seen a lot of claims. They haven't read your policy, and they're not licensed to interpret it. Endorsements, sublimits, and code coverage vary policy to policy, and those details are where claims get underpaid.
6. "Don't talk to your insurance company. Let us deal with them."
You are allowed to talk to your own carrier, and cutting you out of your own claim serves exactly one party. Anyone whose process depends on you staying quiet is not working for you.
What good looks like
A legitimate contractor scopes the damage, writes an estimate for their work, meets the adjuster to point out what their trade sees, and builds what gets approved. The best ones in DFW do exactly this and nothing more, because they know where the line is and their business is worth protecting.
If the claim itself is the problem (denied, underpaid, scope disputes), that's what licensed representation is for: a public adjuster or an attorney. That's not a sales line, that's the statute.
Verify before you sign
- Look up any public adjuster or agent license at tdi.texas.gov (Agent and Adjuster Licensing search).
- If someone crossed these lines with you, TDI takes complaints online at tdi.texas.gov/consumer/complfrm.html.
- Ask any contractor for their GL certificate and references from your area. The good ones hand these over without flinching.
Not sure what your claim is actually worth?
Get a free, no-obligation policy and damage review. We'll tell you straight whether a public adjuster will add value, or whether you're better off without one.