After a bad storm a lot of people knock. Some are excellent. Some drove in from out of state on Tuesday. The badges on the folder are the worst way to tell them apart. Here's what those badges really require, straight from the manufacturers' own paperwork, plus five things you can check yourself. Free. Twenty minutes.
Where we stand. We take no cut of any roofing job and no referral fee from any manufacturer. We're not adjusters. We make money two ways and both are listed on our how we make money page. That's why we can tell you the certifications are mostly marketing. Nearly every other page answering this question was written by somebody who gets paid by your answer.
In most of the places hail actually falls, there is no state roofing licence to check.
Texas does not license roofers at state level. Roofing isn't among the Department of Licensing and Regulation's roughly 200 licence types. Colorado doesn't either. Licensing there is municipal, so it depends which city you're standing in. Minnesota does, under Minn. Stat. §326B.802, which defines “residential roofer” as a licensed category.
“Licensed, bonded and insured” is the most common line in roofing sales. In Dallas or Denver the first word means nothing. There is nothing to be licensed by. That doesn't make the guy a liar. It makes the claim uncheckable, which is the same thing as useless.
All quoted from the manufacturers' own contractor programme documents. The ones written for roofers, not the ones written for you.
GAF's marketing says “Only 2% of roofers in North America are invited” and “It can't be bought. It can only be earned.”
The published criteria are: seven years in business, $1M liability insurance, workers' compensation, “State License (If Applicable)”, “Good Standing with Better Business Bureau”, and good Experian credit.
Not one of those is about workmanship. No exam. No inspection of finished work. Nothing about whether customers were happy. What it measures is age, insurance and credit. Fine things to know. None of them tells you what the roof will look like.
Then watch two of those six gates fall over in hail country. The state licence is “if applicable”, and in Texas and Colorado it isn't. BBB standing is influenced by paid accreditation, which is the next section. GAF's own footnote: “GAF does not control or otherwise supervise these independent businesses.”
The headline requirement in Owens Corning's programme table is “Owens Corning Roofing Share: 80%”. The contractor buys 80% of their shingles from Owens Corning. Also on the list: three years in business, $1M liability, and a licence “as required by state.”
No exam. No inspection. No satisfaction threshold. No workmanship audit anywhere in the table. The benefits column says what the contractor is buying: “Lead generation opportunities with the Owens Corning Roofing Lead Management System.”
A Platinum Preferred badge is a reliable signal of exactly one thing. This company buys most of its shingles from Owens Corning.
This one is different and it deserves credit. It requires that “all supervisors and at least 50% of the company's installers are Master Shingle Applicators”, a Shingle Quality Specialist exam, and “a customer satisfaction rating of 4 or higher on a five-point scale.” That is a real bar.
Two caveats. There is a tenure escape hatch: “or has prior industry experience that CertainTeed considers a comparable qualification”. And CertainTeed itself says the programme is “not intended as a guarantee of the contractor's workmanship or integrity.”
One thing, and it's worth having. They unlock the enhanced manufacturer warranty. GAF's Golden Pledge, Owens Corning's Platinum Protection, CertainTeed's SureStart PLUS. Real documents with real coverage, and only a certified contractor can offer them.
So don't ask whether they're certified. Ask “which enhanced warranty are you registering on my roof, and can I see the document?” Ask for the paperwork, not the badge.
Straight off BBB's own pages: “Accredited businesses pay an annual dues investment”, and “BBB ratings are not a guarantee of a business's reliability or performance.”
Then the one that catches everyone: “Customer Reviews are not used in the calculation of the BBB Letter Grade Rating.” The complaints people write don't make the letter. BBB doesn't publish the formula that does.
In 2010, ABC's 20/20 got an A− rating for a company that did not exist. It cost $425. They also documented businesses jumping from C to A+ the next business day after paying. BBB expelled its Southern California chapter in 2013.
Use BBB. Just use the right part. The letter grade is close to noise. The complaints themselves are worth your time. Read what people wrote, and read how the company answered. That part is real.
None of them depend on a badge. All of them are free.
These come off a roofing forum. A homeowner, after the worst hailstorm in their area in decades, asked how to pick among the dozens of salespeople at the door. The top answer was publicly endorsed by someone identifying themselves as a former storm chaser. On the evidence above it beats any badge:
1) local 2) ideally in business for 5+ years 3) ask about their process in the event you're denied — you want a roofer that knows their way around a claim, approved or denied 4) ask if they have any local work, who they're working for, and if you know any of those people, ask them about their experience
Question 3 sorts them. Anybody can sell you a roof when the claim gets approved. What you're really buying is what happens when it doesn't. A contractor with a clear, specific answer has been there before. A contractor who promises approval has just told you something about himself. Another roofer in the same thread: “I always assume and prepare that they will get denied… There are no guarantees. Anyone who guarantees you this shouldn't be trusted.”
Take “local” literally. In Texas it has a statutory meaning. Contractors with a physical address in the county for at least a year are treated differently in law from those without one.
Rules vary by state and we're publishing the state-by-state detail separately. Two you need today.
“We'll cover your deductible.” In Texas that is criminal. Business & Commerce Code §27.02 requires the deductible to be paid and makes a violation a Class B misdemeanour. You'll also read everywhere that waiving a deductible is illegal in all fifty states. That is not true. A number of states have no such statute at all. Where it is regulated, though, it's regulated hard, and in at least two states a contract that breaks the rule is void.
“We'll handle the adjuster for you.” In several states a contractor can't negotiate or adjust your claim without a public adjuster licence. Texas Insurance Code §4102.163 is blunt: a contractor “may not act as a public adjuster or advertise to adjust claims.” Meeting the adjuster on the roof and pointing at damage is normal. Negotiating your settlement is a different job.
Twenty people knocking doesn't mean twenty people are right. NOAA's radar archive is public, it goes back to 1992, and it will tell you whether a storm sat over your address on a given date. Sometimes it tells you nothing was there.
Check your address free. No signup, no phone number. And we'll tell you when the answer is no. We'd rather be the site that says nothing happened than the one that sells you a roof you don't need.
Check an address · Recent storm reports by state · Hail history by city · How we make money
What Hit My House · Fredericksburg, Virginia ·
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General information, not legal advice. Statutes change. Independent. Not affiliated with, endorsed by,
or sponsored by NOAA, the National Weather Service, GAF, Owens Corning, CertainTeed, the Better Business
Bureau, or any government agency. Manufacturer and BBB requirements are quoted from their own
published documents as read on 28 July 2026.
How this works and how we make money.
What Hit My House · Fredericksburg, Virginia ·
hello@whathitmyhouse.com
Independent. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by NOAA, the National Weather Service, or
any government agency. Built on public-domain federal data.
How this works and how we make money.