Should a Roofing Company Use a Supplement Company or Write Supplements In-House?

Code items: drip edge as the worked example

The International Residential Code is a model code. A state or local government decides which edition applies, and may amend it, so a code line in a supplement cites the section as adopted where the roof is.

The 2012 edition shows how a code item works on a replacement. Section R905.2.8.5 opens: “A drip edge shall be provided at eaves and gables of shingle roofs.” It sets a 2-inch minimum overlap, an extension of at least 0.25 inch below the sheathing and 2 inches up the deck, and fastening at a maximum of 12 inches on center. The 2009 edition’s shingle flashing rules end at R905.2.8.4 and do not mention drip edge, so a roof built under older rules may never have had one.

Two more 2012 sections tie a replacement to current rules. R907.1 says materials and methods “for re-covering or replacing an existing roof covering shall comply with the requirements of Chapter 9.” R905.1 says roof coverings “shall be applied in accordance with the applicable provisions of this section and the manufacturer’s installation instructions,” which is why the printed instructions for the shingle installed belong in the file whenever they call for starter or hip and ridge cap. Where the jurisdiction’s climate table designates it, R905.2.7.1 adds an ice barrier from the lowest edges of all roof surfaces to a point at least 24 inches inside the exterior wall line.

Required is not the same as paid. Whether a policy pays for code work is coverage, between the homeowner and the carrier. In Florida, the replacement cost coverage described in §627.7011(1)(a) does not include “costs necessary to meet applicable laws and ordinances,” law and ordinance coverage may be limited to 25 or 50 percent of the dwelling limit, and under §627.7011(2) a homeowner’s policy is deemed to include the 25 percent version unless the policyholder refused it in writing. The office documents that the item was required and built; the homeowner takes the coverage question to the carrier or an agent.

What a contractor may do on a claim, and where it becomes public adjusting

This summarizes Texas and Florida statute text as it reads on October 22, 2026. It is not legal advice. Other states have their own rules, and what a given office may say to a given carrier is a question for the company’s construction attorney.

• Texas Insurance Code §4102.001(3) defines a public insurance adjuster as a person who, for compensation, “acts on behalf of an insured in negotiating for or effecting the settlement of a claim.” Section 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,” even with an adjuster license or a power of attorney.
• The Texas Department of Insurance lists improper conduct for roofers, including offering to negotiate claim settlements or file a claim for the policyholder, and telling others, insurers included, that the contractor represents the policyholder or can speak for them on coverage.
• Florida’s §489.147(2)(d) bars a contractor from interpreting policy provisions, advising an insured on coverage, or adjusting a claim on the insured’s behalf without a public adjuster license. Section 626.854(16) bars a licensed contractor from handling or performing public adjuster services unless it is licensed as one, and adds that the contractor “may discuss or explain a bid for construction or repair of covered property” with the owner or the insurer, “if the contractor is doing so for the usual and customary fees applicable to the work to be performed as stated in the contract between the contractor and the insured.” Under §626.854(19), that subsection covers residential and condominium unit owner policies.
• Florida’s §626.854(1) reaches anyone who, for money or any other thing of value, “directly or indirectly prepares, completes, or files an insurance claim for an insured,” however it describes its services, and §626.854(20) reserves that paid work, unless the chapter provides otherwise, to attorneys and licensed, appointed public adjusters.

The office’s lane is narrow. The company’s estimate, photos, supplier invoices and code citations are its own documents, and it can put them in the homeowner’s hands. Whether the office then sends them to the carrier, and what it may say to an adjuster about its own bid, depends on the state: Florida’s text names that conversation; the Texas text and the department’s notice do not. Record the homeowner’s direction on the job, keep the cover note to facts about the work, and never describe the company as acting “on behalf of the insured.” Ask the same of any supplement company: for whom does it prepare the file, who sends it, and does it ever speak to the carrier about the claim?

How supplement companies charge, and what each fee basis rewards

Whatever a proposal calls its pricing, find which of these bases the fee rests on. This guide names no firms and quotes no fee levels; the incentive holds at any price.

• A share of what the supplement adds. Paid only when the carrier approves more, so it rewards results. It also rewards asking for every possible line, weak ones included, and takes the same share on items the company’s own estimator would have caught. Get the base in writing: the increase over which estimate, counted at approval or at payment, with or without held depreciation.
• A flat fee per file. Predictable; it rewards volume and speed. The risk is a thin file on a complicated roof, because extra hours earn the vendor nothing.
• A monthly fee. Pays for capacity and rewards keeping the account. It suits steady volume; in a slow month it buys little.
• By the hour. Rewards time, and the estimating risk sits with the roofer. Fair for a few hard files; costly as a standing arrangement.
• An in-house writer on salary. The company carries a fixed cost and keeps the learning: which lines get denied, which photos were missing, which first estimates came in short.

