If hail hit your area, the clock on your insurance claim starts immediately — not when you get around to it. Most homeowners policies require "prompt" notice of loss, and delaying documentation gives the insurer grounds to attribute later damage to wear and tear rather than the storm event. Here is what to do in the right order.
Is your roof actually damaged? How to check without going up
You do not need to climb on the roof to do a first-pass damage check. Walk your property and look at surfaces that hail hits and marks easily: aluminum window screens, air conditioning fins, gutters, downspouts, and painted wood trim. Hail leaves distinct circular dents in soft metal and pockmarks in painted surfaces. If you see those, there is a high probability that your asphalt shingles absorbed impacts too — they just don't show it as dramatically from the ground.
Check your gutters and the ground around your foundation. Fresh granules — the small ceramic grit from asphalt shingles — washing out of your gutters or collecting on the ground near downspouts after a storm is one of the most reliable indicators of shingle impact damage. Some granule loss is normal over the life of a roof; a large deposit immediately after a hailstorm is not.
Document everything before anyone sets foot on your roof
Before you call your insurer, before you call a contractor, photograph the evidence on the ground. Timestamped phone photos are legally defensible documentation of the condition immediately after the storm. Photograph the dented gutters, the AC condenser fins, the pockmarked window screens, the granule accumulation at the downspout. These are supporting evidence that a hail event occurred — important if the insurer later questions whether the roof damage predates the storm.
Check your local weather service data. The National Weather Service and commercial hail-tracking services like Verisk or StrikeCheck maintain databases of hail events by date and location, including estimated hail stone diameter. Save or screenshot the event data for your address. Adjusters and contractors both use this data; having it documented on your side is an advantage.
File your claim promptly — here is exactly how
Call your homeowners insurance company's claims line — not your agent's general number, the dedicated claims number — and report the loss. You will be asked: the date of the storm, the type of damage (hail, wind, or both), and whether there is any active water intrusion. Answer factually and completely. You are not required to estimate damage amounts at this stage; that is what the adjuster is for.
Get a claim number before you hang up. Write it down. This is how every subsequent communication gets tracked. Also confirm the name of the adjuster assigned to your file, if one has already been assigned, and ask for their direct contact information.
Note: filing a claim does not obligate you to accept any settlement offer. Filing and accepting are separate decisions. File promptly to protect the claim date; evaluate the offer carefully before you accept it.
Protect the home from further damage
If the hail storm cracked skylights, knocked off ridge caps, or left any area of the roof openly exposed, you are obligated under most policies to take "reasonable mitigation steps" to prevent additional water damage. This typically means tarping the affected area. Most insurers will reimburse emergency tarping costs as part of the claim — get a receipt from whoever does the work, and photograph the tarped area before and after.
Do not begin permanent repairs until the adjuster has inspected the damage. Completing repairs before the inspection — even well-intentioned ones — can complicate or reduce your settlement because the adjuster can no longer verify the original damage directly.
Get an independent inspection from a storm-restoration contractor
Before your adjuster visit, have an experienced storm-restoration contractor walk your roof and document the damage. A good storm contractor will use chalk circles to mark each impact point on the shingles, count hits per 10-square-foot test area (the standard protocol for determining whether hail density is sufficient for a full replacement), and photograph the damage systematically. This gives you an independent record that you can compare against the adjuster's scope of loss.
Adjuster inspections can be brief — sometimes 15 to 20 minutes on the roof. A thorough contractor inspection takes longer and looks at more detail. Discrepancies between the two documents are the starting point for supplement requests if the adjuster's estimate comes in lower than the actual damage warrants.
What to expect from the adjuster visit
Your insurer will schedule an adjuster — either an employee adjuster or an independent adjuster hired by the carrier — to inspect the damage. You have the right to be present during this inspection. Be there. Have your storm contractor's inspection report and photos in hand if you already have them.
The adjuster will write a scope of loss — a line-item estimate of the covered damage and the cost to repair it. This document drives the initial claim payment. Review it carefully against your contractor's assessment. The most common gaps in adjuster scopes are: missed hail hits on hip slopes and north-facing surfaces, omitted underlayment replacement, excluded ice-and-water shield, and no line for code-required upgrades (ordinance/law coverage).
If the adjuster's scope is lower than what the damage requires, you can formally request a re-inspection or file a supplement. You are not required to accept the first offer.
Use the form below to find a storm-restoration contractor in your area
Navigating an insurance claim alone is possible, but having a contractor who specializes in storm work — one who understands Xactimate pricing, knows how to document a supplement, and has experience working with your carrier — makes a material difference in claim outcomes. Get matched with a local storm-restoration contractor using the form on our home page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Most policies require notice of loss 'as soon as practicable.' In practice, file within a few days of the storm — not weeks. Some carriers have stricter deadlines, and delayed filing gives the insurer grounds to argue that subsequent damage is wear-and-tear rather than storm-related. Filing promptly doesn't mean you have to accept their first offer.
Not recommended unless you're experienced with roof safety and have proper footwear. Instead, check gutters, downspouts, AC condenser fins, window screens, and painted wood trim from the ground — hail leaves clear marks on these softer surfaces, which are reliable proxies for shingle damage. Have a storm-restoration contractor do the actual roof inspection.
You can challenge it. Options include requesting a re-inspection, having your contractor file a supplement with documentation of the missed damage, invoking the appraisal clause in your policy (a form of arbitration), or hiring a public adjuster to represent you. The adjuster's first estimate is not final — supplemental requests on storm damage claims are routine.
No. Your insurer may have a preferred contractor network, but in most states you have the right to choose your own licensed contractor. The contractor works for you, not the insurer. Choose one experienced with insurance claims who understands how to document damage and file supplements if the scope needs to be expanded.
Need a licensed roofer to assess your storm damage?
Two minutes of questions. A local storm-restoration contractor reaches out through our lead partner. Free, no obligation.
Start with my zip code