We offer the highest quality of construction in property improvement services throughout Texas with 5 offices serving commercial and residential property owners. Specialized in insurance claims processes we focus on roofing solutions. From quality workmanship to utilizing premium materials, our primary goal is to provide your property with safety, functionality and beauty.
Showing posts with label roof repair. Show all posts
Showing posts with label roof repair. Show all posts
Monday, June 1, 2015
Thursday, April 23, 2015
2015 Atlantic Hurricane Season Forecast Issued By The Weather Channel
A new hurricane season forecast issued by The Weather
Channel on Tuesday says we can expect the number of named storms and hurricanes
in the 2015 Atlantic season to stay below historical averages.
Numbers of Atlantic Basin named storms, those that attain at
least tropical storm strength, hurricanes, and hurricanes of Category 3
intensity forecast by The Weather Channel (right column) and Colorado State
University (center column) compared to the 30-year average (left column).
A total of nine named storms, five hurricanes and one major
hurricane are expected this season, according to the forecast prepared by The
Weather Channel Professional Division. This is below the 30-year average of 12
named storms, six hurricanes and three major hurricanes. A major hurricane is
one that is Category 3 or stronger on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.
Meteorologist Dr. Todd Crawford of The Weather Channel
Professional Division says, “Both the dynamical models and our proprietary
statistical models suggest a relatively quiet tropical season this year."
The Weather Channel forecast for below-average activity
during the 2015 Atlantic hurricane season is consistent with what Colorado
State University (CSU) said in its forecast issued on April 9. CSU's forecast
called for seven named storms, including three hurricanes, one of which is
predicted to attain major hurricane status.
The CSU outlook, headed by Dr. Phil Klotzbach in
consultation with long-time hurricane expert Dr. William Gray, is based on a
combination of 29 years of statistical predictors, combined with analog seasons
exhibiting similar features of sea-level pressure and sea-surface temperatures
in the Atlantic and eastern Pacific Oceans.
2014 Atlantic Hurricane Season Tracks |
Here are four questions about this outlook and what it means
for you.
2014 Atlantic Hurricane Season Tracks
Tracks of all Atlantic tropical cyclones attaining at least
tropical storm strength in the 2014 hurricane season.
Q: Does this mean a less destructive season?
There is no strong correlation between the number of storms
or hurricanes and U.S. landfalls in any given season.
"It is important to note that our - The Weather Channel
- forecasts are for the total number of storms that may occur anywhere within
the Atlantic Ocean, and do not attempt to predict the number of storms that
will make landfall in the U.S.," said Dr. Peter Neilley, vice president of
Global Forecasting Services at WSI.
The 2014 season featured the fewest number of named storms
in 17 years (eight storms), but also featured the strongest landfalling hurricane
in the mainland U.S. in six years (Hurricane Arthur on the Outer Banks), and
featured two back-to-back hurricane hits on the tiny archipelago of Bermuda
(Fay, then Gonzalo).
Furthermore, six of those eight storms became hurricanes,
and Gonzalo was the strongest Atlantic hurricane since Igor in 2010.
(RECAP: 2014 Hurricane Season)
In 1983, there were only four named storms, but one of them
was Alicia, a Category 3 hurricane which clobbered the Houston-Galveston area.
The 2010 season featured 12 hurricanes and 19 named storms,
which tied 1995 for the third most named storms in any Atlantic season, at the
time. But not a single hurricane, and only one tropical storm, made landfall in
the U.S during that active season.
In other words, a season can deliver many storms, but have
little impact, or deliver few storms and have one or more hitting the U.S.
coast with major impact.
Therefore, it's important to be prepared for hurricanes and
tropical storms every year, regardless of seasonal forecasts.
2013 Atlantic hurricane season storm tracks. |
Potential impact of El Nino on 2015 Atlantic hurricane
season.
Q: Will El Niño play a role?
El Nino was first officially declared by NOAA as winter
wound down. As of this early April forecast, El Niño, a periodic warming of the
equatorial Pacific waters, has been given a 60 percent chance of persisting
into the fall, according to NOAA's Climate Prediction Center.
