Emergency Roof Repair and Storm Damage in South Florida

After a hurricane or a hard storm, the roof is only part of the problem. Water may be getting into the house, the power may be out, and you may be signing papers with a contractor you met that week. Florida law gives you specific deadlines and specific protections in this situation. This page covers what to do first, what to photograph, and the rules that apply to any roof contract you sign after a storm. Our hours are Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

First: safety

• Stay off the roof while wind and rain continue.
• Keep away from downed power lines, including any lying on the roof or in standing water, and report them to your utility.
• If a tree or large limb is on the roof, keep everyone out of the rooms beneath it until the load is removed and the structure is checked.
• If water is coming through near light fixtures, fans or outlets, stay away from it. Turn off that circuit at the breaker only if you can reach the panel without standing in water.
• A ceiling that bulges or sags with water can come down. Keep people and pets out from under it.

Next: slow the water down inside

• Put buckets under drips, towels at the base of wet walls, and move or cover furniture, electronics and papers.
• Once the weather allows, a tarp over the damaged area limits further water. Tarping means working at height on a damaged, possibly soft roof; do not do it yourself unless you can do it safely. If a contractor makes a code-compliant temporary repair under a contract, that counts as the “start date” in the cancellation rule below.

Document it before anything is fixed

Your claim will depend on what you can show. Take quick photos before cleanup or a temporary repair when it is safe, but never let photos delay stopping water:

• Photograph every damaged room wide, then close up on each stain, drip and damaged item. Video active leaks.
• From the ground, photograph each side of the roof, missing or broken tile or shingles, lifted edge metal, and debris on the roof and in the yard.
• Photograph fallen trees or limbs where they landed, before they are cut up.
• Keep receipts for everything you buy or pay for to protect the house.
• Write down the storm’s name and date and when you first saw damage.

We inspect storm-damaged roofs and document what we find with photos of each slope, so you and your insurer see the same condition.

Claim deadlines and deductibles

• Deadlines. A new or reopened property insurance claim must be reported within 1 year of the date of loss, and a supplemental claim within 18 months. For hurricanes and windstorms, the date of loss is the landfall date or the date NOAA verifies the event.¹
• Hurricane deductible. Before issuing a homeowners policy, the insurer must offer hurricane deductibles of $500, 2%, 5% and 10% of the dwelling limit, with exceptions for higher-value homes. On a home insured for $200,000, a 2% hurricane deductible is $4,000. It applies once per calendar year across hurricanes, and your declarations page must show the dollar amount.²³
• The separate roof deductible does not apply to hurricanes. Florida lets insurers add a roof deductible, but it cannot apply to hurricane losses, to a tree fall that punctures the roof deck, to repairs of less than 50 percent of the roof, or to a total loss.²
• How you get paid. On a replacement-cost policy, the insurer must first pay at least the actual cash value of the damage minus the deductible, then pay the rest as the repair work is done and the expenses are incurred.⁴ Keep every invoice.
• Your policy after the storm. Since 2024, once there is a declared emergency and an order from the Insurance Commissioner, your insurer may not cancel or nonrenew a home damaged by that hurricane or wind event until 90 days after it is repaired. Exceptions include nonpayment, fraud, unreasonable repair delays, or ignoring a certified-mail status inquiry for 30 days.⁵

Rules for any roof contract you sign after a storm

These Florida rules apply to roof contracts, and the first one exists specifically for the months after a declared emergency:

• 10 days to cancel. If you sign a roof repair or replacement contract within 180 days of a Governor-declared state of emergency covering your area, you can cancel it without penalty within 10 days of signing or by the official start date, whichever comes first. The start date is when permanent roof materials start going on, when a permit is issued, or when a code-compliant temporary repair is made. Cancel by certified mail, return receipt requested, or another mailing with proof, to the address in the contract.⁶
• No deductible waivers or gifts. A contractor may not offer a rebate, gift, gift card, cash, coupon or deductible waiver for a roof inspection or for filing a claim, may not pay or take referral fees, and may not interpret your policy or adjust your claim unless licensed as a public adjuster. Each violation can bring a fine of up to $10,000.⁶
• Flyers and door-knockers. A contractor soliciting you in person, by phone, e-mail, flyer or door hanger to file a roof claim must state, in at least 12-point type, that you are responsible for your deductible and that waiving a deductible or filing a false claim is a third-degree felony.⁶
• What the contract must say. Every residential roof contract must include a notice that the contractor may not offer rebates, gifts or deductible waivers; if it is missing, you may void the contract within 10 days after signing. It must also state, in bold 14-point type on the signature page, that if the work is tied to an insurance claim you should call your insurer to verify coverage before signing. It must come with an itemized, good-faith estimate.⁶
• Your claim stays yours. On residential policies issued on or after January 1, 2023, any assignment of post-loss benefits to a contractor is void.⁷
• Check the license. Look up any contractor for free on the DBPR license search at myfloridalicense.com; it shows license type, status and expiration date.⁸ Contracts over $2,500 must also include a written notice about the Florida Homeowners’ Construction Recovery Fund.⁹

Permits after a storm

A declared emergency does not suspend the permit rules for permanent roof repairs. In Miami-Dade and Broward, the Florida Building Code requires a permit for any roofing repair or maintenance except what Section 105 allows.¹⁰ Broward and unincorporated Miami-Dade exempt a few small repairs, and since July 1, 2026 state law exempts some single-family work under $7,500 on written request; the details and limits are on our leak detection and repair page. We pull the permits for the work we do.

Two post-storm rules are worth knowing:

• After a state of emergency for a natural disaster, Florida law (F.S. 553.7922), repeated in Broward’s code, requires local governments to expedite permits that do not need technical review, and roof repairs and re-roofing are on that list.¹¹
• Florida’s contractor-licensing law lets owners repair or replace wood shakes or asphalt or fiberglass shingles on their own one- to three-family home without a contractor’s license, when the home was damaged by natural causes in an event covered by a Governor-declared state of emergency and is not offered for sale within 1 year after the work.¹²

If the storm damaged more than a quarter of the roof, the 25 percent rule applies: repairing more than 25 percent of a roof or roof section in 12 months means the whole roof or section must be brought up to current code.¹³ If your roof was built, repaired or replaced under the 2007 Florida Building Code or later, only the repaired part must meet today’s code.¹⁴ When the damage is that large, compare repair with tile roof replacement or shingle roof replacement.

Before the next storm

Hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30, with the climatological peak around September 10.¹⁵ A roof inspection before the season shows loose tile, lifted edges and tired flashing while there is still time to fix them. To tell us about storm damage, use the contact page.