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Roof 2025Page 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:
Hometown RoofingJohn 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:
Bold items from "Final Draft" (dropped cents):
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