Storm

Roof Inspections After a Storm in Overland Park: What Is Free?

By Overland Park Roof Repair · October 5, 2026 · 7 min read

A week after any real hail event in Johnson County, the offer is everywhere: free roof inspection. Door hangers, yard signs, the guy at the end of the driveway with a clipboard. Some of those free inspections are exactly that. Some are the first step in a process that ends with a lien on your house. Here's how to tell them apart, and what a paid inspection buys that a free one doesn't.

The free storm inspection: what it actually is

A roofer walks your roof after a storm, looks for hail bruising and wind damage, and tells you what they found. If there's damage, they'd like to be the one who does the roof. That's the whole business model, and it's a perfectly reasonable one. The look costs the roofer an hour and a truck; the job that follows is worth $10,000–$20,000. The inspection is free because it's a sales call, and it's fine as long as you know that.

What you should get out of it, even if you never hire them:

• Photos of the damage, from the roof, with something for scale
• Photos of the collateral: dented gutters, vent caps, AC fins
• A written repair or replacement estimate, if there's damage
• No paperwork to sign that day

If you don't get the photos, or the "inspector" won't show you what they found, or you're asked to sign anything on the porch, that wasn't an inspection.

The strings that get attached

The contingency agreement. A document that says if the insurer approves the claim, this company does the work at whatever price the insurer pays. It's sold as "we'll handle everything." It commits you to a contractor before you've seen a scope, a shingle or a price. Whether a particular agreement is enforceable is a question for the Kansas Attorney General or an attorney, but you don't have to sign one to file a claim, and you shouldn't.

The assignment of benefits. Worse: it hands the claim itself to the contractor, who deals with your insurer directly and gets paid directly. You lose control of what's on the scope.

The deductible offer. "We'll take care of that." Your deductible is yours to pay. A roofer who offers to cover, waive or rebate it is a red flag — offers like that can break Kansas law and your policy terms. If you're unsure, ask your insurer or the Kansas Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division.

The created damage. It happens. A "hit" that looks a lot like a hammer, a lifted shingle that was sealed last week. Take your own ground-level photos before anyone goes up — the post on storm damage roof checklist for Overland Park lists what to shoot.

The paid inspection: what $150–$300 buys

A formal written roof inspection is a different product. It's for when you need the answer to be independent of who's going to do the work:

• A written report with photos, slope by slope, that an adjuster, a buyer, a seller or an insurance agent will accept
• The attic, which free storm inspections almost never include, and which is where the leaks that aren't hail show up
• An age and remaining-life estimate, which helps when you talk to your insurer or agent about an older roof
• A repair list with prices for anything that isn't storm damage, so you can separate "insurer pays" from "I pay"
• A second opinion when one roofer says total loss and another says fine

Repair and replacement estimates from local roofers are usually free; a formal written inspection report typically runs $150–$300. Ask whether the fee is credited if you hire that roofer. The roof inspection page covers what a good report includes.

The adjuster's inspection

This one is free too, and it's the one that decides. After you file, your insurer sends an adjuster — sometimes an employee, after a big storm often an independent hired for the surge. They walk the roof and photograph the damage and the collateral. Adjusters often check hail damage in marked test squares; ask your insurer how they assess it.

You can be there for it, with your own photos and the roofer's written estimate in hand. A roofer can inspect and give you a written repair or replacement estimate; the insurer's adjuster decides what the policy pays. Only you — or a public adjuster licensed by the Kansas Insurance Department — negotiate the claim. That estimate from a roofer who'll still be around in a year is where the free inspection earns its keep.

Getting ready for a roof damage inspection

Before anyone goes up, take your own photos from the ground: the soft metal, the yard, any shingle pieces. Write down the date and time of the storm. Clear the way to the attic hatch. Have your policy's declarations page handy so you know your deductible. If you've already called your insurer, keep the claim number nearby.

What to ask the person on your roof

• Which slopes did you walk, and which did you only photograph?
• Can I see the photos now, before you leave?
• Is this damage, wear, or something that was already there?
• Would you call this a repair or a replacement, and why?
• Will the written estimate list each item and its price?

Watch how the questions land. A roofer who walks you through the photos at the kitchen table is doing the job well. One who wants a signature first is selling.

After the inspection

Compare what you were told with your own ground photos. If the inspection found real damage, call your insurer or agent and keep the roofer's written estimate ready for the adjuster's visit. If it found little or nothing, you've lost an hour and gained peace of mind. If two roofers disagree, that's when the paid report earns its fee.

Who to call first

Start with the ground photos, then the call to your insurer or agent, then the roofers. That order keeps the record clean: your own evidence comes first, the insurer hears from you directly, and any roofer you invite works from the same facts. If water is coming in, a tarp comes before all of it, and the receipt goes in your file. If you aren't sure whether the damage is worth a claim, a roofer's free look or a paid written report can help you decide before you file.

Red flags during a free inspection

• The roofer goes up before you've had a chance to take your own photos.
• You're told the damage is severe but shown no pictures.
• You're asked to sign something "just so we can talk to your insurer."
• The offer includes taking care of your deductible.
• The price changes depending on what the insurer pays.
• You're pushed to decide today because "the crew is in the area."

Any one of these is a reason to slow down. Two or more is a reason to thank them and get a second look from someone else.

Putting them together

A sensible sequence after a storm in Overland Park: photograph the ground evidence yourself, call your insurer or agent, and get a free look and a written estimate from a roofer you'd actually hire. If two roofers disagree, or the house is on the market, or the roof was already old, spend the $150–$300 and get it in writing.

What "free" costs when it goes wrong

How a claim could affect your policy is a question to ask your agent before you file. A contingency agreement signed on the porch leaves you with a contractor you didn't choose at a price you didn't see. A deductible "taken care of" leaves you as the named insured on a claim you didn't control. None of that is free. The hail damage page walks through the claim the way it should go.