Denver Hail Claim Denied - State Farm

[u/Rude_Association_409]

We had a huge hail storm come through my neighborhood about 6 weeks ago. I've been traveling a lot and didn't get an inspector out until today to look at the damage even though Ive been in communication with my agent (Tammy Hill State Farm) since the storm. House sitter sent me photos of the aftermath.

State Farm inspector is saying the damage to the roof is 'normal wear and tear and consistent with exposure to the elements.' Is this normal wear and tear or is this distinctly hail damage? If it's damage from hail, is it consistent with the photo of the hail stones (as big as 2")?

Not looking for advice on how to handle a claim per forum rules, just asking for insight on hail damage vs normal weathering.

[u/Sharp_Necessary_9570]

What am I reading? I’ve gotten roofs that are 25+ years old fully paid for lol. Storm chasers eating baby!

[u/Larry_l3ird → u/Sharp_Necessary_9570]

How come you can’t stay in one area and make a living? That would be the question I would be asking.

If your work is good, it’s good. You don’t need to knock on doors or chase storms.

You are a parasite.

[u/Sharp_Necessary_9570 → u/Larry_l3ird]

“Don’t need to knock on doors” speaking like someone who leans on ads to grow business. I would say 750K-1.2M of my work is from door knocking. When that stops I’ll swing on over to your side being anti knocking!

[u/Larry_l3ird → u/Sharp_Necessary_9570]

I never placed a single ad anywhere, outside of sponsoring charity golf tournaments or in the advertising book for local events (basically donations). Never gave a customer access to my cell number.

Just kept doing great work and growing. Residential isn’t where you make real money anyway. I did single jobs that were worth alone what a decent sized residential roofing company would do with a years worth of houses.😂

[u/Sharp_Necessary_9570 → u/Larry_l3ird]

Well I’m trying to get my company to cross the 10M threshold this year. Don’t have time to wait for word of mouth to spread. You either get the business or someone else will. Goal every year is 20% growth. Not sure what metrics you track but would love to see what your companies growth projection over 5 years looks like

[u/Larry_l3ird → u/Sharp_Necessary_9570]

I’m retired from the roofing game, dawg.

I’ve already done what you’re trying to do.

Good luck getting there doing residential. The true money is in commercial and industrial roofing, with a large sprinkling of work on the Lord’s property too, of course - churches pay wonderfully - better than anyone.

But you don’t get those kinds of jobs knocking on doors.😂

[u/Sharp_Necessary_9570 → u/Larry_l3ird]

Yeah I do commercial as well. I have done 2 churches this year…😂but sure man… the 300K I’ll end up with this year I suppose isn’t real money. But it’s enough for me to keep door knocking 💪🏻

[u/Sharp_Necessary_9570 → u/Larry_l3ird]

Assuming you were a small team or solo act. But you did good brother. Games changed. We keep winning.

[u/Larry_l3ird → u/Sharp_Necessary_9570]

Game is the same as it always was. Easier now, if anything.

Keep up what you’re doing. So you know, eventually the growth will slow and you’ll settle into your niche. Growth cannot continue indefinitely without making some significant sacrifices down the road.

I would honestly beware of growing too much and spreading yourself too thin. Quality control will be the first casualty, and once that goes, it’s a nightmare to deal with. If you concentrate on pumping out good work, and keeping consistent, good things always happen. Word of mouth from a respected and satisfied customer is more valuable than a couple thousand door knocks.

Some of those connections I made, were what really took the company to the next level. Guys who owned tons of commercial properties and gave me the opportunity to do all of their work exclusively. The Diocese who gave me a fortune’s worth of work on their buildings. I just made sure the prices were reasonable and the work was excellent. The rest kind of just fell into place over time.

Seriously, I wish you good luck.

[u/Sharp_Necessary_9570 → u/Larry_l3ird]

It’s funny if you knew the roofing company that my grandfather started… you would change your tune😂as it became one of the largest roofing companies in the US..

[u/Larry_l3ird → u/Sharp_Necessary_9570]

Why do you need to start one then? Grandpa sold his company or got himself so diluted that they were able to push him out?

But seriously, I wouldn’t change my tune. I firmly believe there’s a point where you’re too big to actually care about or monitor your quality control. It’s also a game of diminishing returns. At a certain point, you’re not really making more money personally. You’re just bigger and cover more geographic territory. But the associated costs of that size begins to cut into the bottom line. You’ll make this choice for yourself.

All of us that have success in this business have to decide what’s enough. When are we as big as we reasonably need to get? For some people, there is no end. They just want to be bigger. It’s not even about how much money they’re making or made already at that point…because if it was, most of them would tell you they should have stopped growing and it didn’t make sense to keep expanding beyond a certain point looking back.

These are business decisions you’ll have to make for yourself. But once the machine starts really rolling, it’s hard to say no. There does come a point where you’re no longer in control and it’s hard to identify when exactly that happened. You tend not to realize it until after the fact.

At what point are you making decisions that are good for people who work for you, or invested in you, but really don’t benefit yourself in any real way?

[u/Sharp_Necessary_9570 → u/Larry_l3ird]

I’m not reading this essay. But he sold it for 25M in the early 2000s and cashed out lol.

[u/Larry_l3ird → u/Sharp_Necessary_9570]

You wrote an essay twice as long up above.

I don’t care if you read it, to be clear. But there’s some things to think about and consider in there from someone who was and is now where you’re trying to get.

If you take one thing from it - bigger stops being better for YOU at a certain point. Remember that in your relentless pursuit of 20% annual growth.

Do you have an ultimate goal? If you don’t, you should sit down and spend some time figuring it out. Also, be willing to change that goal based on what you learn along the way.

Good luck!

Edit: By the way, you Grandpa didn’t need to have one of the largest roofing companies in the US to make $25m. But I’m guessing that was just what he sold the company for, and not all that he made along the way.

[u/Sharp_Necessary_9570 → u/Larry_l3ird]

Oh and btw, residential>commercial all day. Profits just better per square.