Questions answered, statute cited
After the hurricane, answered
Tarping before the adjuster, the rules on post-storm door knockers, deductible offers, canceling a storm contract, signing over benefits, public adjuster fees, and state hardening money. Each answer opens with the direct answer and cites the statute it stands on.
Reviewed August 20, 2026. General information from a roofing contractor, not legal or insurance advice; whether damage is covered is the insurer's decision under the policy.
What should I do right after a hurricane damages my roof?
In order: account for people and treat downed lines and gas smells as emergencies; walk the property from the ground, never the roof; rank buildings or areas by active water entry; start a dated log; and photograph conditions as found, wide to tight, before anything is cleaned up or tarped. Then mitigate, notify the insurer per the policy, and verify every vendor before they touch the building.
That sequence is the condensed version of the storm response playbook, which carries the full first-2-hours-to-day-30 framework, a printable eight-document toolkit, and the vendor verification checks referenced throughout this page. The single most expensive mistake in the first day is destroying evidence: material discarded or damage covered before it is photographed is proof the claim file never gets back.
Can I put a tarp on my roof before the adjuster gets here?
Yes, and in most cases you should: property policies generally require the policyholder to take reasonable steps to prevent further damage, and waiting weeks with an open roof works against the claim, not for it. The order matters, though: photograph the damage as found first, then tarp, and keep the receipts and photos of the temporary protection itself.
Reasonable emergency mitigation and a documented as-found record are not in tension; the record comes first by hours, not weeks. Tarping is also genuinely dangerous work on anything beyond trivial access, which is why emergency tarping is a professional task. Whether any particular damage is covered remains the insurer's decision under the policy; what you control is whether the loss stopped growing and whether the record proves both the damage and your mitigation of it.
A roofer knocked on my door right after the storm. What are the rules?
Florida law puts specific limits on post-storm contractor behavior. Under Fla. Stat. 489.147, a contractor may not solicit you through a prohibited advertisement encouraging you to contact them to file a roof claim, may not offer you anything of value in exchange for letting them inspect the roof or file a claim, and may not interpret your policy or adjust the claim for you unless separately licensed to do so.
Violations carry fines of up to $10,000 per violation for licensed contractors, and the statute reaches paid door-knockers and lead generators acting on a contractor's behalf. None of this makes a knock on the door illegal by itself, and established local contractors do storm canvassing lawfully; the statute draws the line at claim-baiting. The practical filter is the same five vendor checks the playbook uses: license looked up by you, insurance certificate in hand, a findable business, nobody getting the claim signed over, and a documented inspection as the product.
Source: Fla. Stat. 489.147 (flsenate.gov).
A roofer offered to cover my deductible. Is that legal?
No. Under Fla. Stat. 817.234(7), a contractor who knowingly pays, waives, or rebates an insurance deductible on a repair funded by a property insurance claim commits a third-degree felony, and Fla. Stat. 489.147 separately prohibits offering anything of value in exchange for a roof inspection or claim. Treat the offer itself as the strongest possible signal to choose a different contractor.
The deductible exists because the policy prices it; a contractor who "absorbs" it is either inflating the claim to cover the difference, which is insurance fraud territory, or cutting the scope. A homeowner who knowingly participates in a false or inflated claim has their own exposure under Florida's insurance fraud statute, so the safe rule is simple: the deductible is yours, you pay it, and the contract price matches the real scope. Florida also requires roofing contracts to carry a notice saying exactly this about deductibles.
Sources: Fla. Stat. 817.234(7) (flsenate.gov) and Fla. Stat. 489.147 (flsenate.gov).
Can I get out of a roofing contract I signed right after the hurricane?
Sometimes, on a short clock. For a contract signed while a state of emergency is in effect, Fla. Stat. 489.147 gives a residential owner the right to cancel without penalty within 10 days of signing or before the official start of work, whichever comes first. There is no Florida statute that lets you cancel simply because the insurance claim was later denied, so never sign assuming the claim is the escape hatch.
Notice the "whichever comes first": if the contractor pulls a permit or begins real work on day three, the window can close before day ten. Florida also requires roofing contracts to include specific consumer notices, and a missing required notice can itself create a cancellation right, so read the contract for the notices as much as for the price. If you are inside the window, cancel in writing and keep proof of delivery. For anything past the window, the contract is a legal question for a lawyer, not a roofing page.
Can I sign my insurance benefits over to my roofing contractor?
For Florida residential and commercial property policies issued on or after January 1, 2023, no: Fla. Stat. 627.7152 bars policyholders from assigning post-loss insurance benefits, with narrow exceptions. An assignment-of-benefits form presented after a storm deserves scrutiny against your actual policy's issue date, and an assignment is a legal document that warrants independent review before any signature.
The practical consequence: on newer policies, the claim stays yours, the insurer pays you under the policy, and you pay the contractor under the contract. A contractor can still help you document damage and provide estimates; what they cannot do is take over the claim. Older policies may predate the prohibition, which is exactly why the issue date matters and why the playbook's vendor checks treat anyone leading with an AOB as a red flag.
What can a public adjuster charge on a hurricane claim in Florida?
Fla. Stat. 626.854 caps public adjuster fees at 10 percent of claim payments for claims arising from events under a governor-declared state of emergency, for one year after the declaration, and 20 percent otherwise. You can cancel a public adjuster contract without penalty within 10 days of signing, or within 30 days after the loss or 10 days after signing, whichever is longer, for emergency-declaration claims.
Two further caps rarely make it into summaries: narrower limits apply where the insurer has already paid or committed to pay policy limits, or in certain re-opened claim situations, so the 10 and 20 percent figures are ceilings, not entitlements. Whether a public adjuster helps in a given claim depends on the claim; what this page can say factually is what the fee caps are and that the cancellation window for adjuster contracts is measured differently, and more generously, than the roofing contract window in the question above.
Is there state money to help strengthen my roof before the next storm?
Florida's My Safe Florida Home program, established in Fla. Stat. 215.5586 and run by the Department of Financial Services, offers free wind mitigation inspections and matching hardening grants: $2 of state money for every $1 of yours, up to $10,000 of state contribution, with low-income homeowners eligible without the match. Funding comes in legislative cycles, so check the state's own site for current availability.
Eligibility currently centers on owner-occupied, site-built single-family homes with a homestead exemption, insured value at or below $700,000, and construction before 2008, though the Legislature has adjusted the criteria between cycles. Qualifying work includes exactly the mitigation this library keeps mentioning: roof-deck attachment, roof-to-wall connections, secondary water barriers, and opening protection. One hard rule worth underlining: grant-funded work must not begin before grant approval, so sequence the paperwork before the crew.
Sources: Fla. Stat. 215.5586 (flsenate.gov) and the My Safe Florida Home program page (myfloridacfo.com).
Keep going
The rest of the library
The playbook carries the full response sequence these answers plug into; the insurance questions page covers deadlines, deductibles, and roof age rules.
After the storm
Get the damage documented before repairs erase it.
A dated, written inspection record with photographs tied to findings is what every rule on this page runs on. K. Simon Construction verifies like the playbook says anyone should: licenses published, lookup invited.