Hawaii
Hawaii roof files get short paid on price, not just on scope
Most estimating desks treat this as a scope problem and stop there. On a Hawaii claim the second half of the loss is unit price: material that arrived by ocean freight, fasteners and metal that have to be corrosion resistant, and disposal with nowhere cheap to go. A correct line item at a mainland unit price still pays short.
By Kyle Hamrick, Founder
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 Hawaii file is code mechanism, carrier behavior, and claim pattern, confirmed for the address rather than assumed from a statewide rule.
That is enough to write the file correctly, because a supplement is not built out of local familiarity. It is built out of the gap between the assembly a carrier estimate describes and the assembly the roof actually requires, priced against a real price list, with the requirement documented well enough that a desk adjuster has to answer it. Xactimate is the same software on every desk. The reasoning is what varies.
Adjuster licensure is held in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Texas, and Alabama. Estimates and supplements are written for contractors nationwide. More about Kyle.
What actually damages roofs in Hawaii, and what it does to the estimate
Tropical systems and the wind that arrives without a landfall
Iniki is the reference event, because it demonstrated on Kauai what a direct strike does to a housing stock that was not built for it. The more common pattern since has been a system that never comes ashore and still produces claims: Iselle moving across the Big Island, Lane and Douglas tracking close enough to deliver sustained wind and extraordinary rainfall to islands they never made landfall on. Damage without a landfall is the hardest kind of claim to get scoped properly, because the event does not carry the label that triggers a carrier to expect severity.
Trade wind exposure runs underneath all of it. A roof on a windward slope or a ridge facing open ocean lives under load that a sheltered leeward roof never sees, which is why exposure category matters as much as design wind speed when the fastening argument gets made.
Salt air, and why corrosion is a claim argument rather than a maintenance note
Marine atmosphere attacks the parts of a roof nobody photographs. Fasteners, drip edge, valley metal, step flashing, vent collars, and panel closures corrode from the outside in, and by the time a storm arrives the assembly is holding on with hardware that will not survive removal intact. Two consequences follow on an estimate, and carriers routinely concede neither.
The first is specification. Corrosion resistant metal and fasteners are what the assembly requires in that environment, so writing them is not requesting an upgrade. The second is repairability. When the existing metal cannot be reused and the fasteners cannot be backed out without damage, a repair line is not executable and the correct line is replacement. That argument wins on photographs of hardware, which means the photographs have to exist before the tear off. The roof claim inspection checklist is the field sequence that makes sure they do.
Expect pushback framed as wear and tear. That framing is answerable, but only with documentation that separates pre-existing corrosion from storm caused failure, item by item, rather than a general statement about the environment.
The housing stock: single wall, tile, and metal on the same street
Plantation era single wall construction is still standing in quantity, and it does not behave like a modern sheathed frame. Board substrate and light framing will not accept a current fastening schedule as built, so a re-roof frequently carries deck and substrate work that the first estimate never contemplated. Verify with local building dept What that substrate has to become is a jurisdiction question, so confirm it with the building department for the address rather than writing a statewide assumption.
Covering type varies more in this market than in most. Concrete and clay tile, both standing seam and exposed fastener metal, asphalt shingle, and low slope membrane turn up within a few blocks of each other, and each carries its own underpaid line. Tile means detach and reset labor plus a breakage allowance. Metal means fasteners and closures across a whole slope even where the panels look serviceable. Rooftop solar, both photovoltaic and water heating, sits on a large share of Hawaii roofs and nobody roofs around it, so detach, store, and reset is a separate scope every time.
Volcanic hazard shapes the eastern Big Island differently again, since the lava zone designations affect what the standard market will write there at all. That is an availability question rather than a roofing assembly question, but it determines which carrier is on the file and therefore how the file will be handled.
Three arguments that move Hawaii files
The pricing argument, which is the one nobody else makes
This is the strongest and most neglected argument on a Hawaii claim. Every pallet of shingle, every coil of metal, every box of fasteners arrives by ocean freight, and disposal of tear off waste runs into constrained landfill capacity and long haul distances. A unit price built on mainland assumptions is simply the wrong number, and an estimate can be scoped perfectly and still pay short because of it. Correcting it is documentary work: current supplier quotes, current disposal rates, and a written explanation of why the price list line does not reflect the actual cost to perform the work at that address.
Wind uplift changes the assembly, not just the shingle
Elevated design wind speeds combined with an exposure category that reflects open ocean drive the fastening pattern, the fastener type, the underlayment attachment method, the edge metal specification, and the manufacturer approval on each component. A default price list line assumes a standard nailing schedule on a sheathed deck in a sheltered setting. When the actual requirement is heavier, both the material and the labor both change, and the line item has to reflect it. Verify with local building dept Adopted code editions and county amendments differ, so confirm the requirement with the local building department for the address instead of citing a section number that is not necessarily the one in force there.
