After a storm damages your roof, the Pennsylvania Insurance Department’s advice is to call your insurer as soon as you can, photograph the damage before you clean up, make only the repairs needed to stop more damage, and keep every receipt. State regulations then set the clock for the insurer: it must acknowledge your claim within 10 working days and finish its investigation within 30 days, or explain the delay in writing.
This page covers the general process. What your policy pays for depends on its wording, so read the policy and ask your agent or insurer about your coverage.
The first days
The Insurance Department’s natural disaster guide lists these steps after a storm:
- Contact your insurance company and follow its instructions. Write down the name and title of everyone you talk to, with the date.
- Take pictures or video of the damage before you clean up or make repairs.
- After documenting it, make the immediate repairs needed to prevent further damage. Do not make permanent repairs until your insurer approves them.
- Keep receipts for everything you spend because of the damage.
- Find out the total cost of repairs before you agree to a settlement. The department notes that you can negotiate an offer you disagree with.
- If the claim is denied, check what the policy covers. You can appeal to the insurer’s claim manager, and the department’s Consumer Help Center takes questions and complaints.
Deadlines the insurer has to meet
Pennsylvania’s unfair claims settlement practices regulations, in Chapter 146 of Title 31 of the Pennsylvania Code, set these standards:
| What the insurer must do | Deadline | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Acknowledge receipt of your claim, unless it pays within that time | 10 working days | 31 Pa. Code § 146.5(a) |
| Send the claim forms, instructions and reasonable help you need to meet the policy’s conditions | 10 working days | 31 Pa. Code § 146.5(d) |
| Reply to other communications from you that reasonably call for a response | 10 working days | 31 Pa. Code § 146.5(c) |
| Complete its investigation | 30 days after notice of the claim | 31 Pa. Code § 146.6 |
| If it cannot finish in 30 days, give you a written explanation and say when to expect a decision | At 30 days and every 45 days after | 31 Pa. Code § 146.6 |
Notice to the insurer’s agent counts as notice to the insurer, starting from the time the insurer receives it.
Public adjusters
A public adjuster is a claims handler you can hire to work on your side of the claim. The Insurance Department says public adjusters are licensed and regulated by the state, and it tells homeowners to ask anyone presenting as a public adjuster for licensing information and to check it with the state’s online license lookup. Report anyone you suspect of posing as one to the department’s Consumer Help Center.
Contractors who show up after a storm
The department warns that natural disasters draw dishonest solicitors, including contractors and people posing as public adjusters who knock on doors. Its guide says to verify the contractor’s home improvement registration with the Attorney General, get everything in writing, never sign paperwork with blank sections, and hold back full payment until the work is complete. It names company vehicles with no identifying information and out-of-state license plates as warning signs.
State law treats several storm-season tactics as crimes. Under the Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act, a person commits home improvement fraud if, with intent to defraud, they damage someone’s property to get them to sign up for home improvement work, or pose as an employee of a government or a public utility to get someone to agree to work. The act grades these offenses as a felony of the third degree when more than $2,000 is involved and a misdemeanor of the first degree at $2,000 or less, and raises the grade by one level when the victim is 60 or older.
See how to check a roofer’s registration and what the contract has to include before you sign with anyone.
Weather records for your file
The NOAA Storm Events Database, kept by the National Centers for Environmental Information, is a public record of National Weather Service storm data. It covers significant weather with enough intensity to cause injuries, significant property damage or disruption, and you can search it by state and county for hail and thunderstorm wind reports. As of October 3, 2026, its page said it held data from January 1950 to June 2026, so the most recent storms take a few months to appear.
The Insurance Department’s guide asks for your own photos and video of the damage. A county entry in the database can add a record that hail or damaging wind was reported in the area on that date.
After the claim is settled
A roof replacement paid by insurance is still a home improvement contract between you and the roofer, with the same registration, contract and permit requirements as any other job. In Conshohocken that means a building permit and the borough’s roofing addendum, which the permits guide describes.