Your Roofer and Your Insurance Claim: California Rules

How the claim itself works is in how to file a roof insurance claim in California, and how to read the adjuster's numbers in how to read an insurance roof estimate.

The insurer can still talk to your roofer about the damage and the repair, though it may ask for your written OK first. If the roofer is there when the adjuster inspects, it can show what it found and explain its estimate; you decide what to accept, and you can talk to your insurer directly at any time. The law doesn't spell out where explaining a repair estimate ends and helping to negotiate begins, or whether being paid for the roof counts as compensation, so if a roofer offers to "handle the insurance" at no extra charge, keep the negotiating with you or with a licensed public adjuster or attorney.

• The license. A public adjuster has to be licensed by the Department of Insurance; check the license before you sign. Someone acting as one without a license faces a civil penalty of up to $10,000, or $25,000 if it's willful, and you can void the contract with them and owe nothing for their services (Insurance Code 15006).
• The contract. It has to be in writing, titled "Public Adjuster Contract," on a form the Department of Insurance has approved, and has to say "WE REPRESENT THE INSURED ONLY." It states the fee, as a percentage and the base it applies to, with your initials beside it (Insurance Code 15027).
• The fee. You pay it, usually out of the claim money. Section 15027 sets no maximum percentage, but the fee can't leave you with less than what the insurer paid you before you signed, and the adjuster takes it as a percentage of each payment, not all of it from the first check.
• The check. The contract can't require your insurer to issue a payment only in the adjuster's name (15027(c)).
• Canceling. You can cancel within three business days of signing and getting the signed contract, or within five calendar days if the loss is in a declared catastrophic disaster area (15027(b), (y)); business days here follow the home-solicitation law, which counts Saturdays (15027(k)). A catastrophic disaster is narrower than a declared emergency: one with mass casualties and region-wide damage, declared by the president or the governor (15001(c)); a city or county emergency doesn't make it one, so if you aren't sure, cancel within three business days.
• When they can approach you. Not while the loss is going on, including while an evacuation order is in effect at the property, and neither they nor anyone else offering those services for a fee between 6 p.m. and 8 a.m. unless you ask (15027(d), (e)). After a catastrophic disaster, a public adjuster can't solicit you to sign for your home until seven calendar days after the loss conditions there end, such as the evacuation order being lifted, unless you contact them first; it may only send or leave accurate written material, without personal contact (15027.1(c)).
• Ties to the roofer. A public adjuster can't take money from, or have a financial interest in, a repair company that gets work from a claim it's adjusting (15028(b)), and has to tell you about any payment from a contractor; if it doesn't, you can rescind the contract (15027.5).

The Los Angeles County District Attorney warns about adjuster and contractor collusion, where an adjuster sends you to a contractor for a fee, and advises getting at least one bid from a contractor you found on your own.

• A discount to cover it. A contractor can't knowingly offer or give a discount intended to offset your deductible. The ban doesn't apply where the insurer has determined the amount of the claim and the work is done in accordance with that determination or with estimates the insurer accepted (Penal Code 551(b)). Whether a particular offer fits that exception is a question for a lawyer.
• A padded bill. Raising the estimate or the invoice to cover the deductible puts false information in front of the insurer. Knowingly presenting a false claim, or preparing a document to support one, can be charged as a felony punishable by two, three or five years and a fine of up to $50,000 or double the amount of the fraud, whichever is greater, and that applies to anyone who knowingly helps, a homeowner included (Penal Code 550). A civil penalty of $5,000 to $10,000, plus up to three times the claim, can be added (Insurance Code 1871.7).
• What it looks like. The Department of Insurance lists people who want to cover their deductible among those who commit insurance fraud. Our advice: for the same work, the price your insurer sees and the price in your contract should be the same; upgrades you pay for yourself go on separate lines.

• Void contracts. A repair contract you sign anywhere other than the contractor's place of business, such as at your door, a shelter or a motel, on or after the day a disaster damages the house and up to midnight of the seventh business day after it, is void, unless you, your agent or your insurance representative asked the contractor for it, including by calling its office (Civil Code 1689.14, 1689.5). A disaster here means one for which the president, the governor or a city or county has declared an emergency. Business days include Saturdays; only Sundays and listed holidays are skipped (1689.5(e)).
• Canceling the rest. A contract like that which isn't void can be canceled until midnight of the seventh business day after you sign it, by written notice (Civil Code 1689.6(c)), unless you called the contractor for an emergency repair and signed a separate waiver (1689.13), or it's a small service-and-repair job that has already started (1689.15). A contract you sign at the contractor's office isn't covered by either rule. The other cancellation rights are in California roofing contract law.

The signs of a storm-chaser and the disaster licensing rules are in how to spot a roofing scam after a fire or storm.

1. Get your own bid. Have at least one estimate from a contractor you found yourself.
2. Keep the claim in your hands. Send the roofer's estimate to your insurer yourself, and keep talking to your insurer directly.
3. Keep the check. Don't sign it over; pay as the work is done, with a down payment of no more than $1,000 or 10% of the contract price, whichever is less, unless the contractor has a CSLB-approved bond or joint control (Business and Professions Code 7159.5).
4. Be wary of deductible offers. Before your insurer has set the claim amount, say no; after that, ask a lawyer and make sure the insurer sees the price you actually pay. The Department of Insurance's consumer hotline is 1-800-927-4357.

Code sections, rules and figures on this page come from the primary sources below. Codes, local requirements and product terms change; each was verified October 15, 2026.

1. California Insurance Code §15001
2. California Insurance Code §15006
3. California Insurance Code §15007
4. California Insurance Code §15008
5. California Insurance Code §15027
6. California Insurance Code §15027.1
7. California Insurance Code §15027.5
8. California Insurance Code §15028
9. California Insurance Code §1871.7
10. California Penal Code §550
11. California Penal Code §551
12. California Civil Code §1689.14
13. California Civil Code §1689.5
14. California Civil Code §1689.6
15. California Civil Code §1689.13
16. California Civil Code §1689.15
17. California Business and Professions Code §7159.5
18. California Code of Regulations, title 10, §2695.2
19. California Code of Regulations, title 10, §2695.5
20. California Code of Regulations, title 10, §2695.9
21. California Department of Insurance, Don't Get Scammed After a Disaster
22. California Department of Insurance, Insurance Fraud is a Felony
23. California Department of Insurance, Residential Property Claims Guide (updated February 2025)
24. California Department of Insurance, consumer alert on wildfire recovery, January 11, 2025
25. Contractors State License Board, press release 25-01, January 17, 2025
26. Los Angeles County District Attorney, Disaster Fraud (March 2025)