Corrosion resistance is a requirement, and the naming has to be right
There is no High Velocity Hurricane Zone in Hawaii. That is a Florida designation covering Miami-Dade and Broward, and borrowing the term costs the argument in one sentence. What this market has is elevated wind design combined with a marine environment, which together make corrosion resistant fasteners and flashings part of the required assembly rather than an optional upgrade. Same practical recovery as a code upgrade argument, correct language, and much harder for a desk adjuster to dismiss.
The carriers writing Hawaii, and the coverage split that decides the file
The Hawaii book is more concentrated in state based writers than most states. First Insurance Company of Hawaii, Island Insurance, DTRIC, and Tokio Marine Pacific write substantial residential volume alongside State Farm, Allstate, Farmers, and Universal. USAA concentrates where the military is, which means Pearl Harbor and Hickam, Schofield Barracks and the Wahiawa area, the Marine Corps base at Kaneohe Bay, and Barbers Point. Every one of those desks has a settled pattern of what it concedes on the first pass and what it makes you document twice, and the pattern holds well enough that a supplement can be shaped to the carrier before anybody hits send.
Two structural details change how a file has to be built. The first is the Hawaii Property Insurance Association, the residual market association that writes property the standard market declines, which historically has mattered most in the Big Island lava zones. Pool business moves on a schedule of its own with a reviewer bench of its own, and what it puts out to start is usually thinner than anything a voluntary carrier would have written on the same roof. The second is hurricane coverage, which commonly sits under its own coverage part with its own deductible expressed as a percentage of the dwelling limit rather than a flat amount. The state also stood up the Hawaii Hurricane Relief Fund after Iniki to carry that peril while the private market withdrew, and wound it down once private capacity returned, which is why hurricane coverage in this state has been treated as a separable product for a long time.
The practical consequence is that peril determination decides everything. One storm, one roof, and two very different outcomes depending on which coverage the loss lands under. Working those files means the wind portion and the water portion get documented apart from each other, so neither coverage part can absorb what belongs to the other. When a storm does generate volume, the work goes to catastrophe staff carrying a quota of files per day, and throughput is the metric they answer to. That is not hostility. It is what a daily file count does to the quality of a scope. The reinspection supplement is built for the claims that stall until a second set of eyes goes back up there holding the photographs and the code citation. Where the dispute is not about scope at all but about money the carrier held back, depreciation recovery picks the file up from there.
What gets recovered on a Hawaii 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.
Material pricing corrected for freight
In scope
Shingle, metal, fastener, and underlayment pricing on an island supply chain is not mainland pricing. A stale or substituted price list produces a scope that reads correct and pays short. Documented with supplier quotes attached.
Enhanced fastening pattern and corrosion resistant fasteners
Code driven
Elevated design wind speeds and open ocean exposure drive a heavier schedule than the default line assumes, and a marine environment rules out standard fasteners. Both the material and the labor change.
Marine grade edge metal, valley, and step flashing
Code driven
Standard galvanized will not survive in salt air, so specifying corrosion resistant stock is meeting the requirement rather than gilding it. The same corrosion is why the metal already up there almost never comes off in reusable condition.
Disposal and haul off at local rates
Usually omitted
Tear off waste has nowhere cheap to go. Constrained landfill capacity and long haul distances make disposal a real line rather than a rounding error inside the tear off price.
Deck and substrate work on single wall construction
Verify with local building dept
Older single wall and board sheathed structures will not accept a modern fastening schedule as built. What the substrate has to become is a jurisdiction question, so confirm it for the address.
Tile roof detach, reset, and breakage allowance
Usually omitted
Concrete and clay tile roofs are common. Removing and resetting tile to access underlayment produces predictable breakage, and a first estimate rarely carries either the labor or the replacement tile.
Metal roof panel, fastener, and closure replacement
In scope
Standing seam and exposed fastener metal are widespread. A wind event loosens fasteners and deforms closures across a whole slope even where the panel itself looks serviceable.
Underlayment upgrade and sealed deck
Code driven
Once a storm has peeled the covering off the roof, whatever seal is on the deck is the last thing keeping the weather out of the house. That seal is a separate product installed as a separate operation, and it does not price out anywhere near a roll of field felt.
Detach and reset on solar and water heating equipment
Usually omitted
Photovoltaic arrays and solar water heaters are extremely common on roofs in this market. Nobody roofs around them, and the detach, store, and reset labor is a separate scope from the roof itself.
