A Colorado hail insurance claim is a structured, multi-step process that begins the moment the storm passes and typically ends 60–120 days later when the final depreciation check clears. The two biggest mistakes homeowners make are waiting too long to file and signing a contract before they understand what their policy covers. This guide walks the entire process — every step, in order — so you can navigate it without losing money or coverage.
The 60-second answer
If hail just hit your home in the Denver Metro or Front Range, the order of operations matters: document the storm event, schedule a professional roof inspection, then call your insurance carrier with the inspection report in hand. Most Colorado homeowner policies require notice "as soon as practicable" and require any lawsuit to be filed within one year of the loss. The single highest-leverage decision you'll make is who walks the roof with the adjuster — that meeting is where 20–40% of legitimate damage routinely gets missed when the homeowner isn't represented by an experienced contractor.
Step 1 — Confirm the storm event
Before you call anyone, confirm there was a storm at your address that could have caused damage. This sounds obvious, but it's the foundation of every claim and the first thing an adjuster will check.
Pull two pieces of data:
- The exact date and time of the storm. If you weren't home, check local news, neighborhood social pages, or simply ask neighbors.
- Confirmation from a weather data source. HailTrace and NOAA's Storm Prediction Center both maintain searchable records of confirmed hail and severe wind events by ZIP code. Hilltop's site has a free ZIP-code lookup tool that surfaces NOAA-confirmed hail history for any Front Range address.
Save screenshots of any data you find. You will reference this throughout the claim.
Step 2 — Inspect what you can see safely from the ground
Walk the perimeter of your home. Do not climb the roof yourself. Most homeowner policies don't cover injuries from non-professional roof access, and ladder falls are the leading source of preventable hail-season hospital visits in Colorado.
From the ground, look for:
- Damaged or dented metal: AC condenser fins, vents, gutters, downspouts, garage doors, window screens, exterior light fixtures. Metal damage is the easiest hail evidence to document.
- Shredded gutters or shingle granules in downspouts. A pile of black sand near the bottom of a downspout is granule loss — a classic hail signature.
- Cracked or chipped paint, broken siding, dented mailboxes. All count as hail evidence.
- Window screens punctured, light covers shattered, deck wood pitted. Less common but high-evidence.
Take photos of everything. Date-stamped photos are stronger than your description.
What you cannot see from the ground is the roof itself, and that is where the bulk of legitimate damage almost always lives. Step 3 fixes that.
Step 3 — Get a professional roof inspection BEFORE calling your carrier
This is the step most homeowners skip, and it costs them money. The order matters.
If you call your insurance carrier first and they send their adjuster first, the adjuster's report becomes the baseline for your entire claim. Anything they miss, you have to argue back into the scope later — a process called supplementing. Supplementing is harder than getting it right the first time.
If a qualified roofing contractor inspects first and produces a written damage report with photos, you walk into the adjuster meeting with a documented scope. The adjuster is now reacting to evidence, not setting the baseline.
A proper inspection in Colorado includes:
- A full roof walk (every slope, including the back-facing slopes adjusters sometimes miss)
- Hail-strike documentation with chalk-marked impact points and photos
- Collateral damage (gutters, downspouts, vents, flashings, skylights, fascia, soffits, garage doors, AC units, fences, decks)
- Underlayment and decking assessment if any shingles are missing
- A written report the homeowner can hand to the adjuster
Hilltop's free inspection takes 30–45 minutes and produces a written report the same day. There is no obligation to file a claim, and we will tell you straight if we don't see filable damage. About 1 in 4 inspections we do are "no claim warranted" calls — and saying so is part of why we're rated 5.0★ across 87+ Aurora-area homeowners.
Step 4 — Call your insurance carrier and file the claim
With the inspection report in hand, call the claims line on the back of your insurance card. Have ready:
- Date and time of the storm
- Address of the damaged property
- A summary of damage (your contractor's report has this)
- Your policy number
Carriers will assign a claim number and a field adjuster. The field adjuster will call you within 24–72 hours to schedule the inspection. Critical: ask the adjuster's scheduler to coordinate with your contractor so all three of you walk the roof together. This single phone call saves an enormous amount of follow-up work.
Each major carrier has its own internal process and tendencies. Hilltop has carrier-specific guides for State Farm, USAA, Allstate, American Family, Farmers, Liberty Mutual, and Travelers.
Step 5 — The adjuster meeting
The adjuster meeting is the most important hour of your claim. Everything that gets approved or denied flows from this single inspection.
