A bought storm lead and a door your rep knocks start from the same early hail data, and both lose value as other roofers reach the street. Start with your own past customers under the hail, because no vendor can sell you that list. Work the storm yourself if your reps can be on those streets within days, and buy leads only from a seller that takes back the bad ones.
A storm-hit address list shows where hail probably fell
In the first weeks after a storm, a lead seller’s address list and your rep’s hail map rest on the same preliminary data. NOAA’s daily storm reports likely miss some reports, and its official Storm Events Database is updated 75 to 90 days after each month ends. NOAA says much of its automatically derived severe weather data “represents probable conditions for an event rather than a confirmed occurrence.”
A map also says nothing about which roofs have been replaced since the storm. A San Antonio rep checking Hail Recon against Zillow five months after a storm knocked 132 doors in one day and found 68 new roofs. Before you buy storm-hit addresses, ask the seller whether it removes homes that have had a new roof since the storm.
Your own customer list knows which roofs went on after the storm
Your job records hold the date each roof went on, which no bought list has. We checked one DFW roofer’s 322 customer records against NOAA radar for hail of 1.5 inches or more within a mile of each home.
Of the first 122 reports we produced, 15 went to homeowners whose every storm came before the roof this roofer had built them. Once we dropped every storm on or before each roof’s completion date, along with duplicates and jobs still in production, 101 reports were left.
In Texas, the claim deadline sets how long a storm stays worth working. The Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) says most insurers set a deadline to file a claim, and wind and hail policies from the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association (TWIA) allow one year from the date of damage.
Run your completed jobs against the next storm the same way, drop any storm that came before the roof, and contact those homeowners before you buy a single lead. Email and Text Marketing to Past Roofing Customers covers how to reach them.
Working a storm yourself starts with a hail map and reps on commission
Canvassing needs a map of where the hail fell. As of October 2026, HailStrike lists subscriptions from $149 a month, and HailTrace sells a hail report on a single address from $40.
That cost buys less outside hail country. One owner who did $200k his first season on referrals wrote that he isn’t in a storm market, so door-to-door insurance work isn’t really something that works there. If hail rarely reaches your area, skip the subscription.
Storm sales jobs pay on commission, and the first check is slow to come. A rep on r/RoofingSales, answering someone offered a storm-chaser sales job, wrote, “60-90 days is pretty common.” One posting after a hurricane offered reps 10% of revenue with draws. Put the split and any draw in writing before a rep’s first day, and tell new reps about the wait up front.
Other roofers reach a hail-hit street within days
The morning after a Virginia storm, one rep found other roofers’ door hangers on the street promising to pay the deductible. He asked whether to stake yard signs on signed homes to keep the others off. Another rep was told by a homeowner that he was the 25th roofer in two weeks.
A big storm can still hold more roofs than local roofers can reach. An owner on r/Roofing wrote that his company sent half its crews and a dozen support people to an out-of-town hailstorm. After a big storm, he wrote, it would be “years before the local contractors would be able to get to every one” without outside companies. He said the complaint should be about bad work, whoever does it.
If your reps can’t reach a hail-hit street in the first days, work that storm through your past customers instead.
Buy storm leads only from a seller that credits the bad ones
A rep on r/Roofing asking about buying leads wrote that “there’s a lot of bs leads and companies out there.”
In 2023 the FTC ordered HomeAdvisor to pay up to $7.2 million over how it sold its general home-improvement leads. Its complaint charged that HomeAdvisor made false or unsupported claims that contractors would get only leads matching their services and area, and that its leads turned into jobs at rates it could not back up. Contractors hurt by those claims could get up to $30 each.
Google’s Local Services Ads charge for each valid lead, at a price that varies by location, job type, lead type and bidding mode. Google credits leads it later judges low quality, usually within 30 days, and you can flag a lead yourself in its feedback survey. Google also has a help page on Local Services Ads moving to Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals, so check which one your account uses before storm season.
Before the next storm, get each seller’s credit terms in writing: which leads it takes back and how long you have to flag one. Roofing Lead Companies Compared: What Exclusive, Shared, Per-Appointment and Pay-per-Close Leads Cost covers what each kind of lead costs.
Florida and Texas ban offering to cover the deductible
As of October 2026, Florida Statute 489.147 bars a contractor from offering a homeowner anything of value in exchange for a roof inspection or an insurance claim, and it names rebates, gift cards, cash, coupons and deductible waivers. It also bars interpreting policies or adjusting claims without a public adjuster license.
Florida also requires written or electronic solicitations to carry a disclaimer that the homeowner is responsible for the deductible. Penalties run up to $10,000 per violation, and during a Governor-declared emergency a homeowner may cancel a roof contract within 10 days.
Texas law makes it illegal for a contractor to offer to waive a deductible or promise a rebate on any part of it. Under the law that took effect September 1, 2019, TDI says a violator faces up to a $2,000 fine and up to six months in jail. It tells homeowners that a contractor making the offer may be sending the insurer false repair costs, which would be fraud, and points them to the Attorney General’s consumer protection hotline.
Read every door hanger and rep script for a deductible offer before the storm, and in Florida print the disclaimer on every written or electronic solicitation.
A homeowner can cancel a sale made at the door for three days
The FTC’s Cooling-Off Rule gives a buyer until midnight of the third business day to cancel a sale of $25 or more made at their home. The seller must hand over two copies of a cancellation form and a copy of the contract. The rule does not cover a visit the homeowner asked for to repair their property, though anything sold beyond that request stays covered.
Whether a contingency agreement signed at the door counts is a question for your attorney, and What a Roofer Can Legally Do on an Insurance Claim, From Deductibles to Contingency Agreements covers the agreement itself. Put the cancellation forms in every rep’s folder before the first knock.
Have these ready before the next storm
- Your completed jobs with the date each roof went on, ready to check against the next storm.
- A hail map account, if hail reaches your area often enough to pay for one.
- Written credit terms from any lead seller, and a check of which Google lead product your account uses.
- Door hangers and scripts with no deductible offer, plus Florida’s deductible disclaimer if you work there.
- Cancellation forms and a copy of the contract in every rep’s folder.
- Rep pay terms in writing, including the wait for the first check.
Before the next storm, check where your company shows up when someone nearby searches Google Maps for a roofer. On the free Google Maps heatmap, pick your Google profile and a search such as “hail damage roof repair,” and in a few minutes you’ll see your rank at 49 points around your office.