CityvettedStorm-chaser roofers are back. The five sentences that send them packing.
After a hailstorm, your driveway fills with out-of-state trucks offering free inspections. Here's the script our editors use to separate the licensed from the louts.
The hail comes through on a Tuesday afternoon. By Thursday morning, your street looks like a contractor convention. Pickup trucks with out-of-state plates idle at the curb, and a guy in a clean polo is already walking your neighbor's roofline with a ladder he carried over himself. He has business cards. He has a clipboard. He has a "free inspection" and a story about how the insurance window closes soon. What he usually does not have is a local license, a permanent address within 200 miles, or any intention of being reachable when your shingles start lifting in two years.
We call them storm chasers, and they are not a myth. After every major hail or wind event, crews migrate in from other states to harvest insurance claims, subcontract the actual work to whoever is cheapest, and roll out before the warranty matters. Some are fine. Most are a gamble you did not agree to make. The good news is that you can sort them in about ninety seconds at your own front door, and you do not need to be rude to do it.
- Storm chasers move fast because their business model depends on you not checking. Slowing down is your whole defense.
- Five plain questions expose almost all of them: license, physical address, who climbs the roof, warranty terms, and the deposit ask.
- A legitimate roofer answers all five without flinching. A chaser changes the subject or gets impatient.
- Never sign an "authorization to inspect" or a contingency contract on the spot. That signature is often the real product they came for.
Why the doorstep pitch works
The pitch is engineered around urgency and authority. A stranger tells you there is damage you cannot see, that your insurer will pay for it, and that you should act before some deadline they invented. It feels like a favor. It is a sales funnel. The "free inspection" exists so they can find or manufacture enough damage to justify a claim, then position themselves as the contractor who handles everything. Once you sign their contingency agreement, you are often locked into using them if the claim is approved, even if their bid is high and their crew is a mystery.
The five sentences
Say these calmly, in order. Watch the face more than the answers.
- "What is your license number, and what name is it under?"
Then look it up while they stand there. Many states require a roofing or general contractor license, and the lookup is free and public. A borrowed or absent number ends the conversation.
- "What is your physical business address here in the area?"
A PO box, a motel, or "we are based out of Texas but working your region" is your answer. Local warranties are worthless if the company leaves the state.
- "Who actually climbs my roof, your W-2 crew or a subcontractor?"
Chasers almost always sub the labor to the lowest local bidder. Ask for the sub's name and license too. Vague answers mean nobody owns the workmanship.
- "What does your workmanship warranty cover, and for how long, in writing?"
Material warranties come from the manufacturer. The workmanship warranty comes from the installer, and it is only as good as the installer's plan to still exist. Get a number of years and get it on paper.
- "What deposit do you need before any work starts?"
A large upfront deposit, especially in cash or by app, is the loudest siren on this list. Reputable roofers in most markets bill little or nothing until materials arrive.
The signature trap
The single most expensive mistake homeowners make after a storm is signing something at the door. It is often labeled an "inspection authorization" or a "contingency agreement," and the salesperson will frame it as a no-cost, no-obligation formality. Read it. Many of these documents commit you to using that company for the full repair if your insurance approves the claim, and some include cancellation penalties that run into the thousands. You are allowed to take the paper inside, read it twice, and call your own insurer directly. Anyone who pressures you to sign before you do that is telling you exactly who they are.
"The deadline is always fake. Your roof was damaged whether you sign today or next Tuesday."
to Daniel Ruiz, Senior EditorWhat to do instead
Thank them, take the card, and close the door. Then call two or three roofers who already have a permanent presence in your city, the kind whose trucks you have seen for years and whose reviews go back further than the last storm. Get your own inspection on your own schedule. File your claim through your insurer, not through a stranger's clipboard. If there is real damage, it will still be there next week, and so will the contractors who actually live where you do.
When Cityvetted ranks roofers, recency of reviews is weighted against tenure on purpose. A flood of five-star reviews that all appeared the month after a hailstorm is a pattern we flag, not a credential. We favor companies with a long, steady review history in a single metro, because that is the profile of a business that plans to be around when your warranty is tested.