bill tries to reign in storm chasing racket?

From the mouth of the insurance lawyer: "Dallas lawyer Steven Badger was the first to testify, in favor. “Today, hail is all I do,” he explained, meaning he defends insurance companies in lawsuits.

Badger laid out his view in a letter to me a year ago: “Over the last couple years a cottage industry has arisen in Texas comprised of roofers, appraisers, public adjusters, unlicensed public adjusters and various other characters who consider the insurance industry a slot machine that keeps on paying. The situation is totally out of control. Abuse and outright fraud is rampant.”"

http://www.dallasnews.com/investigations/watchdog/20150409-watchdog-texas-insurance-lobbyists-have-a-plan-you-wont-like.ece

Ironically, just 10 minutes ago I got this pic from our Henry Company rep, Bill Day. He said this golfball sized hail was driven by 70 mph wind this week, and not only trashed his roof, but broke holes "thru" his decking. It's his 4th roof in 20 years on his house. Sometimes hail damage is real.

Haag Engineering and their sweet-hearted insurance cohorts would have you believe this sized hail cannot damage a roof.

Don't buy into the insurance company hype, their interest is in saving billions, not thwarting crooked roofers.

Natty, that's a fair question. Insurance rates are too high for a variety of reasons:

* Inflation (everything else is higher too, except gas) * Andrew, Katrina, Ike and other $1 billion+ Cat storms in recent years

Natty, yours is a good idea.

Insurance fraud happens, I've seen it. I'm just saying that far more often, it is the insured who gets screwed. My dad is an ex claims manager, he taught adjusters. He owned 2 adjusting agencies in Kansas before he went in the roofing business. He will be the first to tell you something that even many adjusters don't know: Adjusters aren't there to pay claims, they are there to limit claims. They are there to pay the obvious claims that cannot be avoided, and deny or underpay those claims which are marginal or where he and the roofer knows the damage is there but cannot be proven (gravel roofs, often). I'm dealing with just such a claim right now, where the carrier knows the damage is there, but it is 9 months old and very hard to see now on the 700 SQRS of gravel roofs. I will be meeting with the 3rd. adjuster or "roof consultant" on Wednesday.

And I'm not saying that adjusters are complicit in cheating the insured always. The parameters are set by the insurance industry, e.g., strike density per SQR, etc., they just enforce that standard. This is why Haag has tried so hard to establish the goofy junk science notion that a low slope commercial roof cannot be damaged by less than 2" hail. It's pre BS and it's intended to limit claims and to save billions for their clients, the insurance industry.

Roofguy: I don't consider my self really knowledgable about the science of hail, but what you said about impact is obviously the most basic truth.

I've never met a Haag engineer. I've been shown a few tips from adjusters.

Roofguy Said: Follow the money guys, this is the sound of your freedoms eroding.

In my opinion, property owners should just say the hell with this 3rd party adversarial crap and leave the decision between the property owner and the roofer. That means instead of sending all of that money to insurance companies, just set up a maintenance account- then do any work when it really needs to be done. You can still insure against fire and real catastrophes like tornadoes. The way it is now, for what some property owners pay for insurance, I could install a new roof on just 3 years of premiums.

The powerful insurance lobby is behind this, just as they were when they drafted a statute in Tx that forbids roofers from helping the insured get a fair settlement.

Follow the money guys, this is the sound of your freedoms eroding. Very few hail damage claims are paid when there is no damage - the opposite is true. This is a fact! I've watched it with my own eyes for 35 years.

I have dealt with literally hundreds of claims where the adjuster tried to screw the insured, and I've seen maybe 5-8 times where I thought the adjuster paid more than he/she should have. My opinion? Of course it's just my opinion, but I know a heckuva lot more about hail damaged roofs than does 99% of adjusters, imo. Adjusters deal with wind damage, auto claims, hurricanes, fire, etc. I do roofs only, all day, every day, for 35 years.

It is appalling how little the average adjuster knows about hail damage, and this includes the egghead engineers at Haag and other prestigious engineering firms who specialize in hail claims. Not once have I ever heard one of them mention the most fundamental knowledge about all the factors that determine whether or not a hailstone damages a commercial roof. Not once! Either they look like a deer caught in headlights, or they think I'm pulling something when I suggest that the size of the hailstone alone is not the most important determinant of damage. A softball sized hailstone that is soft on the outside, and which strikes a very hot roof, will do less roof damage than a ping pong sized hailstone that is hard as a rock, spiked, which strikes a roof that is 40 degrees from preceding cold rain, and which is driven thru flashings by 70 mph winds.

When adjusters and engineers do a better job of getting up to speed on all these factors, maybe they can be trusted to assess a hail claim. Until then, I tell my customers to absolutely, under no circumstances, allow the adjuster on their roof unless I'm there, too. Adjusters don't like a roofer looking over their shoulder - I don't need them to like it. And even in Texas, it is still legal for me - without an adjuster's license - to defend my estimate for repairs on my roof on which I carry a guarantee. Some adjusters know their craft, but it is a crapshoot not worth risking that the insured will draw one of them on his claim.

Don't the lawyers own the restoration companies anyway?

On one hand, I'd be very glad to see this. On the other, I'm worried about how much my market will change when all these companies lose their "slot machine"