Three rules:
- Your contractor should be physically present. Most Colorado adjusters are professional and thorough, but adjusters work for the carrier, and the contractor works for you. The contractor's job in this meeting is to walk every slope with the adjuster, point out impact density and collateral damage, and make sure nothing in the documented scope gets missed.
- Have your written inspection report ready. Hand it to the adjuster at the start of the meeting, not the end.
- Take notes and photos throughout. If the adjuster is reluctant to access certain areas, document that.
After the inspection, the adjuster will produce a scope of loss — typically an Xactimate report — and email it to you within 1–2 weeks. This is where Step 6 begins.
Step 6 — Read your scope of loss carefully
The scope of loss (sometimes called the "estimate" or "Xactimate report") is the carrier's official position on what they will pay for. It includes line items for every component of the repair, with quantities, unit prices, and totals.
What to look for:
- Did the scope include every slope of your roof? Re-roofing one slope of a multi-slope roof is uncommon and usually wrong.
- Did the scope include all matching code-required items? Drip edge, ice & water shield, ridge venting, starter strip, valley metal — Colorado building codes have specific requirements that vary by jurisdiction (Aurora and Denver have meaningfully different code requirements).
- Did the scope include all collateral damage? Gutters, downspouts, vents, garage doors, window screens, deck stain, paint matching.
- Are the unit prices realistic for current Front Range labor and material costs? Carrier price databases sometimes lag behind actual market rates.
- Is there an Overhead & Profit (O&P) line? Most Colorado homeowner policies include O&P (typically 10% + 10%) for any project that legitimately requires a general contractor. Many initial scopes leave it off.
If anything is missing or undervalued, you supplement.
Step 7 — Supplement the claim
Supplementing is the formal process of asking the carrier to add line items, increase quantities, or correct unit prices in the scope. It is normal, expected, and built into the claims process. A clean claim often involves one or two supplements before the final scope is locked.
Supplements are submitted in writing with supporting evidence:
- A specific scope item or quantity that needs correction
- Photo or measurement evidence
- A reference to the building code or manufacturer specification that requires it
Hilltop's project managers attend every adjuster inspection and submit supplements on behalf of our customers. Average supplement turnaround in Colorado is 7–14 days for a documented request. We've found 18 years of doing this is the difference between a claim that resolves cleanly in 60 days and one that drags out for six months.
Step 8 — Choose your materials
Once the scope is approved, you choose materials. The scope of loss specifies an allowance — for example, a 30-year architectural shingle — and you can either match that or upgrade.
The most common upgrade decision in Colorado is Class 3 vs Class 4 impact-resistant shingles. Class 4 shingles cost more upfront but typically qualify for an annual homeowner premium discount of 20–30% with most Colorado carriers, often paying for themselves within a few years on Front Range roofs that see frequent hail. We've covered the full comparison in Class 3 vs Class 4 Shingles in Colorado.
Other common upgrades:
- Synthetic underlayment instead of felt
- Ice & water shield in valleys, around penetrations, and at eaves (already code in many jurisdictions but worth confirming)
- Class 4 ridge cap and starter strip to match the field shingles
- Closed-valley vs open-valley installation (aesthetic and performance differences)
Hilltop is TAMKO Pro Certified, which lets us offer extended manufacturer warranties on TAMKO StormFighter IR and other Class 4 shingles that non-certified contractors cannot.
Step 9 — The build day
Most asphalt roof replacements in the Denver Metro are completed in a single day with a 6–10 person crew. A typical sequence:
- 7:00 AM — material delivery and dump trailer staging
- 7:30 AM — tarp landscaping and AC units, set up fall protection
- 8:00 AM — tear-off begins
- 11:00 AM — decking inspection, replace any rotten or cracked sheathing
- 12:00 PM — install ice & water shield, drip edge, synthetic underlayment
- 1:00 PM — shingle installation begins
- 5:00 PM — ridge cap, final flashing details, magnetic nail sweep of yard and driveway
- 6:00 PM — final walkthrough, dump trailer hauled away
A good crew leaves your property cleaner than they found it. We've seen otherwise — magnetic sweep of the driveway and surrounding lawn isn't optional, and bad cleanup is a leading reason homeowners post 1-star reviews of otherwise good roofers.
Step 10 — Final inspection and depreciation release
Most Colorado claims are paid in two checks. The first check (the ACV check, or "actual cash value") is sent shortly after the scope is approved. It is the depreciated value of the work — the carrier's payment minus the depreciation that has accumulated on your roof since installation.