Put five answers in the signed agreement: the fee base, with a worked example on one of the company’s past files; who the vendor talks to, and in whose name; whether it holds a public adjuster license in each state, and for whom it acts; turnaround in days from a complete file; and what happens to open files, estimates and photos if the arrangement ends. In Florida, on residential and condominium unit owner policies, §626.854(11) caps a licensed public adjuster’s fee at 20 percent of claim payments, or 10 percent for claims from a declared emergency that are made in the year after the declaration; on a supplemental claim, the fee may not exceed 20 percent of the supplemental payment and may not count what the carrier paid before the contract. Whether a particular supplement service’s work and fee fall under the public adjuster definition is a question for the company’s attorney, before signing.

What an in-house supplement file needs to get paid

Whoever writes the supplement, the company assembles the file, and much of it has to be captured at the roof rather than rebuilt at a desk. A starting list:

• Claim facts. Claim number, carrier, date of loss, and the carrier’s estimate with its date. In Florida, §627.70131(3)(e) requires the insurer to send the policyholder any detailed estimate within 7 days after its adjuster generates it, so the homeowner has the current version.
• The company’s itemized estimate for the scope built. Florida’s §489.147(2)(e) already bars an agreement authorizing repairs without a good faith estimate of the itemized and detailed cost of services and materials.
• A line-by-line comparison. Each missing or short line with quantity, unit, price and a one-sentence reason. Never a lump sum.
• Measurements. The report or field sketch the estimate came from, with the waste figure stated.
• Dated photos. Before work; at tear-off, with decking sheets counted before new sheets go down; and each added item installed.
• Code and manufacturer support. The section number from the adopted edition, the permit and inspection record, and the product’s printed installation instructions with the relevant page marked.
• Materials. Supplier invoices and drop tickets for the job, with returns credited.
• Direction and a log line. The homeowner’s written direction on who sends the file, and the date, sender and amount entered in the supplement log the day it goes.

The cover note says what was found, what was built, what the code or manufacturer requires, and what it costs. It does not argue what the policy owes.

How to count supplements identified, sent, approved and still open

A supplement company can report on the files it receives. It cannot report on the ones nobody sent it, or on approvals that never reached an invoice. One log kept by the office covers both, one row per supplement:

• Job, claim number, carrier, state and date of loss.
• Date the extra scope was identified, and by whom.
• Date sent, who sent it (the homeowner, or the office at the homeowner’s direction), and the amount requested.
• Date of the carrier’s response, the amount approved, and the lines denied.
• Date the final invoice was updated, and the date collected.
• For Florida jobs, two dates: 18 months after the date of loss, the notice line for a supplemental claim under §627.70132(2), where for a storm the date of loss is the landfall or NOAA-verified date under §627.70132(3); and 60 days after the carrier received notice, when §627.70131(7)(a) requires it to pay or deny the claim or a portion of it.

Every Friday, read three lists aloud, by name: identified and not sent, sent and open past 30 days, approved and not on the invoice. Once a month, check supplier invoices and drop tickets for decking or extra material that appears on neither the estimate nor a supplement, and compare approved against requested by type of line. Illustrative example: a company finishes 50 insurance roofs in a quarter and identifies extra scope on 19. Fifteen supplements went out; four never left the office. Nine of the 15 were approved in whole or in part, and three of those nine are not yet on an updated invoice. At an illustrative $1,500 each, the four never sent and the three never invoiced are $10,500 waiting on the company’s own steps, which no supplement writer would have touched. The numbers are hypothetical; the log replaces them with the company’s own.

In-house, a supplement company, or the steps around the writer first

Write supplements in-house when insurance work is steady through the year, someone on staff already writes estimates line by line in the same format as the carrier’s, and the company wants what it learns about denied lines to shape its first estimates. Use a supplement company when claims come in storm spikes, when nobody on staff writes estimates at that level, or as overflow on top of an in-house writer.

Fix the steps around the writer first when the log shows supplements identified and never sent, approvals never invoiced, or decking on supplier invoices with no supplement at all. Those are photo, hand-off and invoicing steps inside the company, and a writer works only with what reaches it.

If the Friday lists are short and every line has a reason and a date, this step needs no outside help. It is worth a second look from a roofing business consultant when nobody can say how many supplements were identified last season, how many were approved, and how many reached the invoice. The Revenue Review is a read-only engagement of two weeks. It reads the roofing CRM, the photo app, supplier invoices, the supplement log and QuickBooks, counts supplements from identified to collected, and puts a monthly dollar figure on each gap the records support, with a written report and a 90-day plan. We never write supplements, never contact carriers, adjusters or homeowners, and never interpret a policy. A free 20-minute call is enough to tell whether a Review fits, including when it does not.