How Do Roofing Companies Get Paid on Insurance Jobs?

The ACV check, recoverable depreciation and supplements: what each is and when it arrives

On a replacement-cost policy the carrier pays in stages, and each stage has its own trigger. Florida writes the order into statute: under §627.7011(3)(a), for a dwelling the insurer “must initially pay at least the actual cash value of the insured loss, less any applicable deductible,” and pays the remaining amounts “as work is performed and expenses are incurred.” The Texas Department of Insurance tells homeowners the same thing in plain words: the first check will likely be for the actual cash value, and once repairs have started and proof goes to the company, it sends the remainder up to the replacement cost. In the order the money moves:

• The first check: actual cash value, less the deductible. Actual cash value is what the damaged roof was worth given its age and condition, so depreciation has already come off. Its timing is set by state claim-handling law. In Florida, §627.70131(7)(a) gives the insurer 60 days after it receives notice of an initial, reopened or supplemental claim to pay or deny it, or a portion of it, unless the delay is caused by factors beyond its control. In Texas, Insurance Code §542.057(a) requires payment no later than the fifth business day after the insurer notifies the claimant that it will pay a claim or part of one.
• The deductible: from the homeowner, never from the carrier. It comes off the first check, so the roofer collects it from the homeowner directly, on a date written in the contract. In Texas, a carrier with replacement cost coverage may hold the withheld depreciation until it receives reasonable proof the deductible was paid (Insurance Code §707.004). In Florida, when a roof deductible applies, the carrier may limit the roof payment to actual cash value until it receives that proof (§627.7011(3)(a)).
• Recoverable depreciation: the amount held back from the first check. It is released as the work is performed and the carrier receives the proof its letter asks for, such as the final invoice, a certificate of completion and photos. Texas §542.057(b) says that when payment of a claim or part of one is “conditioned on the performance of an act by the claimant,” the insurer shall pay no later than the fifth business day after the act is performed. Whether a given holdback fits that text is a question for an attorney.
• Supplements: money for damage or cost found after the first estimate, such as rotted decking discovered at tear-off. Florida defines a supplemental claim as one “for additional loss or damage from the same peril which the insurer has previously adjusted or for which costs have been incurred while completing repairs or replacement pursuant to an open claim for which timely notice was previously provided to the insurer.” Under §627.70132(2), notice of a supplemental claim must reach the insurer within 18 months after the date of loss, and §627.70131(7)(a) gives the insurer 60 days after it receives that notice to pay or deny it.
• The mortgage company, where there is one. In Texas, the Department of Insurance says the mortgage company must get in touch with the homeowner within 10 days of getting the check and, once its requirements are met, has 10 days to send it. For loans Fannie Mae owns, Servicing Guide B-5-01 lets the servicer of a loan that was current or less than 31 days delinquent at the time of the loss release an initial disbursement up to the greatest of $40,000, 33% of the proceeds, or the amount by which the proceeds exceed what is owed on the loan, and the rest based on periodic inspections of the repair work.

Check which kind of policy the claim sits on before the contract is signed. The Texas Department of Insurance works one example both ways: a roof that costs $10,000 to replace, on a house with a $4,000 deductible. A replacement-cost policy pays $6,000 whatever the roof’s age. An actual-cash-value policy on the same roof at 20 years old, with an actual cash value of $4,000, pays $0. On that second kind of policy there is no depreciation check coming, and whatever the contract price is above the carrier’s payment is owed by the homeowner under the contract.

Why the second check stalls, and which paperwork releases it

Once the roof is on, the money left on the job waits on documents, and each document has a different owner. Five places to look, in the order the money moves:

