Hi everybody! This is Tracy Bookman owner of Homestead Roofing. You know the
conventional wisdom out there is that if you need to make a big purchase that you
need to get three different estimates and sometimes that's pretty good advice,
but before you go doing the whole Goldilocks and the three bears thing for
your roof replacement or your roof repair,
let me tell you why getting three estimates for that kind of work may
actually be a big mistake for you. But before we get started with this
explanation it's going to be really important for you to understand the
difference between a replacement cost value policy and an actual cash value
policy for your homeowners coverage. We made a video talking about the
difference between those two so I suggest that you go watch that when
you're done watching this one so we're gonna link to that at the end of this
video and put a link to it in the description. The reason that that's
really important is because if you have a replacement cost value policy that
means that your insurance company is going to pay 100% of the costs to do the
repair or replacement of your roof - your deductible. So now let's look at
three different scenarios. So you go out and you get three different estimates.
Scenario number one your insurance estimate is here and you get talked to a
roofer and he comes in way up here it's considerably higher. So then you go and
you get another estimate again remember your insurance estimate is here and
let's say you find I don't know, Chuck in his truck right, and so he comes in way
down here. Now sometimes people think you know hey I've got X amount of dollars in
my insurance claim amount so I have to get the work done for that. But if I can
find somebody to do it for less than that amount I might even be able to
pocket some money. We'll talked about that here at the end of the video. So
then you talk to a third guy to get your third estimate and he says ah we're just
gonna go ahead and do it for whatever the insurance payout amount is. Almost
100% of insurance claims for property damage are too low out of the box. There
are several reasons for that, we explain that in a different video so I suggest
that you go watch that one. But knowing that your insurance claim amount is
going to be too low kind of puts things in
to perspective it lets you know that hey that roofer that came in up here he may
not really be out of the ballpark. Sometimes people think and oftentimes
adjusters will try to influence homeowners to think that a roofing
contractor that's higher than their estimate
he's just padding his numbers he's just adding a lot of fluff in there. Well
remember you're your contractor is going to be sending in that estimate if he's
higher than your insurance estimate he's gonna be sending that to the insurance
company and asking for what's called a supplement request if everything looks
legitimate, reasonable, fair, and it can all be documented, meaning that what he's
asking for is required to meet code and to meet manufacturer's installation
specs and those kinds of things. If it's all legitimate reasonable and fair your
insurance company will match the roofers estimate. So you're not out-of-pocket any
extra money so if your roofers way up here you don't have to come up with that
extra money to pay that roofer. Your insurance company if you have
replacement cost value policy will take care of it. So let's talk about the
roofer that comes in way down here. You know if you're thinking hey I'm gonna be
able to pocket some money or I'm just saving money well remember if you've got
a replacement cost value policy they're paying based on the invoice that they
get for the work that's being done. So if an invoice gets sent to the insurance
company for this amount and you're an insurance estimate is here, they're gonna
do this. So instead of saving yourself any money instead of doing yourself any
favors you just saved your insurance company a bunch of money and did them a
big favor. But what about that third guy who said I'm just going to go ahead and
do it for whatever the insurance claim amount is. Well remember how we talked
about the fact that the insurance claims are almost always too low? Well guess
what? If it's too low that means that the roofer doing the work for that amount
isn't going to be very profitable. So he's going to be probably cutting
corners to do things to make him more profitable on
that particular job. So if you're choosing a roofer base on the insurance
claim amount thinking that you have to either be at that amount or less than
that and you're choosing the guy who says he's just gonna do it for the
whatever the claim amount is or you choosing Chuck and his truck who's below
your insurance claim amount, guess what? You're probably getting lesser quality
materials and subpar workmanship and you still have to pay your deductible just
like you would have done if you chosen the more expensive roofer and let your
insurance company pay those costs. Now remember I'm not saying that your
insurance company is going to pay to upgrade you to a better material. Hey I
really hope this video has been helpful. I know it's kind of confusing the whole
insurance process is complex and a lot of people get confused by it so if
you've got any questions please feel free to give us a call right here at our
office phone number 719.433.6991 you can
also visit our website that's right down here HomesteadRoofingColorado.com. We'd
love to hear from you too so please leave a comment down in the comment
section below. Let us know what you thought of this video but we'd also like
to hear from you what kind of videos do you want us to make leave that in the
comments section below. And be sure to subscribe to our channel so that way you
get notified when we've got new videos. I'm Tracy Bookman owner of Homestead
Roofing.