What a Carrier's Roof Estimate Leaves Off
By MATCHWORK™ Roofing & Exteriors ·
A carrier's estimate arrives a few days after the adjuster leaves. The total looks like a real number. The trouble is almost never the total. It is the lines under it, and whether every part of the roof is on one.
Starter and ridge cap treated as waste, step flashing left on a wall getting new shingles, ice barrier one course short, counts that do not match the roof, a second layer nobody counted, a pitch read from the yard, and the repair that will not match. Those are the lines that come up short most often, and each one goes back to the adjuster with a photo, a measurement or the code section.
We read every carrier estimate the same way. We rebuild it line for line in the same software the carrier used, Xactimate or Symbility, in the carrier's own order, and set it beside our own. Every difference lands on a line anyone can check. These are the lines that come up short most often.
1. Starter Strip and Ridge Cap, Treated as Waste
Starter is the sealed first course at the eaves and rakes. Hip and ridge cap closes off the peaks. They are their own materials, made for the job. Some estimates leave them off and assume they come out of the shingle waste allowance. They do not. We show the arithmetic from the measurement report: so many feet of eave and rake for starter, so many feet of hip and ridge for cap.
2. Step Flashing Left on a Wall That Is Getting New Shingles
Step flashing runs up a wall one piece per course, woven in with the shingles and nailed through with them. Tearing off the shingles bends and punctures it. The Residential Code of Ohio, section 908.5, requires existing flashings, edgings and vents to be replaced where they are rusted, damaged or deteriorated, and section 908.6 has flashings rebuilt to the manufacturer's installation instructions. An estimate that pays for new shingles on a wall slope and no step flashing is short. Our photos show the flashing before tear-off and the nails through it.
3. Ice Barrier, One Course Short
The Residential Code of Ohio, section 905.1.2, runs the ice barrier from the lowest edge of the roof to at least 24 inches inside the outside face of the exterior wall, measured up the slope, and at least 36 inches up from the eave on roofs 8/12 or steeper. On a house with a wide soffit, one three-foot course at the eave does not get there. We measure the overhang and show the math.
4. Counts That Do Not Match the Roof
Lengths and areas come from the measurement report. Counts come from the roof. Every pipe boot, every vent, every flashing run is counted and photographed, and the number is compared with the carrier's number. Three pipe boots on the roof and two on the estimate is a short line, and the photo shows which one is missing.
5. The Second Layer Nobody Counted
A second layer of old shingles changes the labor and the dump cost. It is easy to miss from the ground and easy to see at the roof edge. We photograph the edge so the layer count is a fact, not a guess.
6. The Pitch, Read From the Yard
A steep roof costs more to work. Pitch is read with a gauge on the slope, not estimated from the sidewalk. A roof written up as 6/12 that gauges at 9/12 is paid short on every labor line.
7. Drip Edge, Pipe Boots and Vents
Drip edge at the eaves and rakes, new boots on every plumbing vent, and the roof vents themselves are all parts of the roof. Each is its own line. When the carrier's estimate reuses a rusted vent or skips drip edge on the rakes, the photo of the old one and the code section go with the supplement. What goes into a complete roof system walks through every one of these parts.
8. The Repair That Will Not Match
This is the one the carrier's estimate almost never addresses on its own. The estimate pays to replace the damaged shingles and leaves the rest. If your shingle is no longer made, or the closest available shingle is a different size or color, the patch will not look like the roof around it. Ohio has a rule for that moment, and it applies when your policy pays replacement cost:
Ohio Adm. Code 3901-1-54(I)(1)(b)
“When an interior or exterior loss requires replacement of an item and the replaced item does not match the quality, color or size of the item suffering the loss, the insurer shall replace as much of the item as to result in a reasonably comparable appearance.”
Ohio Administrative Code rule 3901-1-54, paragraph (I)(1), for policies that pay losses on a replacement cost basis. Read the full rule at codes.ohio.gov.
The rule runs on proof. An independent lab identifies your shingle and reports whether it is still made. We lay the closest available shingle on your roof next to yours and photograph it from the roof and from the yard. The lab report, the photos, our estimate and the rule go in front of your carrier together. That is where the name MATCHWORK™ comes from. See how the match test works.
Corrections Run Both Ways
If the carrier's estimate pays for something that is not on the roof, or for the wrong size, our estimate says so. Every line we add is work we will do and can photograph. An estimate that only ever goes up is not one an adjuster will trust, and it should not be.
What Happens With What Was Missed
Everything the carrier's estimate left out or undercounted goes back to the adjuster as one supplement. Every added line is marked and carries a note: why the work is needed, where the quantity came from, and which photo shows it. Code items cite the Residential Code of Ohio by section. Manufacturer items cite the installation instructions. One package, not a pile of attachments.
The claim is yours. The proof is our job. You get a copy of everything we send.
Sources: Residential Code of Ohio sections 905.1.2, 908.5 and 908.6; Ohio Administrative Code rule 3901-1-54.
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