Dr. Crawford says, "A new El Niño event is emerging
that will likely be stronger than last year’s weaker event. The cooler ocean
temperatures and subsidence/shear associated with the El Niño event will likely
be a deterrent for widespread tropical cyclone development in the
Atlantic."
There is a body of scientific evidence linking the
occurrence of El Niño with increased wind shear in the tropical Atlantic Basin,
which is one factor, along with dry air, that limits the development and
strengthening of tropical cyclones.
However, exactly where the warming of the equatorial Pacific
waters takes place and the magnitude of that warming plays at least a partial
role in the number of Atlantic named storms.
- Warming in the eastern equatorial Pacific: lower number of
Atlantic tropical cyclones
- Warming in the central equatorial Pacific: higher number
of Atlantic tropical cyclones
Klotzbach and Gray of CSU found five other hurricane seasons
with comparable Atlantic and Pacific sea-surface temperatures both in February-March,
as well as what is forecast for August-October: 1957, 1987, 1991, 1993 and
2014. Those years averaged eight named storms, four hurricanes, and 1-2 major
hurricanes.
Despite the low numbers in those years, in addition to
2014's Hurricane Arthur, there were two other historic hurricanes during those
seasons:
- Hurricane Bob (1991): One of the costliest and most
intense New England hurricanes on record ($1.5 billion damage; 17 killed; 5-8
foot storm surge in Rhode Island; waves battered south coasts of Nantucket and
Martha's Vineyard)
- Hurricane Audrey (1957): Only Category 4 June Atlantic
hurricane on record; Seventh deadliest Atlantic hurricane with at least 416
killed.
In short, the exact role El Niño may play in the 2015 season
remains uncertain.
(MORE: El Niño Facts Behind the Impacts)
Sea-surface temperature anomalies in the Atlantic Basin in
late March 2015 compared to 1980-2010 average. Blue/purple colors denote cooler
than average SSTs. Yellow/orange/red colors denote warmer than average
SSTs. (Klotzbach and Gray April 2015
hurricane season forecast)
Q: Any other factors in play?
"Aggregate Atlantic basin sea surface temperatures are
as cool as they’ve been since 2009, and are at the second coolest levels in 20
years," said Dr. Crawford.
Looking at the Atlantic Basin as a whole as of late March
2015, warmer sea-surface temperatures (hereafter, SSTs) were in place in the
western Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea but generally cooler-than-average SSTs
dominated in the eastern Atlantic Ocean from the western African coast to about
halfway to the Windward Islands.
All other factors – such as the amount of wind shear and dry
air aloft – being equal, warmer waters offer more heat to fuel the tropical
cyclone.
It is important to note, however, that a large majority of
the destructive hurricanes during the record-setting 2005 hurricane season
developed in the western Atlantic Basin.
"The big question marks with this season's predictions
are how strong El Niño is going to be, as well as if tropical and North
Atlantic sea-surface temperature anomalies remain as cool as they are
now," said Klotzbach and Gray.
2013 Atlantic hurricane season storm tracks.
Q: Why were the last two seasons relatively quiet?
We mentioned the somewhat paradoxical 2014 Atlantic
hurricane season earlier. Fewest named storms since 1997, but back-to-back
strikes on Bermuda, as well as Hurricane Arthur ruining the July 4th holiday on
the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
In 2014, Klotzbach and Gray noted July sea-surface
temperatures in the main development region between the Lesser Antilles and
Africa were the coolest since July 2002. Interestingly, sea-surface
temperatures were actually warmer than average in a broad swath of the western
Atlantic Ocean, western Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico.
Vertical wind shear, namely the change in wind direction
and/or speed with height, was found to be near the strongest on record in July
2014 over the Caribbean Sea, according to the CSU study. Wind shear disrupts
tropical cyclones or inhibits them from developing by displacing thunderstorms
from the center of circulation.
Following Arthur, five remaining named storms forming in the
Atlantic Ocean all took north, then northeast turns away from the U.S.
mainland, thanks to the orientation of winds aloft and the orientation of the
Bermuda high. Tropical Storms Dolly and Hanna buried themselves in eastern
Mexico and Central America, respectively.
