Contractor risk
How to spot a storm chaser before you sign
Storm chasers are crews that work a damaged region for a few weeks and leave before warranty claims arrive, and they no longer only knock on doors. They now reach homeowners through geo-targeted advertising within hours of a storm, local-looking phone numbers, and purchased five-star reviews. The Better Business Bureau reports that twenty percent of roofing complaints involve stolen deposits, a share that is rising as payments move to peer-to-peer apps with effectively no buyer protection.
It is worth being precise about the problem. Not every out-of-town contractor is a criminal, and after a large storm local firms are genuinely overwhelmed, so outside capacity is part of the recovery. The structural issue is different: a firm that will not be in your state next year cannot honour a ten year workmanship warranty, whatever the paperwork says.
The screen
- Verify the licence with the state, not with the contractor. Look the number up on the state board's own site. A licence shown on a phone is not verification.
- Confirm insurance with the insurer named on the certificate. Call the agent listed on the certificate of insurance and confirm the policy is active and covers this work. Certificates are trivially forged.
- Check the address is a place. Search the business address. A mailbox store, a residential unit or an address in another state is a signal.
- Check how long the entity has existed. State business registries are public. An entity registered three weeks after the storm is telling you something.
- Read the reviews for pattern, not score. A cluster of five-star reviews inside a short window, generic wording, and no reviews older than the storm is a purchased profile.
- Refuse deposits above roughly a third. Tie payments to milestones and completion. Pay by a method with recourse, not a peer-to-peer app.
- Get the scope in writing before signing anything. Materials, brand, colour, underlayment, ventilation, flashing, ice and water shield, disposal, permits, and who pulls them.
- Ask for lien waivers on payment. Unpaid subcontractors and suppliers can lien your house even when you have paid the general contractor in full.
"We'll waive your deductible." "We'll cover it for you." "We'll build it into the estimate." "Don't worry about the deductible."
All of these are proposals to commit insurance fraud, because the deductible is the portion the policy requires you to pay and concealing that inflates the claim. Many states criminalise it explicitly, and in most states a homeowner who knowingly accepts becomes a party to it. This offer becomes very tempting the moment a homeowner discovers their wind and hail deductible is $8,000 rather than $1,000, which is exactly when it tends to be made.
Two documents to read very slowly
Assignment of benefits. An AOB transfers your rights under the policy to the contractor so they can deal with the carrier and be paid directly. It is sometimes convenient and sometimes the beginning of a nightmare, because it removes your control of your own claim. Several states have restricted the practice after widespread abuse. Never sign one on a doorstep.
The contingency agreement. Frequently presented as "this just lets us inspect and talk to your insurance company, it isn't a contract." Often it is a contract, binding you to use that contractor for whatever the carrier approves, with a cancellation fee. Read the cancellation terms before signing, and take the document inside and read it alone.
What good looks like
An established local firm with a verifiable licence, insurance confirmed with the named insurer, a physical address you can drive to, a review history that predates the storm, a written scope, a deposit within normal bounds, milestone payments, lien waivers on request, and no urgency about signing today. Firms like this exist in every market and they are usually busy, which is itself a reasonable signal.