Storm restoration claims are won in the first 48 hours after the storm passes. After that, two things happen that work against the homeowner: weather alters the evidence, and the insurance carrier's loss-adjuster queue fills up. Either makes the eventual payout smaller. Here is the order we recommend.
Hour 1-6: Document everything visible from the ground. Walk the perimeter of the property. Photograph every elevation in raw — no filters, no cropping. Include a wide context shot of each side of the house plus closeups of any visible damage. Most cell phones embed timestamps and GPS coordinates in the photo metadata, which becomes useful later.
Hour 6-24: Call your insurance company and file a claim. This is the most important call you will make. Tell them you had a storm event, that you suspect damage, and that you want a claim number assigned. Do not commit to an inspection time yet. Do not commit to an adjuster yet. Just get the claim opened with a date that matches the storm.
Hour 24-48: Call us for an independent inspection. Before the carrier's adjuster arrives, you want your own documentation. We climb the roof, walk every elevation, and produce a photograph report aligned to the language a carrier expects (Xactimate codes, material specifications, measurements). This is the document that prevents the claim from getting undervalued.
Within the first week: Schedule the adjuster meeting on-site. Don attends the meeting with you. With 5 years of prior Public Adjusting experience, he walks the roof with the carrier's adjuster, points out every line item, and contests anything that looks underestimated. Most homeowners cannot do this themselves because they do not know what to contest. We do.
What NOT to do in the first 48 hours: do not let any roofer climb the roof who promises to absorb your deductible. That is illegal in Illinois and most states. Do not sign anything that gives a contractor the right to communicate with your insurance carrier on your behalf — that is what a Public Adjuster does, and it requires a license. Do not delay the claim hoping the damage will get worse and pay more — it gets worse, but the claim usually gets denied because the loss date no longer matches the storm.
