Detroit, MI
Detroit's roofs sit on a fragmented map, and the deck under most of them predates the fastening schedule
One storm across the Detroit metro crosses a different building department every few miles, Detroit's own enforcement runs its own permitting and rental-certification track inside the city limits, and the housing stock underneath most of those roofs was framed with plank decking and a detached garage on the alley long before a modern nailing schedule or drip edge requirement existed on paper. A first estimate priced from a generic template misses the map problem, the deck problem, and the second structure on the lot.
By Kyle Hamrick, Founder
A house three blocks from the city line and a house three blocks past it do not get the same estimate just because both took the same storm. One of them answers to a department the other one never touches, and each file gets checked against the parcel it actually sits on rather than a boilerplate scope written for whichever suburb is easiest to assume.
The Estimate Company is run by a licensed independent insurance adjuster, with claims experience across many states, writing for contractors nationwide. What we bring to a Detroit file is code mechanism, carrier behavior, and claim pattern, confirmed for the address rather than assumed from a statewide rule. More about Kyle.
What a Detroit file carries that the rest of the state does not, and where it lands on the estimate
A single storm, a different plan reviewer every few miles
Wayne County's own building department covers only the unincorporated pockets between cities, which across most of the metro is very little land. Detroit runs its own department. Dearborn runs its own. Livonia runs its own. Cross into Macomb County and Warren runs its own. Cross into Oakland County and Southfield runs its own. Each of those departments issues its own permits, staffs its own plan review, and in several cases has adopted its own local amendment layered on top of the state construction code. A roofing crew working storm claims across this metro in a single week can be handing the same roof type to five separate plan reviewers, each with a different counter, a different inspection schedule, and in some cases a different answer.
That fragmentation is invisible on a template estimate, and it is the first thing confirmed before any code citation goes into a Detroit file: naming the correct department for the parcel, rather than assuming the city's own rules apply just because the address says Detroit.
Detroit's own enforcement, and the rental track that runs alongside it
Inside the city limits, the Buildings, Safety Engineering, and Environmental Department, known as BSEED, runs permitting, inspection, and property maintenance enforcement. Where a storm-damaged roof sits on a tenant-occupied property, BSEED's rental certification process layers a separate condition inspection on top of the ordinary building permit, and that inspection runs on its own schedule rather than the carrier's. A claim that treats the roof as the only open question can miss a certification item that a BSEED inspector flags on the same visit, and the two findings do not automatically reconcile themselves.
Confirming which track a property sits on, ordinary owner-occupied permitting or the added rental certification layer, is a BSEED-specific question that belongs in the file before the scope is finished.
Plank decking, brick chimneys, and the second roof on the lot
Detroit's older neighborhoods, framed in the era around the auto plants, sit on board or plank decking laid edge to edge with gaps between courses, not the continuous sheet sheathing that has been standard construction for decades. A fastening schedule written for continuous sheathing does not have a continuous surface to land on across a plank deck, and that condition is only visible the hour the old covering comes off. Steep, cut-up rooflines with dormers, original brick chimneys still carrying their first counterflashing, and eaves and rakes built before drip edge was standard practice round out a housing stock where most of what a current re-roof requires was never on the building to begin with.
The same prewar lot pattern almost always carries a second roof and often a third: a detached garage off the alley, and on many blocks a covered porch built as its own distinct plane. Both take the same storm the main roof takes and both are routinely absent from a carrier estimate scoped only to the primary structure. The roof claim inspection checklist walks a contractor through documenting every roof plane on the lot, not just the one over the living space, before any of it comes down.
One state code, a genuinely fragmented set of enforcing bodies
The statewide document does not erase the local desk
Michigan's construction code is administered as a single statewide document with local governments handling enforcement and inspection, and any local amendment has to go up for state approval rather than being written freehand at the counter. That fact matters less on a Detroit metro file than it does almost anywhere else in the state, because the enforcement side of that arrangement is unusually fragmented here: dozens of separately incorporated cities across Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb Counties each run their own department, and several have their own approved amendment on file. Verify with local building dept Confirm which incorporated city, or Wayne County itself on the unincorporated pockets, actually has jurisdiction over the parcel before a code argument is built around it.
Fastening gets confirmed against the actual deck, not a default
What a current fastening schedule requires against plank decking, and what a current flashing detail requires at an original brick chimney counterflashing, are both questions the permitting department can confirm once the deck is exposed. Writing that argument as a generic sheathing citation loses it on review; writing it as a confirmed correction for the plank deck actually on that roof holds.
Layer count and reused metal are requirement questions, not preference questions
Reroofing over an existing covering that is already doubled up, and reinstalling flashing or edge metal that has already corroded past serviceable condition, are both barred once those conditions are established rather than left to judgment. Establishing the layer count and the metal condition on a Detroit tear off is what converts a repair-priced estimate into the full scope the deck actually needs.
