Texas Roofing Laws Every Homeowner Should Know (2026)

Deductible Waiver Fraud: The Law That Protects You

After every major DFW hailstorm, storm chasers flood the area with the same offer: “We'll waive your deductible.” This sounds like a good deal. It is actually a crime.

Texas Insurance Code Section 707.002 makes it a Class B misdemeanor for a roofing contractor to offer to waive, pay, rebate, or absorb an insurance deductible as an inducement to contract for roof repair or replacement. The law also extends to the homeowner — knowingly accepting a deductible waiver and allowing the inflated cost to flow through to the insurance company can constitute insurance fraud under Texas Penal Code Chapter 35.

How the fraud works: A contractor waiving your $5,000 deductible still needs to recover that cost. They do it by inflating the Xactimate estimate submitted to your insurance carrier — adding line items for work not performed, overstating material quantities, or billing premium-grade materials while installing standard-grade. Your insurer pays the inflated amount, and you get “free” work. The consequences: your insurance carrier may detect the fraud and cancel your policy, deny future claims, or pursue you and the contractor criminally.

JRH Construction charges your actual deductible on every project. Our Xactimate estimates are accurate and defensible — they represent what the work actually costs, not a number reverse-engineered to absorb your deductible.

Your 3-Day Right to Cancel a Roofing Contract in Texas

Texas Business & Commerce Code Section 601 (the Home Solicitation Sales Act) gives consumers the right to cancel certain contracts within 3 business days of signing with no penalty. This applies when the sale is made at your home — which covers virtually all residential roofing contracts signed during an in-home estimate.

The right to cancel must be disclosed by the contractor in writing at the time of signing. Texas law requires the contract to include a cancellation notice and two copies of a cancellation form. To cancel, you must deliver a written notice to the contractor within 3 business days (Saturday counts; Sunday and federal holidays do not).

Practically, this means: if a storm chaser pressures you to sign immediately after a storm and you later realize you made a poor decision, you have a 3-day window to cancel without consequence. If a contractor refuses to include the legally required cancellation notice in their contract, that is a red flag indicating they may not be operating lawfully.

Texas Insurance Claim Filing Rules

Your insurance company has to follow specific timelines by law. Most homeowners don't know this, which means most adjusters take as long as they want. Under Texas Insurance Code Chapter 542, they don't get that option:

• 15 days: Insurer must acknowledge your claim in writing
• 15 days: Insurer must request whatever documentation they need — they can't keep asking for more after this window
• 15 business days: Once they have everything, they must accept or deny — no more stalling
• 5 business days: After acceptance, payment must go out

Miss those deadlines? Texas law says they owe you 18% annual interest on the entire claim amount, plus your attorney fees. That's a real number on a $40,000 roof claim. If your adjuster is dragging past these windows, send them a written notice referencing Chapter 542 and the dates. Watch how fast things move after that.

On filing deadlines: most Texas policies give you one to two years from the storm date. Don't wait. We have seen homeowners in Mesquite and Rowlett lose perfectly good claims because they waited 18 months, and the adjuster argued they couldn't confirm the damage was storm-related versus wear. File within 30 days of discovery. Get us on the roof first so you know what you actually have before you call.

Roofing Contractor Licensing in Texas

Here's the part storm chasers hope you don't read: Texas has no statewide roofing contractor license. That's the truth. Any guy who graduated from a weekend seminar and bought a truck can legally call himself a roofing contractor in this state. They use that fact to imply that credentials don't matter. What they don't tell you is this:

• Most DFW cities — Allen, Frisco, McKinney, Plano, Garland — have local registration requirements that out-of-state chasers can't satisfy
• Any project requiring a permit (which is most roof replacements) requires the contractor to meet the municipality's standards before the permit gets issued
• Texas Labor Code requires contractors with employees to carry workers' comp — no coverage means an injury on your property becomes your liability
• General liability insurance is the minimum baseline; without it, you're personally on the hook if something goes wrong on your roof

Before you sign anything: get a certificate of insurance with general liability and workers' comp. Ask if they will pull the permit — if they hedge on that, walk away. And get a physical Texas address, not a P.O. box and a Google Voice number.

Roofing Permits: What DFW Municipalities Require

We have seen homeowners in McKinney and Rockwall discover — three years later, when they tried to sell — that their previous contractor never pulled a permit. Their new buyer's lender flagged it. The sale fell through while they scrambled to get a retroactive permit and reinspection. That is a preventable nightmare.

Every DFW city requires building permits for roof replacements. The inspection that comes with it verifies underlayment, flashing, ventilation, and fastening meet code. When a contractor says “we don't need a permit for this” — they are either wrong about your city's rules, or they are trying to avoid the inspection because their work wouldn't pass it. Both are problems. Unpermitted work also voids most manufacturer warranties.

JRH pulls permits on every qualifying project across DFW. The permit and final inspection certificate go in your project file. That paper protects your warranty, your insurance, and your sale price if you ever put the house on the market.

Contractor Lien Rights in Texas

Under Texas Property Code Chapter 53, any contractor or supplier who did work on your property and didn't get paid can file a mechanic's lien against your house. That lien sits on your title. You cannot sell. You cannot refinance. You cannot close until it's resolved. And here's the part that catches homeowners off guard: you can pay your contractor in full and still end up with a lien, if that contractor didn't pay their subcontractors or material suppliers. That has happened on projects in Southlake and Allen. You paid. Your contractor pocketed it. The sub put a lien on your house.

• Homestead protection: For your primary residence, a lien is only valid if you signed a written lien disclosure and both spouses signed the contract — this is a meaningful protection, but it requires the contractor to follow the proper paperwork
• Pre-lien notices: Subs and suppliers must send written pre-lien notices within specific deadlines to preserve their lien rights — if they miss those deadlines, they lose the right to lien
• Partial lien waivers: Every payment you make should be accompanied by a signed partial lien waiver from the contractor covering that payment — this is your protection against the “I paid the GC but not the sub” scenario

JRH provides lien waivers at every payment milestone, no questions asked. We pay our subs and suppliers on schedule. And our $10 million surety bond means if a payment dispute ever does arise, there's actual money backing the guarantee — not just a contractor promising they'll handle it.