Insurance Claims & Storm Damage Disclosure

1. Our Role in Insurance-Funded Roof Work

Some roof replacements — particularly after hail or wind storms — are paid for in whole or in part by a homeowner's property-insurance claim. In those projects the insurance relationship is between you and your insurer. Interlock Roofing of America provides the roofing side: honest damage documentation, a written scope of work, and a repair or replacement estimate that you and your insurer can rely on. With your permission we can discuss the damage and the estimate with your insurer, but the claim is always yours.

Where Interlock Roofing of America refers your request to an independent contractor, that contractor performs the inspection and the work under its own contract with you, and the commitments on this page bind the contractor as well.

2. We Never Pay, Rebate, or Absorb Your Deductible

Your insurance deductible is your responsibility under your policy. Interlock Roofing of America never advertises or promises to pay, waive, rebate, offset, or absorb any part of an insurance deductible, and never offers gifts, allowances, upgrades, or "free" items as an inducement tied to an insurance claim. We do not advertise a "free roof," "no out-of-pocket roof," or "insurance pays for everything."

Under federal law, advertising that a roof is free or that the deductible is covered, when the policy requires you to pay it, is a deceptive practice (Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. § 45). Billing an insurer for the full contract price while quietly waiving the deductible misstates the amount you actually paid and exposes you, not just the contractor, to a fraud allegation. An offer like this from any contractor is a warning sign.

Statutes of Texas that prohibit deductible rebates are listed in section 7.

Texas. Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 27.02 makes it a Class B misdemeanor for a seller to advertise or promise, in a transaction to be paid from a property insurance claim, that it will pay, waive, absorb or decline to charge the deductible, give a rebate or credit that offsets it, or otherwise help you avoid paying it without the insurer's consent (§ 27.02(c)(1)), and separately to do any of those things (§ 27.02(c)(2)). Because the offence reaches advertising, this site never advertises deductible help of any kind.

Every insurance-funded contract of $1,000 or more must state, in at least 12-point bold type: "Texas law requires a person insured under a property insurance policy to pay any deductible applicable to a claim made under the policy. It is a violation of Texas law for a seller of goods or services who reasonably expects to be paid wholly or partly from the proceeds of a property insurance claim to knowingly allow the insured person to fail to pay, or assist the insured person's failure to pay, the applicable insurance deductible." (§ 27.02(b)). The contractor who performs your work must include that notice; Interlock Roofing of America signs no contracts. Your insurer may withhold replacement-cost holdback until you show proof you paid the deductible — a cancelled cheque, money-order receipt, card statement, or an instalment plan that requires full payment over time (Tex. Ins. Code § 707.004).

3. We Are Not Insurance Adjusters

We are roofing professionals, not licensed public adjusters. Public adjusting is a licensed profession in every U.S. state, and a roofing contractor may not adjust, negotiate, or settle your claim on your behalf, or advertise a claim-negotiation service, unless separately licensed to do so. We do not interpret your policy, negotiate or settle your claim, or represent you in dealings with your insurer.

What we provide, with your express permission, is factual support for your claim: photographs, measurements, a written damage assessment, and a detailed repair or replacement estimate. At your request we can discuss those materials with your insurer. If you want help negotiating a claim, hire a licensed public adjuster or an attorney; we can tell you how to check a licence with the insurance regulator of Texas.

Texas. Texas licenses public insurance adjusters (Tex. Ins. Code § 4102.051) and defines one to include anyone who, for compensation, negotiates or settles a property claim for an insured, or who "advertises, solicits business, or holds himself or herself out to the public as an adjuster of claims" (§ 4102.001(3)). A contractor "may not act as a public adjuster or advertise to adjust claims for any property for which the contractor is providing or may provide contracting services," even under a power of attorney (§ 4102.163(a)); the Texas Supreme Court upheld that rule in Texas Department of Insurance v. Stonewater Roofing (7 June 2024). Neither Interlock Roofing of America nor any contractor we refer will file, negotiate or settle your claim, promise to "get your roof approved," or speak for you to your insurer on coverage. A contractor may inspect, photograph and measure the damage, give you a written estimate, and explain that estimate to your insurer's adjuster at your request. If you want representation, hire a licensed public adjuster (verify at https://www.tdi.texas.gov/) or a lawyer.

4. Your Right to Cancel if Your Claim Is Denied

Texas. No Texas statute lets you cancel a roofing contract because your insurer denied the claim; your cancellation rights come from two other sources.

