How a Missouri roof claim actually works

This page is a general description of how these claims usually run in Missouri. It is not legal advice, it is not a prediction about your claim, and every policy is different. Read yours.

The sequence

1. You report the loss

   You, or your agent on your instruction. Give the date of the storm and what you have found. Ask for the claim number and the name of the adjuster assigned. Policies generally require prompt notice, so this is not a thing to sit on for a season.

2. An adjuster inspects

   Usually a field adjuster employed by or contracted to your insurer, sometimes with a drone or a third party ladder assist. After a metro-wide event these people are working enormous volume and are frequently from out of state.

3. A scope and estimate are produced

   The adjuster writes what they found and prices it, generally in industry estimating software with regional unit costs. You are entitled to a copy of that estimate. Read it against your own inspection report line by line: slope areas, ridge and hip footage, valley footage, penetration counts, and whether items like ice and water shield, drip edge, ridge vent and disposal are actually in there.

4. The first payment arrives, usually smaller than the total

   On a replacement cost policy the insurer typically pays the actual cash value first, which is the replacement cost minus depreciation for the age and condition of the old roof, minus your deductible. The withheld amount is the recoverable depreciation.

5. The work is done and the balance is claimed

   On a replacement cost policy the recoverable depreciation is released once the work is actually completed and documented, usually against a final invoice. On an actual cash value policy there is no second payment, which is why the settlement basis on your declarations page matters so much.

6. Supplements, if the roof turns out to be different than the estimate assumed

   Once a roof is open, things appear: soft decking, a second layer nobody knew about, code requirements the original scope missed. Additional documented items get submitted for review. The contractor supplies the documentation for the work; the request and the conversation about it are yours.

Who is allowed to advocate for you

A public adjuster. That is a separate licensed profession in Missouri under chapter 325 of the statutes, and their entire job is representing the policyholder on a claim. Two things worth knowing before you engage one. First, Missouri does not cap a public adjuster's fee, so the percentage is a negotiation and you should treat it as one. Second, RSMo 325.055 bars a public adjuster from also performing the repair work, which is the structural reason the two roles stay separate: the person arguing about the value of the loss is not the person who gets paid to fix it.

You can also, of course, simply do it yourself. Most people do. A dated inspection report with photographs and measurements is most of what the conversation needs.

Two Missouri rules almost nobody knows

You have ten years, not one. The limitation period for an action on a written contract in Missouri, which includes an insurance policy, is ten years under RSMo 516.110(1). Many policies contain a clause purporting to shorten that to one or two years. In Missouri, RSMo 431.030 makes a contractual provision that shortens a statutory limitation period null and void. That does not mean a claim should be left to rot, and it does not override a policy's separate requirement of prompt notice of loss. It does mean that the sentence in the policy telling you the window has closed is not necessarily the end of the story, and that is a question for a lawyer rather than a roofer.

Nobody is required to use a preferred contractor. An insurer may recommend a programme contractor. Choosing your own is your call, and the settlement is based on the scope of the loss rather than on which company you hire.

What a good contractor contributes, honestly stated

• A dated, photographed, slope by slope record of the roof's condition
• Measurements that can be checked against the insurer's estimate
• A written scope in the order the roof is actually built, so line items are comparable
• Presence on site during the adjuster's inspection, as the contractor, answering questions about the roof
• Documentation of anything discovered during the tear-off that the original scope did not contemplate

That is a real contribution and it is enough. Everything past it belongs to you or to a licensed public adjuster.