The carriers writing Detroit, and where their estimates default wrong
State Farm, Allstate, Auto-Owners, Progressive, Farm Bureau Insurance of Michigan, Citizens Insurance, and MEEMIC all carry meaningful share of the residential book across the Detroit metro, alongside the smaller in-state mutuals common on older urban risk here. Sitting behind the voluntary market is the Michigan Basic Property Insurance Association, the state's fallback insurer of last resort for owners that voluntary carriers turn away, which shows up disproportionately on the city's older housing stock. Files through that residual mechanism travel on their own paperwork and their own pace, and a scope written for one has to hold up without a second round of corrections.
A price list default reflects a newer-stock assumption more than this metro: a continuous sheathing deck, a single roof plane per lot, drip edge already present, and one building department to satisfy. None of that matches a prewar Detroit property with plank decking, a detached garage, a porch roof, and a jurisdiction that has to be confirmed rather than guessed. Where a settlement was already reduced on an age or condition basis, depreciation recovery is a distinct claim, argued on its own paperwork.
After a widespread wind or hail day, carriers surge catastrophe crews across the whole metro measuring desk staff by how many roofs get closed out per day, and a crew working five different jurisdictions in a week has little incentive to stop and confirm which department governs a given address. The reinspection supplement is for the file that stalled after that kind of pass, with a finished evidence package ready before a carrier representative ever climbs back up there.
What gets recovered on a Detroit roof file
Ordered by how often the item is missing when a file reaches our desk.
Status key: In scope. Usually omitted. Code driven. Verify with the authority having jurisdiction. Every status is spelled out in words beside the item, so nothing depends on color.
Fastening schedule confirmed against plank decking, not sheet sheathing
Verify with local building dept
A nail pattern written for continuous sheet sheathing has nowhere to land on a board deck laid with gaps between courses, and the correction only exists once the old covering is off. What the current schedule requires against that specific deck belongs with the department issuing the permit rather than a rule of thumb carried over from newer stock.
Detached garage roof, priced as its own structure
Usually omitted
The alley-facing garage on a prewar Detroit lot is a separate building with its own roof plane, and the same storm that hit the house hit the garage. A carrier estimate scoped to the primary structure alone routinely never opens a line for it, even where the damage is visible in the same set of photos.
Porch roof as a distinct plane, not an extension of the main roof
Usually omitted
The covered front porch on this housing stock carries its own low-slope or shed-style covering, tied into the main wall at its own flashing line, and it ages and fails on its own schedule. Treating it as part of the primary roof's takeoff undercounts both the area and the flashing linear footage.
Full tear off where two or more coverings are already in place
Code driven
Layering a new covering over an existing one that is already doubled up is barred once that condition is confirmed, and on housing old enough to have been reroofed more than once, that condition is common rather than rare. Establishing the layer count converts the argument from preference to requirement.
Rusted or deteriorated flashing, edge metal, and counterflashing not reinstalled
Code driven
Reusing metal that has already corroded past serviceable condition is not permitted once a roof is opened up for replacement, and on a house old enough to carry its original chimney counterflashing, most of the metal on the building qualifies. The first estimate is written as though every piece of it comes down and goes right back up unchanged.
Rental certification condition items surfaced by BSEED inspection
Verify with local building dept
A tenant-occupied property carrying storm damage can trigger a City of Detroit rental certification inspection running on its own clock alongside the insurance claim, and a condition item flagged on that inspection is a separate determination from the carrier's own scope. Confirming which track the property is on avoids a scope that answers only one of the two reviews.
Drip edge at eaves and rakes on pre-drip-edge-era housing
Code driven
A large share of this housing stock was originally roofed before drip edge at both eaves and rakes was standard practice, so a tear off exposes bare deck edges on both sides. Nobody prices metal that was never there, which is exactly the reasoning that leaves it off the estimate.
Starter course at eaves and rakes
Usually omitted
Starter is separate material with its own fastening pattern, and on a quick first pass it reads as part of the ordinary field shingle count even though the manufacturer's wind rating depends on it being there as its own line.
Attic ventilation corrected to what the current requirement asks for that address
Verify with local building dept
Older attics across this stock were often built with minimal or no dedicated intake, and confirming what a current requirement asks for at a specific address, rather than assuming a statewide default, is what turns an observed deficiency into a priced correction.
Overhead and profit on multi-structure, multi-jurisdiction files
In scope
A single storm that damages a house, a detached garage, and a porch roof puts real coordination work on whoever runs the job, especially where the parcel next door sits under a different suburb's building department. Scheduling three separate roof planes under one crew, on a lot that may straddle two enforcing jurisdictions, is what overhead and profit compensates for here.
Each becomes a written line with a reason attached, inside a real Xactimate file. Depending on the claim it ships as a roofing supplement, an Xactimate supplement package, a supplemental estimate, or a full claim estimate written from scratch.