The second check (the recoverable depreciation) is released only after the work is completed and documented. To release it, the carrier needs:
- A Certificate of Completion signed by you
- A final invoice matching the approved scope
- Photos of the completed work
Once submitted, the depreciation check is typically released in 7–14 days. We cover the ACV-vs-RCV math and the depreciation release process in detail in ACV vs RCV: What Colorado Homeowners Need to Know.
Step 11 — Mortgage company endorsement (if applicable)
If your home has a mortgage, your insurance check will be made out jointly to you and your mortgage company. The lender wants to confirm the work is being done before signing it over.
Most mortgage companies have an online claims portal. The general process:
- Call the loss-draft department of your mortgage company
- Provide the claim documents (scope of loss, contract, certificate of completion)
- Submit photos of the completed work
- The lender either signs the check directly or releases funds in stages (1/3 at signing, 1/3 at midpoint, 1/3 at completion)
This is one of the most underrated frustrations of a Colorado claim. Hilltop handles the lender paperwork and follow-up directly with our customers' mortgage companies — it's part of our 10-step process and we don't leave you to figure out lender-specific portals on your own.
Colorado-specific protections every homeowner should know
Colorado passed CRS 6-22 (the Colorado Roofing Bill) in 2012. It gives Colorado homeowners three protections most other states don't have:
- Contractors cannot pay or rebate your insurance deductible. Any contractor who offers to "cover your deductible" or "make the deductible go away" is asking you to commit insurance fraud and exposing you to legal risk. Walk away from that contractor immediately.
- You have a 72-hour right to cancel any roofing contract signed in connection with an insurance claim, with no penalty.
- Roofing contracts must be in writing and must include specific disclosures about the homeowner's right to cancel and the contractor's obligations.
If a contractor — especially a door-knocker after a major storm — pressures you to sign immediately, doesn't provide a written contract, or offers to cover your deductible, they are violating Colorado law. The Colorado Attorney General's office and the Colorado Division of Insurance accept written complaints.
How long does the whole process take?
A clean Colorado hail claim, from inspection to final depreciation release, typically takes:
| Phase | Typical timeline |
|---|---|
| Inspection through claim filing | 3–7 days |
| Adjuster scheduling through scope of loss | 2–4 weeks |
| Supplements (if needed) | 1–3 weeks |
| Build scheduling and execution | 2–6 weeks (longer in peak hail season) |
| Final depreciation release | 1–3 weeks after completion |
| Total | 60–120 days |
Peak hail season in Colorado runs roughly mid-April through mid-September, with the heaviest concentration in May, June, and July. Build scheduling stretches longer in peak season because every reputable contractor is working their existing customers' claims.
Common mistakes that cost Colorado homeowners money
After 18 years of storm-restoration claims across the Front Range, the same handful of mistakes show up over and over:
- Waiting too long to inspect. Most policies require notice "as soon as practicable" and most require lawsuit-filing within 1 year of loss. Damage that goes undocumented for 6 months becomes harder to attribute to a specific storm.
- Signing with a door-knocker the day of the storm. Reputable contractors are still on roofs documenting damage on day one — they aren't going door to door asking for signatures. The 72-hour cancellation right exists for a reason.
- Letting the adjuster walk the roof alone. A solo adjuster inspection produces a solo scope. Always coordinate so your contractor is on the roof at the same time.
- Accepting the first scope without supplementing. First scopes are starting points, not final answers. Even good adjusters miss line items on a first walk.
- Filing a claim and then dropping the carrier. A filed-but-unpaid claim still counts against you in the eyes of future carriers. If you file, see it through.
- Choosing the cheapest bid. A Colorado roof installed by a low-bid storm chaser typically lasts 3–7 years before workmanship issues surface. The contractor will be in another state by then.
When to call Hilltop Contracting
If you're in the Denver Metro or anywhere along the Colorado Front Range and a storm has hit your home, call us at 720-345-2070 for a free, no-pressure inspection. We are an Aurora-headquartered, full-service roofing and storm-restoration company. Our team has 29 years of roofing experience, 18 years specializing in hail and wind insurance claims, and we have been on Colorado roofs since 2009.
We attend every adjuster inspection with our customers. We document supplements when scope comes back short. We handle the lender paperwork. And we don't get paid until the work is done and your insurance has paid out.
We also call back within one business hour — every time.
This article is informational and reflects our team's experience handling Colorado hail and wind claims. It is not legal or insurance advice. Specific policy terms, deadlines, and entitlements vary by carrier and policy type — always read your declarations page or call your carrier directly to confirm your coverage.