• No final invoice or certificate of completion sent. The crew finished, the job card moved to Complete, and the closeout packet never reached the homeowner. The guide to the roofing certificate of completion covers the packet item by item and who sends it.
• No record of the deductible payment. Where the carrier may hold the depreciation until it sees reasonable proof, a deductible paid in cash with no receipt can hold a finished job. The statutes list a canceled check, a money order receipt, a credit card statement or a financing contract that requires full payment over time. The guide to Texas roofing deductible law covers both states’ rules and the receipt step.
• The check is at the mortgage company. The homeowner has to meet the servicer’s requirements, which can include the contractor’s own documents and an inspection of the work. The guide to a mortgage company holding the insurance check covers the loss-draft package and a “waiting on servicer” queue in receivables.
• A supplement with no paper behind it. Decking replaced at tear-off with no photo, no count and no line on the final invoice is hard for anyone to ask for later. Photos and quantities taken that day, matched to the supplier invoice, are the contractor’s part. The claim is the homeowner’s.
• The homeowner has the money and has not paid. The carrier released it, the mortgage company endorsed it, and the check is in a kitchen drawer. That is ordinary collections: an invoice for the released amount, sent the day the office learns of the release, and a call on a set date.

Every one of the five has a piece that starts in the company’s office: a document it produces or a call it makes. Write the release triggers on each job: which papers this carrier’s letter asks for, who on the team sends them, and the date they went. Then the A/R line can say what it is waiting on, not just that it is late.

Can the insurer pay the roofer directly? What assignment-of-benefits rules allow now

An assignment of benefits is the document that lets a contractor step into the homeowner’s place and collect from the carrier itself. In Florida, for policies issued since the start of 2023, it is gone. Senate Bill 2-A, from the Legislature’s December 2022 special session (Chapter 2022-271, effective December 16, 2022), amended §627.7152 and rewrote its subsection (13). As it reads on October 22, 2026, apart from narrow cases listed in subsection (11), such as a later buyer of the property, a policyholder “may not assign, in whole or in part, any post-loss insurance benefit under any residential property insurance policy or under any commercial property insurance policy” issued on or after January 1, 2023, and “an attempt to assign post-loss property insurance benefits under such a policy is void, invalid, and unenforceable.”

The older rules still sit in the same section. An assignment agreement had to be executed under a policy issued on or after July 1, 2019, and before January 1, 2023, had to be in writing, and had to give the homeowner a right to rescind it without a penalty or fee, including within 14 days after signing, among other conditions. Whether any open claim still falls under those rules turns on the policy and its dates, which is a question for the company’s attorney, not the office.

Florida also limits what a contractor may do on the claim itself. Under §489.147(2)(d), a contractor may not interpret policy provisions, advise an insured about coverages or duties under the policy, or adjust a claim on the insured’s behalf unless it holds a public adjuster license. Texas draws the same line from the other side: Insurance Code §4102.163(a) says a contractor “may not act as a public adjuster or advertise to adjust claims for any property for which the contractor is providing or may provide contracting services,” whether or not it holds an adjuster license and even if it is authorized to act for the insured “under a power of attorney or other agreement.”

Other states set their own rules on assignments, and this guide does not survey them. Where an assignment is barred or uncertain, the safe plan is the plain one: the company is paid by the homeowner, from money the carrier pays the homeowner, on a payment schedule written around the checks. This is a summary of statute text, not legal advice. How any of it applies to a contract or a claim is for a construction attorney.

How roofers cover payroll and materials while claims drag on

Payroll runs on a fixed calendar and materials are bought before tear-off. Insurance money runs on the claim’s calendar. Five ways to close the distance between the two, from the contract to the bank:

