Understanding The Hailbelt & Roofers

When we'd sell a Kold King rig, roofers in other parts of the country and world were perplexed about the concept of hail. "You mean you get to reroof the same building after hail, even if you just roofed it?" Yes! If the hail was big enough.

I told a customer from California that his roof was hail damaged by baseball sized hail, and he said "That's impossible, I just put a new roof on 6 months ago." They are always shocked when I tell them "This is Texas, we get large destructive hail - you get softball sized hail today on a roof you just installed yesterday, you will need a new one tomorrow."

There were other things that are less obvious. Roof warranties are a managed liability. We all know that when you have a large strip mall with 300 penetrations, you will get called out with leaks even if they turn out not to be roof leak. A roof warranty has a certain annual cost to it. So imagine if 75% of your roofs are in the Dallas area and they get baseball sized widespread hail. That's huge - $20,000,000 worth of your roof warranties just went away over night. The liability ended with the storm.

Now, add in that a local roofer can make north of $100 million on a hailstorm, and you begin to see why roofers like the hail belt.

Hail, Hail, the gang's all here!

Roofguy Said: Now, add in that a local roofer can make north of $100 million on a hailstorm, and you begin to see why roofers like the hail belt.

Funny, I have lived my whole life-60 yrs- right in the middle of the hail belt and roofed that same area for 40 of those years. Yet, I have never experienced any hail larger than golfball size- and it was short lived and sporadic. I have seen the result of destructive hail about the size of baseballs- but never softball sized-maybe 3 times. This hail was the kind that busted windshields over a small area and the only roofs it totally destroyed were decades old tile roofs- again over a small area. Mostly, what I have seen is minor damage. If nothing was done to the roof, the roof would last its full life expectancy. Certainly nothing that would call for the immediate replacement of the roof and justification for the feeding frenzy of stormers which is always the result of these minor storms. What we have now is what I call the storm chasing racket. Since 1990, I have replaced only a handful of roofs that were not paid for by insurance. The system is broken.

Lon Smith Roofing grossed $140 million after the $1 billion hailstorm in Dallas in 1996. Every year after that he was in the top 25 in the US.

Yes, the system is broken. It is a 900 mph race between the insurance industry and roofers to see who can screw who first. Farmers just paid $63 million for fraudulently underpaying claims. Anyone who says differently has a limited breadth of experience, or a dog in the hunt.

Roofguy Said: Lon Smith Roofing grossed $140 million after the $1 billion hailstorm in Dallas in 1996. Every year after that he was in the top 25 in the US.

And that billion dollar hailstorm was not much of a storm. Like I said, it is a racket.

Roofguy Said: Anyone who says differently has a limited breadth of experience, or a dog in the hunt.

Roofguy Said: Farmers just paid $63 million for fraudulently underpaying claims.

Do you have anything to support this claim? I googled and found nothing.

Natty, translation: Your competitors are kicking you butt and it's easier to blame them than yourself? :-)

Look, this is America. You do it your way and let the next guy do it his way. It sounds whiney to always be making excuses that everyone who is taking jobs from you is a fly-by-night. Sour grapes. Maybe they're just better than you.

We are like hundreds of others you call storm chasers. The reality is that we don't chase storms. Our trade areas are the Metroplex and West Texas, and yes, when they get a storm in our trade area we gear up to do more volume. It's foolish not to - in West Texas a whole town can get wiped out with hail. Guess what, in 12 months everyone in town will have a new roof and it will be slim pickings for years. You better had put some money in the bank to weather the years after the hail.

But more importantly, I'm not the least bit interested in doing the same old volume year after year. How dull. I want to grow and prosper.

And your fixation on this fantasy that most of these big hailstorms didn't happen, but were merely exploded into hailstorms by roofers, is just weird.

More exaggerated non hail damage from those pesky storm chasers.

Batten the Hatches Texan boys!!!!!!!!!! Another round coming you way :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: B) :) :) B) Deep Down In Florida Where The Sun Sun Shines Damn Near Every Day

More non-damaging 4" hail in Lafayette a few minutes ago...

https://www.facebook.com/brittanyhb/videos/o.61662826968/10153285009286037/?type=2&theater

Roofguy Said: Natty, translation: Your competitors are kicking you butt and its easier to blame them than yourself? :-)

Roofguy Said: More non-damaging 4 hail in Lafayette a few minutes ago...

I can corroborate Roofguy information.Hail up to 1.5 inch in diameter was observed in Lucas, Kansas around 6:40 p.m. CDT and an emergency manager reported that almost every car and roof sustained significant hail damage in the town The same thing happens in Texas this time of year. I have seen many hailstorms in Texas totally destroy auto mobiles ,blow holes in roofs,siding. . Natty your post indicate your roofing business is in Texas. Your replies indicate another area. :huh: B) :) :) B) Deep Down In Florida Where The Sun Shines Damn Near Every Day

Exactly, CIAK.

It sure makes it hard when in the past I have done battle with Haag Engineering, who has done their best to convince the world that commercial roofs cannot be damaged unless the hail is 2". Oh wait, it seems they have changed their mind in recent years, they now say 2.5".