Your roofer can talk about your roof. They cannot talk about your policy, and that is where most denied claims get decided.
This is not a knock on contractors. The founder of our firm was a Minnesota roofing contractor before he built it, and half our team came from construction. We say what follows with respect. A good roofer is worth keeping. The gap is about what a contractor is allowed to do on someone else's insurance claim.
What a contractor can do
A contractor can inspect the roof, take photos, measure it, and write an estimate. They can explain what is damaged and what it takes to fix it. They can tell you the shingles are discontinued, that the decking underneath needs replacing, or that a repair on one slope will not match the rest.
All of that matters. A roofer's scope and photos are often the backbone of a claim. On a claim that the carrier approves without a fight, a good contractor can carry you the whole way, and plenty do.
What a contractor cannot do
Here is where it stops. A contractor cannot discuss your policy with the carrier. A contractor cannot negotiate coverage, ask for a manager, or file a complaint with the Department of Commerce. They are not your representative, and they have no standing on the claim.
Once the carrier says no, the contractor's tool is a "pretty please" email. Something like, "We believe there is hail damage on this roof, can you take another look?" The carrier can answer in one line and move on. Nothing requires them to engage.
A few things make it harder than it used to be.
- Carriers have tightened what contractors may do on a claim, and a contractor's emails on coverage carry little weight.
- Many policies put the burden on you to prove the loss, not on the carrier to find it.
- A contractor who pushes into coverage arguments is stepping outside their role, and the carrier knows it.
What a public adjuster is allowed to do
Minnesota defines the job. Minn. Stat. § 72B.02, subd. 6 says a "public adjuster" means "any person who, for compensation or any other thing of value on behalf of the insured: (1) acts or aids, solely in relation to first-party claims arising under insurance contracts that insure the real or personal property of the insured, on behalf of an insured in negotiating for, or effecting the settlement of, a claim for loss or damage covered by an insurance contract;"
Plain English: a licensed public adjuster can do what you can do on your claim. We can request your full policy, read it, argue coverage, write an estimate, escalate to management, and file a complaint with the Department of Commerce. The carrier has to deal with us.
We're public adjusters, not attorneys. This is how the statute reads and how we use it; for legal advice talk to a Minnesota attorney.
A worked example
Say a carrier inspects your roof and offers $0, calling it wear and tear. Your roofer sees hail hits on three slopes and sends a nice email with photos.
The carrier replies with one sentence: "Our inspection found no storm-related damage." The roofer cannot ask what policy provision the denial relies on, because that is a coverage conversation. The roofer cannot request a reinspection with a different adjuster as your representative.
A public adjuster would take the same photos and ask for the policy provision in writing. We would add weather data, look for a pre-purchase inspection report, request a reinspection, and escalate if the answer stayed the same. One of our homeowners got a first offer of $0 on a denied claim, and the final number was $115,896. That took a lot of emails and a lot of months, and we cannot promise any result like that on yours.
Keep your contractor
We do not want you to fire your roofer. We want them on the job.
The contractor does the repairs and brings the construction expertise: slope by slope scope, material availability, what a decent install costs in your market. We do the claim: policy, coverage, negotiation, escalation. Those are different skills, and they work well together.
A few practical notes if you have both.
- Share the contractor's photos and estimate with us at the start.
- Read any contract a roofer gives you before you sign it, especially anything about your claim rights. We cover who works for whom in our post on public adjusters versus insurance adjusters.
- Carriers pay what is invoiced, so make sure the final invoice matches the approved scope.
If a contractor offers to pay our fee, that is allowed, but the homeowner is responsible for it. We explain the details in our post on who pays a public adjuster.
When your roofer is enough
Sometimes you do not need us. If the carrier approved most of the roof and the estimate looks close, a good contractor can finish it. We tell people that on the consultation call, and our post on whether you really need a public adjuster lays out when.
But if the carrier has denied the claim or paid a fraction of what the roof costs, the contractor has gone as far as a contractor can. That is the point where the claim needs someone with the right to argue the policy.
The honest answer
Your roofer cannot handle your claim once it turns into a dispute, because they have no standing on your policy. They are still a valuable part of the team. Keep them for the repairs and the construction expertise, and bring in someone licensed for the coverage fight. You can see how we work with contractors on our process page.