Interior water damage after tarp removal
Usually omitted
A tarp hides what the rain already did. Once it comes off, saturated insulation, stained ceilings, and swollen drywall turn up on a roof that scoped clean the first time through.
Matching and discontinued material documentation
In scope
An unmatchable repair has to be proven on paper instead of argued from the driveway. Distributor confirmation that the profile, color, or gauge is out of production is what converts a patch into a full slope.
Overhead and profit where the loss spans several trades
In scope
Roof, solar array, gutter, exterior, and interior on a single loss has to be sequenced by somebody, and sequencing trades against each other is a general contractor function. What qualifies the file is how many trades are involved, not how large the number at the bottom is.
Every one of those lands in the file as a priced line carrying its own written justification, built in Xactimate rather than described in a letter. What it ships as depends on the claim: a roofing supplement, an Xactimate supplement package, a supplemental estimate, or a full claim estimate written from scratch.
The format changes. The requirement that every line be defensible on its own does not.
What happens to your file after you send it
- 01
The carrier estimate gets read line by line against the roof
Not skimmed. We pull the estimate apart against your measurements and photos, marking every line where the assembly written does not match what that roof needs at that address.
- 02
Code, manufacturer, and pricing requirements get sourced before they get argued
Assembly arguments about fasteners, underlayment attachment, or metal specification only work when cited correctly, and a unit price argument stands or falls on the supplier paperwork stapled behind it. Where a requirement varies by jurisdiction we confirm it for the address rather than assert a statewide rule an adjuster can knock down.
- 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. Retail estimate work with no supplement attached delivers the ESX. 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 when the carrier sends someone back out. Response runs about three weeks as a general expectation, and the file does not close on our side because it went quiet on theirs.
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.
Hawaii questions we get from contractors
Why do Hawaii roof estimates come back priced too low even when the scope looks right?
Because the unit price behind a correct line item can still be wrong. Roofing material, fasteners, metal, and disposal all cost more when every pallet arrives by ocean freight and every ton of tear off has to be handled inside a constrained island waste system. A carrier estimate written on a stale price list, or written by an adjuster substituting mainland pricing habits, produces a scope that reads acceptable and pays short. That is a pricing supplement rather than a scope supplement, and it has to be documented with real material quotes attached.
What does the wind uplift requirement do to a Hawaii roof estimate?
It changes the assembly, not just the covering. Elevated design wind speeds and the exposure of a site facing open ocean drive the fastening pattern, the fastener type, the underlayment attachment, the edge metal specification, and the manufacturer approval on every component. A default price list line assumes a standard nailing schedule on a sheathed deck in a low exposure setting. When the actual requirement is heavier, the labor and the material both change, and the line has to say so or the money is not there.
Is salt air corrosion a code issue or a scope issue on a roof claim?
Both, and they reinforce each other. Standard galvanized fasteners, drip edge, valley metal, and flashing fail early in a marine environment, which is why the correct specification is corrosion resistant metal rather than the default. On the scope side, corrosion is also the reason a repair frequently cannot be executed: the existing metal cannot be reused, and the fasteners holding it will not come out intact. That converts a repair line into a replacement line, and it needs to be written that way with photographs.
What is the Hawaii Property Insurance Association?
It is the residual market association for this state, the backstop that takes property the voluntary market has turned down. On a supplement it matters because pool business gets handled on its own schedule by its own reviewers, and the opening scope tends to be thinner than anything a standard carrier would have put out. That does not mean the claim is worth less. It means the documentation has to be finished before the file is submitted rather than assembled after the denial.
How does hurricane coverage sit separately from the rest of the policy?
It is common in this market for the hurricane peril to sit under its own coverage with its own deductible, frequently a percentage of the dwelling limit rather than a flat dollar amount. The practical consequence on a claim is a peril determination that decides everything. One storm, one roof, and two very different outcomes depending on which coverage the loss lands under. Working those files means the wind portion and the water portion get documented apart from each other, so the loss cannot be slid under whichever coverage part pays less.
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.
Hawaii markets
Oahu, south shore
- Honolulu and the urban core
- Pearl City
- Waipahu and central Oahu
Oahu, windward
- Kailua
- Kaneohe and the bay
Files also come in from Ewa Beach, Mililani, Wahiawa, Waianae, Haleiwa, Wailuku, Kihei, Lahaina, Waimea, Lihue, and Kapaa.
Send us a single roof file and watch what surfaces
Give us the carrier document and your measurements. What comes back the next day is scoped to the assembly the roof actually has to carry, and priced against what the material and the haul off truly cost to land at that address.