In the 2013 season, for the first time since 1994, no
hurricanes stronger than Category 2 developed. Since the satellite era began in
1960, only four other seasons failed to produce a single Category 3 or stronger
hurricane (1994, 1986, 1972, 1968).
"By most measures, 2013 was one of the strangest years
in the tropical Atlantic in many decades," said Dr. Crawford.
"The 'usual suspects' of pre-season indicators
suggested a reasonably active season as relative warm Atlantic SSTs and an
expected lack of El Niño resulted in fairly bullish seasonal forecasts."
While the number of storms predicted (14) in 2013 was above
the long-term average, the dominance of dry air and wind shear limited the
intensity of existing storms or squelched the development of others.
Choose a New Roof for Your Property
Style is an important factor when building your new home or
renovating your existing property but it’s not the only factor. Cost, weight,
and installation requirements commonly influence your selection. Here’s what
you need to know:
Square vs. Square Foot
Let’s talk terminology. Roofing contractors don’t usually use
the measure “square feet.” The term you usually hear is “squares”. A square is
their basic unit of measurement—one square is 100 square feet in area, the
equivalent of a 10-foot by 10-foot square. The roof of a typical two-story,
2,000-square-foot house with a gable roof will consist of less than 1,500
square feet of roofing area, or about fifteen squares.
Cost
Several thoughts will affect the cost of your roof. The price
of the material is usually the starting point, but other factors also must be
considered. One is the condition of the existing roof if you are remodeling a
house—if old materials must be stripped off, and if the supporting structure
needs repair, that will all cost money. The shape of the roof is another
contributing factor. A gable roof with few or no breaks in its planes (like
chimneys, vent pipes, or dormers) makes for a simple roofing job. A house with
multiple chimneys, intersecting roof lines (the points of intersection are
called valleys), turrets, skylights, or other elements will cost significantly
more to roof.
Materials
Not every roofing material can be used on every roof. A flat
roof or one with a low slope may demand a surface different from one with a
steeper pitch. Materials like slate and tile are very heavy, so the structure
of many homes is inadequate to carry the load. Consider the following options,
then talk with your designer and get estimates for the job.
Asphalt Shingle. This is the most commonly used of
all roof materials, probably because it’s the least expensive and requires a
minimum of skill to install. It’s made of a fiberglass medium that’s been
impregnated with asphalt and then given a surface of sand-like granules. Two
basic configurations are sold: the standard single-thickness variety and thicker,
laminated products. The standard type costs roughly half as much, but laminated
shingles have an appealing textured appearance and last roughly half as long
(typically 25 years or more, versus 15 years plus). Prices begin at about $50 a
square, but depending upon the type of shingle chosen and the installation, can
cost many times that.
How to Choose a New
Roof
Wood Shake.
Wood was the main choice for centuries, and it’s still a good option,
though in some areas fire codes forbid its use. Usually made of cedar, redwood,
or southern pine, shingles are sawn or split. They have a life expectancy in
the 25-year range (like asphalt shingles) but cost an average of twice as much.
Metal.
Aluminum, steel, copper, copper-and-asphalt, and lead are all
durable—and expensive—roofing surfaces. Lead and the copper/asphalt varieties
are typically installed as shingles, but others are manufactured for seamed
roofs consisting of vertical lengths of metal that are joined with solder.
These roofs start at about $250 per square but often cost two or three times
that.
Tile and Cement.
The half cylinders of tile roofing are common on Spanish Colonial and
Mission styles; cement and some metal roofs imitate tile’s wavy effect. All are
expensive, very durable, and tend to be very heavy.
Slate.
Slate is among the most durable of all roofing materials. Not all slate
is the same—some comes from quarries in Vermont, some from Pennsylvania and
other states—but the best of it will outlast the fasteners that hold it in
place. Hundred-year-old slate, in fact, is often recycled for reinstallation,
with the expectation it will last another century. But slate is
expensive—typically prices start at about $800 a square—and very heavy.
Making the Choice
More often than not, if you are remodeling, the existing roof
of your house will determine your choice of roofing material. Should you be
considering other options, you’ll want to consider not only the cost but the
color, texture, weight, and durability of your alternatives, as well as what
traditionally has been used on houses like yours.