What happens to your file after you send it
- 01
Every structure on the lot gets checked against the carrier estimate
We check the Detroit estimate roof plane by roof plane against your measurements and photos, confirming whether the main roof, the detached garage, and the porch roof were each priced, or whether only one of the three ever made it onto the page.
- 02
The governing building department gets confirmed before anything gets cited
Wayne County only covers unincorporated land between cities. Detroit runs its own department, and neighboring incorporated cities across Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb Counties each run their own. We identify which one actually holds jurisdiction over the parcel first, then price the plank decking, flashing, and drip edge reality against that specific address.
- 03
The supplement is written in Xactimate and delivered as a PDF
Real file, real price list, real sketch. You get the PDF as the deliverable, and the ESX free any time you ask for it. Written same day or next day, submitted next day. One to three extra days on large commercial and multi structure work.
- 04
We stay on the file until the carrier answers
Follow-up, desk adjuster calls, and reinspection support once a carrier representative gets back up on the roof. Silence on their end is not the same as the file being closed.
Two promises, stated separately
Promise one: the fee
The standard fee is 15 percent of supplemental recovery. If a file produces no additional approved recovery, you pay nothing on that claim. That is the whole fee structure, and it applies claim by claim.
Promise two: the guarantee
Send us an average of 2 claims per week for 12 months. If that volume does not produce a minimum of six figures in additional margin for your company, we write you a $5,000 check at the end of the 12 months. The volume, the 12 month term, the six figure threshold, and the $5,000 figure are one set of terms and they always travel together.
Two different promises, no overlap. The fee describes what a single claim costs you. The guarantee describes what a year of steady volume is worth. Nothing in the fee structure is a guarantee, and the guarantee does not change the fee.
Detroit questions we get from contractors
Why does the building department change every few miles across the Detroit metro?
Michigan runs its construction code as a single state document, but the metro around Detroit is one of the most fragmented enforcement pictures in the state. Wayne County covers only the unincorporated pockets between cities, while Detroit, Dearborn, and Livonia each run their own building department, plan review desk, and permit counter, and Warren in Macomb County and Southfield in Oakland County repeat the pattern one county over. Several of those departments have their own approved amendment sitting on top of the base document. Naming the correct department for the address is a real determination, not a formality.
What does Detroit's own enforcement apparatus mean for a re-roof permit?
The City of Detroit's Buildings, Safety Engineering, and Environmental Department, commonly called BSEED, runs permitting, inspection, and property maintenance enforcement inside the city limits, and it operates a separate rental certification track for tenant-occupied property that layers a condition inspection on top of the ordinary building permit process. A rental property carrying storm damage can trip that certification review while the insurance claim is still moving, and the two processes do not run on the same clock. Confirming which track the property is on is a BSEED question specific to the file.
Why does plank decking change the fastening scope on an older Detroit re-roof?
The pre-1940 housing stock across Detroit's older neighborhoods was framed with board or plank decking, boards laid edge to edge with gaps between them, rather than continuous sheet sheathing. A nailing schedule written for sheet sheathing assumes a continuous fastening surface that plank decking does not provide, and the discovery happens the hour the old covering comes off. What the current schedule requires against it is confirmed with the department issuing the permit, not assumed from a statewide default.
Do detached garages and porch roofs get scoped separately on a Detroit claim?
The prewar lot pattern across most of Detroit's older neighborhoods includes a detached garage off the alley and, on many blocks, a covered porch roof as its own distinct plane rather than an extension of the main roof. Both carry their own covering, their own flashing detail where they tie into a wall or fence line, and their own damage exposure in the same storm that hit the main roof, and a carrier estimate scoped only to the primary structure routinely leaves both off the page entirely.
How much does a supplement typically recover on a Detroit file?
On claims where the roof is already approved for full replacement, our own closed files show a median recovery of about $4,000, with half landing between roughly $1,800 and $9,500. Claims that start denied or repair-only run far higher.
How fast is turnaround, and what does it cost?
Estimates are written same day or next day and submitted next day. Larger commercial and multi structure files take one to three extra days, said up front. Carrier response runs about three weeks as a general expectation. The standard fee is 15 percent of supplemental recovery, and a file with no additional approved recovery owes nothing on that claim.
Detroit and the wider Michigan market
Detroit sits at the center of the wider Michigan market, alongside Ann Arbor, a Detroit-adjacent market that runs on its own building department and its own housing stock and is scoped on its own page rather than folded into this one. Flint, Kalamazoo, Lansing, and Grand Rapids are each their own market with their own page. Files also come in from Dearborn, Livonia, Warren, Southfield, Sterling Heights, Troy, Farmington Hills, and Rochester Hills, each one answering to its own department's code adoption, never Detroit's.
Send one Detroit file and see what the deck and the map were hiding
Send the carrier's number, your own measurements, photos of every roof plane on the lot, and the declarations page. We confirm which department governs the parcel and hand back a corrected scope inside of one business day.