Commercial Insurance Claims

Commercial claims run bigger, slower, and with more paperwork than residential. Carriers send out independent adjusters, sometimes with engineers in tow. The scope is defended in Xactimate or Symbility, and every line item gets negotiated. Our job is to document the roof, the assembly, and the damage so thoroughly that the carrier’s own evidence proves what should be covered. Straight work, straight scope, straight paper trail.

How We Document a Commercial Claim

For commercial, multi-family, HOA, industrial, and institutional claims we bring diagnostic tools that residential claims don’t require:

• Drone aerial and thermal photo surveys — high-resolution overhead imagery of every slope and every field penetration, plus thermal IR scans that reveal wet insulation the eye can’t see. Surveys are timestamped and geo-tagged for carrier submission.
• Moisture scans — nuclear, capacitance, or infrared scanning on low-slope roofs where the diagnostic question is wet insulation. We map wet zones to slope diagrams and include the scan report in the claim package.
• Core sampling where a carrier’s engineer is involved — 4” cores through the membrane to expose the full assembly, verify insulation saturation, identify the number of existing roof layers, and confirm deck condition. Holes are patched to manufacturer spec.
• On-roof damage documentation — chalked test squares per slope, photographic evidence of impact indicators (spatter marks, granule loss, seam separation, fastener back-out), and sign-off from the building owner or property manager on what was observed.
• Written scope of loss built to the line-item structure that matches the carrier’s estimating software, with code-compliance upgrades (R-value, tapered insulation, fastener patterns) itemized and substantiated.
• Adjuster meeting on-site — we walk the roof with the carrier’s adjuster and engineer so they see what we saw, with our documentation in hand.
• Supplement support when tear-off exposes additional damage (wet insulation below visible field damage, rotted decking, code-required upgrades) that the initial scope didn’t capture.

HOA and Multi-Family Claims

HOA and multi-family claims add a layer of building-by-building coordination that single-building commercial doesn’t face. We organize:

• Building-by-building scope packages so each structure is documented on its own claim scope and the association’s insurance carrier can process each unit’s loss distinctly.
• Master plan drawings and unit maps referenced in the scope so the adjuster can cross-reference what we inspected against the association’s property schedule.
• Reserve-study alignment — scopes written to match line items in the association’s reserve study, so the board has clean documentation for the expenditure and the carrier check aligns with the reserve draw.
• Board and property-manager reporting during the claim and throughout construction, with photo logs, daily updates, and invoice-ready documentation.
• Tenant and unit-owner communication packets in English and Spanish explaining inspection and tear-off schedules so occupants aren’t blindsided when work begins.

Industrial, Warehouse, and Institutional Claims

For industrial and institutional buildings — distribution centers, manufacturing, schools, healthcare, municipal — the claim has to coexist with uninterrupted operations. We plan the inspection and tear-off around shift schedules, production windows, loading-dock access, and tenant lease requirements. We’ve done phased roof work over occupied warehouses that never stopped shipping, over schools that stayed in session, and over healthcare facilities that kept clinical operations running.

Assignment of Benefits (AOB) — Why It Helps on a Commercial Claim

On commercial and HOA claims we ask the insured to sign an Assignment of Benefits — an agreement that assigns the claim rights for the roofing project to us for the duration of the work. On a commercial claim, that matters even more than on residential:

• Standing to invoke appraisal. Commercial policies almost always include an appraisal clause. When the carrier’s independent adjuster and our scope disagree on dollar amount, appraisal is the cheapest resolution path and almost always beats litigation on cost and timeline. Only the policyholder or the assignee can invoke it.
• Legal standing to pursue bad-faith denial. Commercial carriers occasionally deny or drastically underpay legitimate scope. With the AOB, we can pursue mediation or litigation against the carrier in our name — so the property owner or association isn’t forced to hire a plaintiff’s attorney at 33–40% contingency.
• Direct paper trail with the carrier. We write supplements, submit moisture-scan reports, and respond to engineer findings in our own name. Property managers and HOA boards don’t have to act as translators between the scope writer and the carrier.
• The check still goes to the insured. The carrier pays the named insured and any mortgagee or lender the same way it always would. The AOB gives us process standing to pursue the claim, not the proceeds themselves.
• Standard cancellation terms. The AOB is a written, state-compliant document with the statutory cancellation window on the underlying construction contract. We walk the board or owner through it line by line before signature.

What We Will Not Do

We will not manufacture damage. We will not file a claim that isn’t supported. We will not participate in inflating scope to cover your deductible — that’s insurance fraud, it’s a felony in most jurisdictions, and it ends careers. A contractor who waives your deductible on a commercial claim is telling you something about how the rest of the project will be run.

What About Residential Claims?

For single-family home storm claims — hail to roof, gutters, siding, paint, AC, fences — see our Residential Insurance Claims page. Same team, same documentation discipline, different paperwork track.

Schedule a Commercial Claim Inspection

If a storm came through and you’re not sure whether the building has a claim, or you’ve filed one and the adjuster’s scope doesn’t look right, we’ll come out, run the diagnostic documentation, and give you a straight answer about what’s there.

Call us at 855 ROOF-001, email info [at] rooftechnologies.com, or submit a request through our contact form to schedule a commercial claim inspection.

Still have questions? Contact us