Roof 2025

Page initially created: 2025-11-02.

On September 3[?], 2025, Wichita was hit to two moderately severe hail storms, passing from northwest to southeast. The first one mostly passed east of us, but the second hit us fairly hard: 1-inch hail, 10-15 minutes. I didn't see any structural damage resulting, but the entire back yard, including the west-facing roof surfaces, were covered in three debris. In following weeks, we encountered a swarm of roofing companies looking for insurance business. I didn't pay them much attention at first, but a project manager from Interstate Roofing came by in person, so I figured I'd let him do a "free inspection." He didn't go up on the roof, but noted a lot of hail dings on gutters and metal trim. I didn't take this very seriously until I got our lawn guy, Doug, to come over and clear the debris from the roofs. When he did, we discovered an area where tree branches had torn shingles loose, exposing the OSB decking below them.

At that point, I called Farmers, and filed a claim. Their claims agent came out the following Monday, with a second person to look at the second floor roof (henceforth the "high roof"). Another person from Interstate was present for the inspection, and helped lobby for them to write up more storm damage. The adjuster, Stephanie, originally promised to put a tarp up over the high roof damage, but eventually decided that it wasn't covered (even though the entire roof was slated for replacement due to hail damage). We went into the attic, and determined that there was some water leaking through the roof, so putting up a tarp became my top priority. The guy from Interstate offered to put a tarp up, but said he had to go get some supplies. I went back and forth with him for 3-4 days. Initially I refused to send Interstate the claim until they put the tarp up. Eventually, I relented and sent them the claim. After one further phone conversation, I never heard from them again.

The claim wrote up a lot of damage, which I will break out below. But the estimated replacement costs were significantly reduced by depreciation, some non-recoverable (mostly on the roofs), and some "recoverable" (held back pending receipt of repairs, mostly for things like gutters). While the high roof urgently needs repair, much of the other damage is barely cosmetic. Farmers estimated total repair cost at $24,000. They wrote us a check for a bit less than $11,000. As Interstate lost interest, I approached several other roofers. I did get a tarp installed by Hometown Roofing, which has bought us some time in figuring this out.

Companies approached:

• Interstate Roofing
• Emerson
• Midwest Roofing
• Hometown Roofing
• Dolphin Roofing
• Gottschalk Brothers Roofing
• DHI Roofing

Hometown Roofing

John Vogt came out, and brought two other guys who actually did the tarp install, as well as taking many pictures. On 10/31 Vogt sent me three documents, which I am struggling to understand. Heavy selling point is that they work to drive a hard bargain with the insurance company, by filing "all of the supplements and ensure everything is properly accounted for." The cover letter points out that "our estimate for the full scope of loss comes to $45,611, compared to your adjuster's estimate of $28,402." Also: "Items shown in bold are out supplements -- these are areas where your adjuster missed necessary components." The three documents are:

1. Non Insurance Construction Agreement: I take this to be the actual bid, priced at $16,168.80. Details further down. Unclear to me initially how this relates to the supplements.
2. EV Report: This includes "Eagleview" aerial photos of the property (evidently several years old [most from 2017], as they show the Nissan in the driveway in front of the garage, but they do include the shed, and the mini-split is visible above the carport. The "West Side" photo has the car, but not the shed [this was dated 2011]. This also includes detailed measurements (including ridges, hips, valleys, rakes, eaves, drip edge), pitch for each section, waste calculations.
3. Final Draft, which provides line item estimate for components (adjustments for lines in bold). This is 8 pages long, vs. 39 pages for the original claim, which is probably what I have to compare it to.

Bold items from "Final Draft" (dropped cents). Not immediately clear which of these items are changes in measurements and which are :

• Dwelling Roof:
  3. Laminated comp shingle rfg, 21 SQ: $7257
  4. Asphalt starter, 430 LF: $1072 - required by code? is this the same as "ice & water shield" on DHI estimate?
  5. R&R hip/ridge cap, 49LF: $587
  6. R&R drip edge, 430 LF: $1826
  9. R&R chimney flashing, 1: $610
  10. Remove additional charge for high roof: $84
  11. Additional charge for high roof: $324
  12. Remove additional charge for steep roof: $158
  13. Additional charge for steep roof: $158
  14. Tear off roll roofing: $118
  15. R&R valley metal, 25LF: $226
  16. Roll roofing, 3.3 SQ: $596
  19. Clothes dryer vent cover: $46
  20. Special systems labor, 8 HR: $572
  25. Dumpster load, 12 yards, 1-3 tons: $505
  26. Emergency roof tarp: $660
  28. R&R Aluminum sidewall/endwall: $188
• Garage Roof:
  30. Asphalt starter, 101 LF: $242
  31. R&R drip edge, 101 LF: $432
  32. Laminated premium grd comp shingle, 7.25 SQ: $3580
  33. R&R hip/ridge cap, 21 LF: $267
  36. General laborer, 4 HR: $285
• Shed Roof:
  38. Asphalt starter, 48 LF: $114
  40. R&R drip edge, 48 LF: $205
  42. R&R hip/ridge cap, 14 LF: $140
  43. General laborer, 1 HR: $71

Hometown's line item list includes things that seem not to be in their estimate. Their estimate is for $16,168, but the line items for the "dwelling roof" come to $22,171.

John Vogt argues that labor charges should not be depreciated. He seems to feel that was a mistake that can be easily corrected.

He also suggests that we should dispute the "average condition" of the roof, and argue that it is "above average" for its age, so should not be depreciated as much. This seems dicier, especially given the tree damage to the high roof (noted by the adjuster as the basis for refusing to tarp the roof).

Comparisons

Hometown contract proposal (as opposed to their damage assessment) comes to $16,168, for the house roof and the carport roof. The line item list for the dwelling roof is $22,171, which seems to cover some items not in their bid. I don't have a separate breakout for the carport roof.

DHI contract proposal for house roof comes to $12,373, plus $3,294 for the carport roof, so the matching bid comes to $15,667. Both Hometown and DHI include "ice & water shield" (not on insurance estimate).