Insurance Claims & Storm Damage Disclosure

1. Our Role in Insurance-Funded Roof Work

Some roof replacements — particularly after hail or wind storms — are paid for in whole or in part by a homeowner's property-insurance claim. In those projects the insurance relationship is between you and your insurer. Interlock Roofing of America provides the roofing side: honest damage documentation, a written scope of work, and a repair or replacement estimate that you and your insurer can rely on. With your permission we can discuss the damage and the estimate with your insurer, but the claim is always yours.

Where Interlock Roofing of America refers your request to an independent contractor, that contractor performs the inspection and the work under its own contract with you, and the commitments on this page bind the contractor as well.

2. We Never Pay, Rebate, or Absorb Your Deductible

Your insurance deductible is your responsibility under your policy. Interlock Roofing of America never advertises or promises to pay, waive, rebate, offset, or absorb any part of an insurance deductible, and never offers gifts, allowances, upgrades, or "free" items as an inducement tied to an insurance claim. We do not advertise a "free roof," "no out-of-pocket roof," or "insurance pays for everything."

Under federal law, advertising that a roof is free or that the deductible is covered, when the policy requires you to pay it, is a deceptive practice (Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. § 45). Billing an insurer for the full contract price while quietly waiving the deductible misstates the amount you actually paid and exposes you, not just the contractor, to a fraud allegation. An offer like this from any contractor is a warning sign.

Statutes of New York that prohibit deductible rebates are listed in section 7.

New York. A New York roofing contractor "shall not advertise or promise to pay or rebate all or any portion of any insurance deductible as an inducement to the sale of goods or services." The ban reaches "any allowance or … discount against the fees to be charged" and "any form of compensation, gift, prize, bonus, coupon, credit, referral fee, or other item of monetary value for any reason" paid to the insured or anyone connected with the property (N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law § 771-b(2)). The same law forbids a roofing contractor to require any deposit (§ 771-b(5)). Nassau and Suffolk County codes separately prohibit paying or promising compensation to induce a home improvement contract (Nassau County Admin. Code § 21-11.9(10); Suffolk County Code § 563-10(H)).

Interlock Roofing of America does not install and does not advertise deductible discounts, allowances, gifts or referral payments for New York homeowners, and the contractors it certifies for Nassau and Suffolk Counties agree not to. If a contractor offers you one, the offer is unlawful; report it to the county consumer-affairs office and to the New York Attorney General.

3. We Are Not Insurance Adjusters

We are roofing professionals, not licensed public adjusters. Public adjusting is a licensed profession in every U.S. state, and a roofing contractor may not adjust, negotiate, or settle your claim on your behalf, or advertise a claim-negotiation service, unless separately licensed to do so. We do not interpret your policy, negotiate or settle your claim, or represent you in dealings with your insurer.

What we provide, with your express permission, is factual support for your claim: photographs, measurements, a written damage assessment, and a detailed repair or replacement estimate. At your request we can discuss those materials with your insurer. If you want help negotiating a claim, hire a licensed public adjuster or an attorney; we can tell you how to check a licence with the insurance regulator of New York.

New York. Only a licensed public adjuster may act "on behalf of an insured in negotiating for, or effecting, the settlement of a claim" (N.Y. Ins. Law §§ 2101(g)(2), 2108(a)(3)), and a New York roofing contractor "shall not perform the reporting, adjusting, or negotiating a claim on behalf of the owner and shall not receive compensation for the referral to any entity that reports, adjusts or negotiates a claim" (N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law § 771-b(8)). A contractor may share its technical knowledge with your insurer only when the insurer starts the conversation. Interlock Roofing of America does not offer, advertise or refer any claim-handling service. A certified contractor may give you a written inspection report, photographs and an estimate for you to submit to your insurer; that is the limit of the help New York law allows.

4. Your Right to Cancel if Your Claim Is Denied

New York. If you sign a roofing contract with a contractor to be paid under a property and casualty insurance policy, and your insurer then sends written notice that all or part of the claim or contract is not a covered loss, you may cancel the contract "prior to midnight on the third business day after" you receive that notice (N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law § 771-b(3)).