Installation Notes
Whatever your choice of roofing surface, you will probably
need flashing. Flashing is a crucial part of all exterior work, both on the
roof and siding. Flashing is metal (aluminum or copper, occasionally lead) or
plastic film. It is applied in strips to areas where dissimilar materials
adjoin, such as the intersection of the masonry chimney and the roofing
shingles, where the siding abuts the window frames, and so on. Good flashing
work is essential to keeping a structure watertight, as the most likely place
for leakage to occur is where different materials meet.
Whatever the choice of roof materials, the coursing should be
regular to the eye and parallel to roof edges. From one course to the next, the
joints should be staggered to prevent leakage. Beware of a contractor who
relies on tar for joints. Except with certain roofs where a membrane is used,
tar is a lazy expedient that should not be used for a new roofing surface.
For most roofing, a material like building felt (nee: tar paper) is rolled on before the
shingles are nailed in place. With cedar shakes, however, lengths of furring
strips (sometimes called “cedar breathers”) will be laid across the roof in
order to allow the roof to breathe. In snowy areas, a membrane called ice and
water shield may also be laid.
Don't hesitate to contact us at:
Don't hesitate to contact us at:
Roofing Professionals of Texas
Office: 469-906-2600 / Fax: 469-906-2601 9500 Ray White Rd. Ste. 200, Fort Worth, TX 76244 |
Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood sues State Farm since they enriched itself through Katrina homeowner program
Attorney General Jim Hood is suing State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. over millions of dollars he claims the state lost because the insurance company "maliciously" denied Hurricane Katrina claims for wind losses while the federally funded Homeowners Assistance Program picked up the tab.
The lawsuit says: "State Farm benefited substantially and illicitly from HAP, because HAP grants ameliorated the financial pain to State Farm policyholders caused by State Farm's wrongful denial or underpayment of claims for wind damage under its homeowner policies.
"State Farm in effect converted a program designed to help Mississippians who were devastated financially by Katrina into a subsidy for itself."
State Farm had no immediate response to allegations outlined in the 50-page lawsuit, but in past cases brought by policyholders has denied any wrongdoing.
The lawsuit, filed in Hinds County Circuit Court, accuses State Farm of fraud, negligence and breach of contract. Hood is asking for a jury trial. The state is seeking unspecified compensation for its losses, plus punitive damages, court costs, interest and attorneys' fees. Although the lawsuit comes almost 10 years after Hurricane Katrina, no statute of limitations applies to the state under its constitution and state law.
Comparing payments
The HAP program was designed to compensate qualified homeowners for losses insurance did not cover. In some cases, the lawsuit says, State Farm delayed payments to policyholders so HAP grants would cover their losses.
The lawsuit says Mississippi paid 6,810 policyholders five times more than State Farm did for Katrina damage.
The state paid a total of $522 million to State Farm policyholders, the lawsuit says, or an average of $76,673.59 per policyholder. State Farm paid the same policyholders $98.7 million, or an average of $14,494.62 per policyholder.
The lawsuit details State Farm's efforts to minimize wind losses, first by characterizing Katrina as a "water" event. Tidal surge, excluded from coverage under private insurance policies, is covered by the National Flood Insurance Program. NFIP relied on State Farm and other insurers to adjust its claims.
State Farm coerced engineering firms to alter reports, then ceased ordering damage reports altogether, when engineers found wind covered under its policies caused homeowner losses, the lawsuit says. Those allegations are familiar to Coast residents, hundreds of whom sued State Farm and other insurers after Katrina over wind claims that were allegedly underpaid or denied.
AG investigates others
"We are aggressively investigating other insurance companies that may have unjustly enriched themselves at the expense of the HAP program," Jan Schaefer, spokeswoman for the attorney general's office, wrote in an email in response to questions from the Sun Herald. "We haven't ruled out future lawsuits against those other insurers.
"We are filing this suit against State Farm because we now have proven evidence of its fraud and because, as the nation's largest property insurance company, its activities harmed Mississippi more than any other insurer."
