Your Policy May Pay for the Roof by Its Age, Not Its Damage

Most homeowners assume that a covered roof loss is paid by measuring the damage and pricing the repair. Some policies add a second step. A roof surface payment schedule is an endorsement that sets the payout by the age of the roof, so two houses with the same hail damage can receive different checks. The schedule usually sits on the declarations page or in a separate endorsement page, and many homeowners never open it until a claim has already been filed. This page explains what the schedule does, where to find it, and what to ask your own agent before you call in a loss.

Where the schedule hides

The declarations page is the summary sheet at the front of your policy. It lists your limits, your coverage types, and the endorsements attached to your policy by form number. If a roof payment schedule applies to your home, the form title will name it, and the page or table that sets the percentages will be in the back of the policy packet or the endorsement file your insurer mailed or posted to your account. Look for words like roof surface, roof payment, or roof schedule, followed by a form number.

If you cannot find it, ask your agent in writing whether any roof payment schedule or roof age endorsement applies to your policy, and ask for a copy of the form. Keep the request and the reply. The question is a simple yes or no, and a dated written answer is more useful later than a verbal one.

What the table does to a roof claim

A schedule works by age bands. Each band pairs a roof age range with a payment percentage. The insurer first decides that the roof is covered for the storm damage, then looks up the roof's age in the table, then applies the percentage to the amount it has already agreed to pay for the loss. A roof in a younger band may be paid at a higher percentage than a roof in an older band, even when the scope of work is identical.

This is the reason the age of the roof needs documentation. The insurer will ask for an install date, and if the answer is wrong, the band is wrong. Missouri homeowners often do not have the original invoice, which makes the age question harder than it looks. The page on proving a roof's age without the original invoice covers the records that tend to hold up, including permit history, shingle lot numbers, and dated photographs.

A schedule can also interact with how the claim is valued. If your policy pays replacement cost on most of the house but uses a roof schedule for the shingles, the two rules do not always stack in the way a homeowner expects. Ask your agent to explain, in plain terms, which payment method applies to the roof surface and which applies to the rest of the dwelling. Get the answer in writing.

Insurance claim

Your insurer handles the claim, the valuation, and the payment. Keys Roofing cannot represent you with your insurer or negotiate the schedule for you. Missouri law, RSMo 407.725, bars a roofing contractor from representing or negotiating a homeowner's insurance claim, and that prohibition applies to any roofer, including Keys. What Keys can do is document the roof, measure it, and write a scope with photos and measurements that you keep in your own hands. Keys attends as the contractor while you deal with your own insurer.

Because the schedule changes the number that comes back, it helps to know what the insurer has written down about the roof before you respond. Ask for the claim estimate and the roof age the insurer used. If the age is wrong, say so in writing with your evidence attached. If the estimate omits a roof component that you can document, such as a vent, a flashing, or a ridge line, say that in the same letter. The page on sending your roof scope to your insurer with a dated index describes how to do this without losing track of what was sent.

Keep your own copy of every notice. A schedule is a contract term, and a contract term is only as useful as the record of when you raised it.

What it costs

A roof payment schedule affects the insurer's payment, not the price of the roof. The roofing contract is a separate document, and the price is set by the scope, the materials, and the crew's labor. If the insurer pays a lower percentage because the roof is older, the gap between the insurer's payment and the contract total is yours to plan for, whatever the reason for the gap. Knowing this before you sign protects you from a surprise at the final invoice.

Ask each roofer for a written proposal that separates the roof scope from the total. A clean scope lets you compare what the insurer approved against what the contract requires, line by line. The page on how to read a roofing proposal line by line walks through the sections to check.

Do not let a schedule push you into a cheaper roof without a written reason. If the insurer's payment is lower because of age, the roof you need is still the roof you need. Ask your roofer what the repair or replacement must include to meet the manufacturer's installation requirements and the local permit, and compare that list to the insurer's estimate.

What to ask

Before you file, ask your agent these questions and keep the answers in writing:

• Does my policy include a roof surface payment schedule or any roof age endorsement? Please give me the form number and a copy.
• What age bands does the schedule use, and which band applies to my roof based on the install date you have on file?
• Does the schedule apply to the entire roof, or only to the shingles?
• How does the schedule interact with replacement cost and actual cash value on the rest of the dwelling?
• What documentation do you accept for the roof's install date?

Then ask your roofer these questions, and keep the answers in the same file:

• Will you put the roof age you used in the proposal, along with the source for that date?
• Will you provide dated photographs and measurements for each roof section, so that I can send them to my insurer myself?
• What is in the scope that the insurer's estimate may not include?

Keys Roofing documents damage, puts a written scope with photos and measurements in the homeowner's hands, and attends as the contractor while the homeowner works with their own insurer. If you have a roof age question or need a written scope to compare against an insurer's estimate, call (314) 220-2333.