The insurance company offered $902. We got the roof approved at $279,824$279,824.

A windstorm hit Provo on October 11, 2025, with gusts recorded around 45 mph at the house. When our rep knocked in January, the damage was easy to see from a drone: ridge caps lifted and split, and shakes missing on the slopes below them.

We filed the claim with the homeowner, sent the insurance company our photo report, and the adjuster inspected the roof on January 20.

The insurance company's estimate paid for 35 feet of ridge cap and three hours of labor. Against a $13,465 deductible, the homeowner's payment came to $0. The claim was written up as a loss below deductible.

Cedar shake gets brittle with age. If you can't replace a damaged shake without breaking the ones around it, the roof can't be repaired, and a repair estimate means nothing. So we asked the insurance company whether it would accept a repairability test done to HAAG engineering guidelines. It said yes and asked for video.

Our first test held up. Honestly, for about a month this file was headed toward “the homeowner pays out of pocket.” Then the rep who sold the job went back and looked again.

We flew the whole roof again and broke it into 19 numbered slopes. On each one we circled every missing or damaged shake and counted them. The insurance company had said the slopes had no damage.

We sent the new photo report and asked for a re-inspection. The insurance company told us only the policyholder could request one, so we walked the homeowner through making that request. Then came the answer:

1. Robinhood · Apr 2

   We attached a photo report highlighting storm damage and missing shakes. Could we schedule a re-inspection?

2. Insurance company · Apr 10

   The estimate was revised to include the replacement of 50 wood shakes, in which the claim is still a loss below deductible. No re-inspection is warranted at this time.

3. Robinhood · Apr 13

   Thank you. Would you be alright with us performing a repair test on the slopes and sending it for you to review?

That April answer ended up mattering more than anything else. By paying for 50 shakes, the insurance company had put in writing that the slopes were damaged.

Our claims lead went up with new cedar and filmed the whole thing, about 12 minutes: pulling one damaged shake and sliding in a new one, the same way any repair crew would. The shake above it cracked. Then the course above that one cracked too.

The video couldn't be emailed at full quality, and the insurance company had no upload portal for it, so we posted it as a private link and sent that on June 9.

1. Insurance company · Jun 19

   Your video indicates a repair on a slope. The wind damage to the roof was on the hip and ridge. There was no damage found on the slopes. Our position remains the same. The claim has been closed.

This is the point where most claims end. The homeowner gets a closing letter, figures the insurance company knows best, and either lives with the roof or pays for it. We wrote back the same day.

We made three arguments, in writing, with evidence attached to each.

• Their own estimate disagreed with them

  In April the insurance company revised its estimate to replace 50 shakes. Those shakes were on the slopes. In June it said no slope damage was found. We put the two statements side by side.

• Utah law counts what breaks during a repair

  Utah Admin. Code R590-190-13(1)(a) says damage caused while making a covered repair is part of the loss. Our video showed every repaired shake breaking the ones above it.

• The math on a single slope

  Slope S15 had 12 damaged shakes. Each repair has to be woven up course by course to the ridge. That means replacing about 6 of the slope's 8 squares one shake at a time, which costs more than replacing the slope.

S15: 12 damaged shakesEvery repair runs to the ridge

Slope S15, the one we used as the example. Keep scrolling and the arrows show how far each individual repair has to climb. We also pointed out that the insurance company's own per-shake Xactimate line item is labeled “to be used only for minor spot damage.”

On July 20 the insurance company hired a forensic engineering firm to look at repairability. Two weeks later nothing had moved, so we called the engineering firm ourselves, found out the job was stuck waiting on budget approval, and pushed the insurance company to approve it. A different engineering firm was assigned the next day.

We met the engineer at the house on August 14 with a ladder and a drone. On the roof, the engineer agreed there was wind damage and that the shakes weren't in repairable condition, and added that just walking on them to make repairs would crack more.

On September 1 the homeowner got the call: full replacement. The insurance company asked us for a cost estimate for real cedar, so we wrote one line by line. Class B fire-treated tapersawn shakes, stainless steel nails and felt interlay per the Cedar Shake & Shingle Bureau manual, five chimneys, steep and two-story charges, and a Provo permit with three inspections.

Big claims are paid in stages. The first check is the roof's depreciated value (plus code upgrades). The rest, the “recoverable depreciation,” is released once the new roof is on and photographed. When the homeowner texted us the first check asking if that was everything, this is what we walked them through.