The proven evidence to which Schaefer referred came in a whistle-blower lawsuit that two sisters, insurance adjusters Cori and Kerri Rigsby, filed against State Farm. In the federal lawsuit, a jury in April 2013 found State Farm defrauded NFIP by attributing wind damage to tidal surge. State Farm was ordered to pay $750,000 in damages -- triple the amount of the false flood claim payment -- to NFIP, with 15 percent going to the Rigsbys for pursuing the claim. The case is on appeal.
"In the wake of that verdict," Schaefer said, "we spent considerable time closely evaluating the impact of this activity on the state through the HAP program."
Attorneys representing the state include the Rigsbys' lawyers, August Matteis of Washington, D.C., and Maison Heidelberg of Jackson, along with former assistant attorney general Ben Bryant of Balch & Bingham in Jackson. Mary Jo Woods, an assistant attorney general involved in litigation against State Farm after the hurricane, signed the complaint for the state.
Read more here: http://www.sunherald.com/2015/04/21/6187338_mississippi-ag-files-suit-against.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
Roofing Deductible Assistance Programs: Diagram of a Scheme Issues, Challenges, and Recommendations
Please be advised that this is an excerpt from
Dallas BBB's report on Deductible Fraud from August 2012
Purpose
On June
13, 2012, North Texas
residents were pelted by a hailstorm
which is estimated to eventually cost insurers a record $2 billion in insured
losses. The
previous hail damage record
within the State of Texas
was $1.1 billion
caused by the 1995
Fort Worth Mayfest Storm.
For months
after the 2012 storm, residents in the hardest hit areas
found themselves pelted
once more by more
roofing contractor advertising than they had
ever seen.
Each ad had its own unique leading
pitch. Some promoted their “66 years of experience.” Others
promoted their “lifetime warranty.” A riskier
few
skirted the line of
insurance fraud by touting “Free
Roofs-Call For Details” and
“Ask Us How Your
Deductible is
Covered.”
The
practice is called “deductible assistance” by some
and “deductible fraud” by others. Depending on who you
ask, the practice is illegal or, at best, deceptive. This
point is highly
debated within the roofing industry and
rarely complained about by the
consumers that might financially benefit in the
short term.
It is
believed that soaring homeowner’s
insurance deductibles may play a significant
role in the popularity and prevalence
of such programs in recent years. According to the
Wall Street Journal, Texas
homeowners pay the highest insurance premiums in the
country, and in the last
few years, wind and hail damage
deductible have shown a dramatic
increase as
well.
This increase
came with a deductible model change which switched from monetary-based deductibles
to percentage-based deductibles. Specifically, many
homeowners recently found that their wind and hail deductibles
which may have been
as low as $500 was
replaced with a new deductible between 1% and 5% of the
value of their home. On a $250,000 home, that could account for a massive increase.
As it is one of
the BBB’s primary missions
to set standards which promote marketplace trust, this investigation’s
purpose is to understand the current
functioning model of
deductible assistance programs used by roofing contractors
in North Texas, as well
as identify the regulatory challenges and criticisms.
Defining the Scheme
Roofing Deductible
For the
purpose of this investigation, the term “deductible” refers
to the agreement in which an insured home
owner consents to share the financial
responsibility of a contractually-agreed portion of a claimed loss. In the State of Texas, this
amount is often expressed as a percentage of the value of the home.
For example, a 1% roof deductible on a $150,000
home would be $1,500. Therefore, the consumer would share
the cost of a roof loss for
an amount of $1,500.
The
defined principle of an “insurance deductible” is that, by sharing the
cost with the insured, insurers
are able to reduce their overhead
costs, which could result in lower monthly
fees, or premiums, charged
to their customers.
The Sales Advantage
For decades, some
roofers have offered deductible assistance or reimbursement programs
in an attempt to
gain customers from competitors that would otherwise collect the owed deductible.
These
programs are offered to the detriment of both insurers that are over-charged, as described below,
and competitors that feel the
act of covering deductibles is unethical or illegal.
Veiled Insurance
Fraud?