• Collect at the moments the money exists. A payment schedule tied to the checks rather than to the calendar: a deposit when the first check reaches the homeowner, a payment at completion, then the depreciation and any supplement as each is released, with the deductible due on a fixed date. The contract says what is due when; the company’s attorney writes the wording.
• Know the deposit rules where the company works. Florida’s §489.126(2)(a) says a contractor who receives an initial payment of more than 10 percent of the contract price for work on residential real property must apply for the permits within 30 days and start the work within 90 days after the permits issue, unless there is just cause or the homeowner agreed in writing to longer periods. Colorado’s §6-22-103(2) requires a roofing contract to state, in bold type, that the contractor holds any payment from the owner in trust until it has delivered roofing materials to the site or performed a majority of the work.
• Give the homeowner a receipt the servicer can use. For a Fannie Mae loan that was current or less than 31 days delinquent at the time of the loss, if the homeowner has paid the contractor or bought materials in advance, the servicer is authorized to reimburse the homeowner from the insurance proceeds as shown by paid receipts, and receipts are not necessary when the proceeds are $40,000 or less. A paid receipt for the deposit belongs in the package from day one.
• Put supplier terms and claim dates on one sheet. The material bill’s due date is on the supplier statement; the date each job’s money is released is in the job file. Side by side, they show how many days the company carries each job’s materials, which is the number to bring to a supplier conversation.
• A credit line sized to a measured gap. A bank line of credit can carry payroll between checks. The U.S. Small Business Administration describes its 7(a) CAPLines as an umbrella program that helps small businesses meet short-term and cyclical working-capital needs, including a Contract CAPLine that “finances the costs of one or more specific contracts.” Whether a lender offers one, and on what terms, is the lender’s decision. This is not financing advice; size any line with the company’s CPA and banker.

The cheapest of all is the wait the company controls itself. Every day between the roof going on and the closeout packet going out is a day the company finances its own receivable, and that day count is the first thing to measure.

How many days from build to final payment? How to measure it

One number tells an owner whether the gap is shrinking or growing: the days from the build date to the date the last dollar of the job is in the bank. Call it build-to-cash days. It comes from records the company already keeps: the production board, the job file and QuickBooks deposits. Pull every insurance job built in the last six months and give each one these columns:

• Build date: the day the roof went on.
• Closeout sent: the date the final invoice, certificate of completion and photos went to the homeowner.
• Depreciation released: the date on the carrier’s letter or check, and the amount.
• Servicer released: for checks with a mortgage company named on them, the date the endorsed check or draw reached the homeowner.
• Paid in full: the date of the last deposit for the job, including the deductible and any supplement.
• Waiting on: the carrier, the mortgage company, the homeowner or the company itself, for every job not yet paid in full.

Then subtract. Build to closeout is the company’s own segment. Closeout to release belongs to the carrier and the servicer. Release to paid belongs to the homeowner. Keep retail jobs out of the count: a retail roof paid at completion pulls the average down and hides the insurance wait. Illustrative example: a company builds 40 insurance roofs in a quarter and averages 74 build-to-cash days, made up of 19 days from build to closeout, 41 from closeout to release and 14 from release to paid. The carrier’s 41 days look like the problem until the 19 are sorted: 28 jobs had the packet out within three days, and 12 waited 40 days or more on a signature or a back-ordered gutter. The numbers are hypothetical; the company’s own export replaces them.

What to check every week

Once the columns exist, the weekly check takes minutes. Every insurance job built and not yet paid in full goes on one list, sorted by the “waiting on” column, with its age in days, its open amount, a next date and a name. Read the rows waiting on the company first, because nobody outside the company can clear them. Then the homeowner rows, which are collections. Then the carrier and servicer rows, where the company’s part is to make sure the homeowner has every document the letter names.

Track build-to-cash days for the jobs paid in full each month, and the company’s own segment beside it. If the total rises while the company’s segment holds, the wait is outside; if the company’s segment rises, the fix is inside. The Cash Gap Calculator draws the same gap from four numbers if the export is not ready yet.

When there is nothing to buy, and where the Review fits

If the company can already say, for every finished insurance roof, which payment is outstanding, who holds it and since when, and its build-to-cash days are short and steady, this needs nothing from outside. The columns above and a weekly list are an afternoon’s work for an office manager. Questions about contracts, deposits, assignments, liens or what a policy owes go to a construction attorney; taxes go to the CPA.

It is worth a second look when the export cannot be built because the dates were never recorded, or when the company’s own segment is long and nobody can say why. The Revenue Review is a read-only engagement of two weeks. It reads the roofing CRM against QuickBooks and the job files, measures build-to-cash days job by job, splits receivables by who each dollar is waiting on, and puts a monthly dollar figure on each gap the records support, with a written report and a 90-day plan. We never contact carriers, adjusters, mortgage servicers or homeowners, never interpret a policy and never act on a claim. The next step is a free 20-minute call, which is enough to tell whether a Review fits.