A roofing supplement company writes the supplements on your insurance jobs and works them with the carrier’s adjuster for a fee. A new owner on r/Roofing hoped to find one that would take about 10%, the same ceiling Texas puts on a licensed public adjuster’s cut of a homeowner’s settlement. Outsource when the fee costs less than the items you let slide on each roof plus the hours you spend chasing carriers.
If you’re still deciding whether supplementing pays at all, start with Roof Insurance Supplements: How Roofers Get Carriers to Pay the Full Scope.
Ask what the percentage is taken from before comparing fees
A percentage tells you little until you know its base. Taken from the money a supplement adds, it is a share of new money. Taken from the whole claim, it also takes a slice of work the adjuster approved before the firm opened the file. Get the base written into the agreement, and ask whether the firm will work for a flat fee per file instead.
Then ask when the fee is due. TDI says most replacement cost claims pay in two checks, with the withheld depreciation coming second, after the insurer gets the bill for the finished job. Texas law also lets the insurer hold that depreciation until it has reasonable proof the deductible was paid. A fee due when the carrier approves the supplement can leave your account before that second check arrives, so ask for it to fall due when you collect.
The Texas public adjuster cap makes a useful yardstick, even though it does not bind a firm you pay. The law lets a public adjuster charge by the hour, a flat fee or a percentage, as long as the total stays within the cap. A firm asking you for more than a licensed adjuster may take from a homeowner should be able to explain why.
Outsourcing pays once the items you let go add up
One owner on r/Roofing said his company lets $100 to $200 or more of supplementable items go on each of about 50 roofs a year, so funding isn’t held up. He was weighing a supplement service that charged a percentage.
That comes to roughly $5,000 to $10,000 a year, which is the most an outside firm could win back for him. If the fee comes only out of what the firm adds, he keeps the rest of every file it wins, money he gives away now.
Doing it in house has a floor too. Xactimate for one platform is listed at $2,390 a year, and the training and the hours of whoever writes the supplements come on top. At his volume the software alone would take a quarter to half of what he leaves behind. Before you take a call from any firm, multiply what you let go on a normal file by the insurance roofs you do in a year. If that number points toward doing it yourself, read Xactimate for Roofers: Which Line Items Matter and Whether You Need It.
Pay a firm to chase the carrier and catch the same missed items
A contractor on r/Roofing got a “full replacement” estimate with three line items on it. It took four months to get a supervisor to look, and two days later the carrier approved the contractor’s estimate as written. Those four months of chasing are what a supplement firm takes off your desk.
The missed items repeat from file to file. An estimator on r/Contractor says carriers increasingly fold starter and hip and ridge into a set waste percentage, even when the measurement report shows field shingles alone exceed the material allowance. Ask a firm how it catches that on every file, and how long it stays on a file before it calls you.
Carriers run on their own clock, so no firm controls the answer date. In Texas an insurer has 15 days to acknowledge a claim and start investigating, and 15 business days to accept or reject once it has everything it asked for, with up to 45 more days if it explains why. Look up your own state’s deadlines, and be wary of a firm promising answers faster than they allow.
Fix low prices yourself before paying anyone a percentage on them. Verisk says any Xactimate user can create or change a cost, and a contractor can challenge a line-item price by emailing [email protected] with the city and the line item. If the price falls outside its range, Verisk surveys local contractors and always reports back. When the same price comes in low on file after file, send that request yourself.
Hold the firm to scope and price, the line Texas draws for roofers
TDI’s FAQ on unlicensed adjusting says a roofer may discuss the damage, the replacement and its reasonable cost with the insurer, and “may discuss supplements and clarifications concerning the revised estimate.” The roofer may not advocate for the homeowner or discuss policy coverages and exclusions. TDI’s July 2026 bulletin says contractors may discuss estimates and other technical information with an insurer or its adjuster.
Texas also bars a contractor from acting as a public adjuster on any property it is or may be working on, even with a license or the homeowner’s power of attorney. A firm working on your behalf should keep to the same limits you have, so its emails to the carrier stick to line items and prices. Outside Texas, read your state’s public adjuster law with the same question in mind, and see What a Roofer Can Legally Do on an Insurance Claim, From Deductibles to Contingency Agreements.
Walk away from a firm that promises homeowners every dime
Texas defines a public adjuster as anyone paid to act for the insured in settling a property claim, or anyone who advertises as an adjuster of those claims, and a company counts. Acting as one takes a license. TDI’s “Roofing and insurance: Know the law” page lists claims a roofer must not advertise, including offering to negotiate the settlement or file the claim, promising to recover “every dime you are owed,” and saying it represents the policyholder. Texas rules count a website as an advertisement, so read the firm’s own site against that list.
Treat an offer to bring in a public adjuster and split the money the same way. A Texas public adjuster may not take part in repairing the property or take money from a repair firm that gets business from the claim, and may not accept a fee for referring a homeowner to a contractor. Ask any firm, in writing, whether it pays or takes money from adjusters.
Appraisal is the homeowner’s step, and the firm stops there
A southwest contractor asked $33,000 on a clay tile roof and handed it to a public adjuster when the desk adjuster wouldn’t move. The appraisal award came in at $50,000.
In Texas, residential policies issued or renewed after January 1, 2026 must carry an appraisal provision for disputed amounts of loss, and the award binds both sides apart from narrow exceptions. TWIA and commercial policies are left out. TDI’s home insurance guide says “you or your contractor can talk to the adjuster about raising the estimate,” and that talking is the supplement firm’s work. When a file reaches appraisal, tell the homeowner the option exists and let the homeowner decide.
Ask these questions before you sign
- Is the percentage taken from the money the supplement adds, or from the whole claim?
- Is the fee due when the carrier approves, or when you collect the final check?
- Will the firm put in writing that it discusses scope and price only, never coverage?
- Does its own website promise homeowners anything on TDI’s list?
- Does it pay or take money from public adjusters?
- Is its promised turnaround faster than the carrier’s own deadlines?
- Have you multiplied what you let go per file by your insurance roofs a year?
A supplement firm gets more out of the insurance jobs you already have, and the next ones still start with a homeowner finding you on Google. Run the free Google Maps heatmap: pick your Google profile and a search, and in a few minutes you’ll see your rank at 49 points around your office.