If a roofer charges a
customer $8,500 and that customer,
in return, bills their insurance company $10,000 with a fake receipt, that consumer can end up in hot water for insurance fraud. Simply put, the
insurance company is over-charged by the
customer.
Noting the above scenario, the average consumer may have a general understanding
of overt insurance
fraud (i.e. the
consumer financially gained an advantage by lying to their
insurance company), and they
may
even agree that the
fraud is unethical. However,
deductible assistance programs
are frequently convoluted enough to
confuse even savvy consumers that participate in a scheme which usually results in a loss
to the insurer, which is identical
to the overt insurance fraud described above.
Advertising Reimbursement Scheme
Although there
are numerous variations of deductible assistance programs, the
most common reported
in the Dallas area is the “advertising reimbursement” model.
In the
advertising reimbursement model, a roofing contractor will bill the
consumer for the full replacement value cost (RVC) of
the roof, the maximum
amount that the insurance company has
agreed to pay, regardless of the actual replacement cost. The
roofer will then adjust the final price in an amount equivalent to the
customer’s deductible by using a “change order form.” In return,
the customer agrees
to advertise for the roofing
contractor by
displaying a sign in their front yard.
In the
end, the customer doesn’t have to come out of pocket to pay their deductible, and the insurer
will receive a bill which is
higher than the actual cost to replace the roof. In short, the insurer foots the deductible costs.
Purveyors
of this model defend that the
advertising agreement
constitutes a second agreement and side-steps
issues pertaining to insurance
fraud. Though, in reality, the insurer is overcharged in the
same spirit as a consumer
that counterfeits a receipt. The
only real difference is that, in the
advertising reimbursement model, a consumer
displays a $1 sign in their yard.
Legal Considerations
The
most frequent argument expressed by those
that oppose deductible assistance programs is that the practice appears to be
illegal.
Section 27.02 of Texas’
Business & Commerce Code states, in part, that:
(a) A person who sells
goods or services commits an offense if:
(1) the person advertises
or promises to provide the good or service and to pay:
(A) all or part of any applicable
insurance deductible; or
(B) a rebate in an amount equal to all or part of any applicable insurance deductible;
However, in 1990,
Texas Attorney General Jim Maddox provided an opinion which differentiates between
a person advertising that they will “pay a deductible” and one who advertises that they will “waive
a deductible.”
Specifically, the opinion indicated that “declining to seek payment of all or part of the deductible is technically not the
same as “pay[ing] all or part of any applicable insurance deductible.”
The
opinion does indicate
that “waiving” a deductible is the type of transaction that comes
under the spirit of the
section and accomplishes the same as rebating the amount
of the deductible.
Nevertheless, a “technical” loophole
exists. Roofers cannot advertise
that they will pay
or rebate an insured’s
deductible, but waiving a
deductible is not an offense under section 27.02.
Victims
Identifying likely victims is an important
step when considering the negative impact of a particular business model on the marketplace.
It would be
short-sighted to believe that insurance companies are the
only true victims in deductible
fraud schemes. The insurers may have the most immediate impact. However, in a simplified context,
it
is easy to
understand that higher payout costs are eventually passed right back to the insured through increased premiums.
Additionally, there
are still roofing
contractors that struggle
to compete in a marketplace
full of deductible assistance programs. So, those contractors that refuse
to offer such
deductible programs,
based on the spirit
of the law, can find themselves
to be victims of the model
as well.
Recommendation
Although the
BBB has been unable
to find any recent regulatory action taken within the State of
Texas against perpetrators
of deductible assistance programs,
the BBB recommends that roofing contractors
and consumers alike exercise caution in participating in such programs.
These
programs walk along a very fuzzy line of insurance fraud, and neither
roofer nor consumer
would want to be held liable for such serious allegations.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
-
Avoid Price Gouging and Extra Out of Pocket Costs from Unethical Contractors, Unlicensed Roofers and Improper Roofing Companies by using ...
-
Ah, the age of the internet, AI and automate EVERYTHING and lets 10x, 50x, 100x your or scale as they call it – where everyone and their d...
-
Should the homeowner or the contractor pull your building permit for roofing? Your contractor should. Every time. Will every contracto...