First, if you signed the contract at your home after an in-home visit — the usual case after a storm — you may cancel until midnight of the third business day after signing (Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 601.051), whatever the insurer later decides. The contract must show, near your signature in at least 10-point bold type: "YOU, THE BUYER, MAY CANCEL THIS TRANSACTION AT ANY TIME PRIOR TO MIDNIGHT OF THE THIRD BUSINESS DAY AFTER THE DATE OF THIS TRANSACTION. SEE THE ATTACHED NOTICE OF CANCELLATION FORM FOR AN EXPLANATION OF THIS RIGHT." and come with two detachable NOTICE OF CANCELLATION forms (§§ 601.052–601.053; the FTC form is acceptable, § 601.054). To cancel, mail or deliver the signed form or any written notice to the contractor's address on the form by the deadline; payments are returned within 10 business days. A contract omitting the form details is void (§ 601.201).

Second, the contract itself. Before signing, ask the contractor for a clause allowing cancellation without charge if the insurer denies coverage in whole or in part; Texas law does not require it, so only the written contract gives it. Do not sign a contract priced at "whatever insurance pays."

Other notices the contractor must give you: the § 27.02(b) deductible notice above; the Residential Construction Liability Act notice next to the signature lines (Tex. Prop. Code § 27.007; $500 penalty if omitted); and, before you sign, the lien-law disclosure statement beginning "KNOW YOUR RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES UNDER THE LAW" (§ 53.255). Interlock Roofing of America is not a party to the contract; these duties bind the contractor. See our Cancellation & Refund Policy.

5. Honest Storm-Damage Inspections

Our inspections report what is actually on your roof — nothing more. We photograph and document damage as found, with date-stamped images you may keep. We never create, exaggerate, or stage damage, and we do not climb onto your roof without your express permission. If your roof does not need replacement, we tell you so. We do not canvass storm-hit neighbourhoods with claims that a roof is damaged before it has been inspected, and we do not represent that a storm has occurred at your address unless we have weather data for that date and location.

6. Insurance Fraud Is a Crime

Knowingly inflating a claim, concealing a deductible arrangement, staging damage, or billing an insurer for work not performed is insurance fraud under state criminal law, and, where the mail or interstate wires are used, may also be prosecuted federally as mail or wire fraud (18 U.S.C. §§ 1341, 1343). We do not participate in it, and our staff and any contractor we work with are instructed to refuse it.

If anyone representing themselves as working with Interlock Roofing of America offers to "take care of your deductible" or to inflate your claim, report it to policies@interlockgroup.com.

7. Texas Law

• Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 27.02 — deductible must be paid; no advertising or promising deductible waivers, rebates or offsets; 12-point bold contract notice for insurance-funded contracts of $1,000 or more; Class B misdemeanor: https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/BC/htm/BC.27.htm#27.02
• Tex. Ins. Code § 707.004 — insurer may withhold replacement-cost holdback until proof of deductible payment: https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/IN/htm/IN.707.htm#707.004
• Tex. Ins. Code §§ 4102.001, 4102.051, 4102.163 — public adjuster licence; contractors may not adjust or advertise to adjust claims: https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/IN/htm/IN.4102.htm#4102.163
• Tex. Bus. & Com. Code ch. 601 — home solicitation transactions; three-business-day cancellation, contract statement and Notice of Cancellation form: https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/BC/htm/BC.601.htm
• Tex. Prop. Code § 27.007 — Residential Construction Liability Act contract notice: https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/PR/htm/PR.27.htm#27.007
• Tex. Prop. Code § 53.255 — residential construction lien disclosure statement: https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/PR/htm/PR.53.htm#53.255
• Tex. Prop. Code § 202.011 — limits on HOA restrictions on wind- and hail-resistant, energy-efficient and solar shingles: https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/PR/htm/PR.202.htm#202.011
• Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 17.46 — Deceptive Trade Practices Act, including false statements about the need for repair (b)(13) and warranty rights (b)(20): https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/BC/htm/BC.17.htm#17.46
• Texas Department of Insurance, "Roofing and insurance: Know the law": https://www.tdi.texas.gov/consumer/storms/roofing-and-insurance-know-the-law.html
• Texas Attorney General consumer complaints: https://consumerprotection.texasattorneygeneral.gov/

Texas issues no roofing contractor licence (https://www.tdlr.texas.gov/licenses.htm); a contractor's voluntary Roofing Contractors Association of Texas licence can be checked at https://www.rcat.net/consumers.html. Texas is a one-party-consent state for call recording, and its telemarketing law covers text messages; see our SMS & Communications Policy.

8. Contact

For questions about this disclosure:

• Email: policies@interlockgroup.com
• Phone: 1-866-733-5811
• Company: Interlock Roofing of America