How to cancel: give the contractor written notice that you do not intend to be bound; any wording is sufficient, and registered or certified mail counts when posted. Within ten days the contractor must return every payment, deposit and note (§ 771-b(4)), keeping only the reasonable value of emergency work you acknowledged in writing; any clause charging a fee for anything else is unenforceable. The right does not apply if you initiated the contact for a bona fide emergency and signed a separate, dated, handwritten waiver.

What the contract must tell you: New York prescribes no exact wording for this notice, but the contract must state the contractor's insurer, coverage type and policy limits (§ 771-b(1)); the three-business-day cancellation right that runs from signing (§ 771(1)(h)); the mechanic's-lien and escrow notices (§ 771(1)(d)–(e)); in Nassau County, the bold "THREE-DAY RIGHT TO CANCEL" notice, which accepts mail, text or email (Nassau OCA Rules, Rule 7); and, for contracts signed at your home, the "NOTICE OF CANCELLATION" form (N.Y. Pers. Prop. Law § 428).

Interlock Roofing of America is not a party to the contract; these duties bind the contractor who performs your work. In every market the standard cooling-off rights in our Cancellation & Refund Policy also apply.

5. Honest Storm-Damage Inspections

Our inspections report what is actually on your roof — nothing more. We photograph and document damage as found, with date-stamped images you may keep. We never create, exaggerate, or stage damage, and we do not climb onto your roof without your express permission. If your roof does not need replacement, we tell you so. We do not canvass storm-hit neighbourhoods with claims that a roof is damaged before it has been inspected, and we do not represent that a storm has occurred at your address unless we have weather data for that date and location.

6. Insurance Fraud Is a Crime

Knowingly inflating a claim, concealing a deductible arrangement, staging damage, or billing an insurer for work not performed is insurance fraud under state criminal law, and, where the mail or interstate wires are used, may also be prosecuted federally as mail or wire fraud (18 U.S.C. §§ 1341, 1343). We do not participate in it, and our staff and any contractor we work with are instructed to refuse it.

If anyone representing themselves as working with Interlock Roofing of America offers to "take care of your deductible" or to inflate your claim, report it to policies@interlockgroup.com.

7. New York Law

• N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law § 771-b — responsibilities of roofing contractors: no deposits, no deductible payment or rebate, no claim adjusting or negotiating, insurer name and limits in the contract, three-business-day cancellation after an insurer's written denial, proof of workers' compensation and liability insurance: https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GBS/771-B
• N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law §§ 770–776 — home improvement contracts; § 771 contract contents and three-business-day cancellation: https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GBS/771
• N.Y. Lien Law § 71-a(4) — escrow or bond for payments received before completion: https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/LIE/71-A
• N.Y. Pers. Prop. Law §§ 425–431 — Door-to-Door Sales Protection Act; cancellation statement and Notice of Cancellation form: https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/PEP/428
• N.Y. Ins. Law §§ 2101(g), 2108 — public adjuster licensing: https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/ISC/2108
• N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law §§ 349, 350-a, 350-d — unfair, deceptive or abusive acts and false advertising; penalties triple during a declared state of emergency: https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/GBS/349
• Nassau County Administrative Code Title D-1 (§§ 21-11.0–21-11.16) and Department of Consumer Affairs Rules: https://www.nassaucountyny.gov/1547/Consumer-Affairs — complaints (516) 571-2600
• Suffolk County Code Chapter 563 — home improvement contractors: https://ecode360.com/14947425; Suffolk County Office of Consumer Affairs: https://www.suffolkcountyny.gov/Departments/Consumer-Affairs
• New York Attorney General consumer complaints: https://ag.ny.gov/file-complaint, 1-800-771-7755

New York is a one-party-consent state for call recording and its telemarketing law covers text messages and bars sales calls into areas under a declared emergency; see our SMS & Communications Policy.

8. Contact

For questions about this disclosure:

• Email: policies@interlockgroup.com
• Phone: 1-866-733-5811
• Company: Interlock Roofing of America