According to the Insurance Information Institute, annual homeowners’ losses in 2018 were around $55 billion dollars, while from 2013-2017, annual wind and hail damage accounted for just over 30% of all residential homeowner’s losses leading to homeowners losses from catastrophic damage of approximately $19 billion. According to the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS), roof-related damage is responsible on average for an estimated 70-90 percent of total insured residential catastrophic losses. When using historical averages, a reasonable estimate for average annual roof losses is between $12.3 billion and $15.8 billion.
Despite huge investments in insurance technology over the last five years, multiple components of both the underwriting and claims processes in property insurance remain stuck in manual gear with uncertainties about how and when they will ever be automated. One of the most glaring such problems is processing roofing claims where local jurisdiction and codes are administered by municipalities that either cannot afford to make their data accessible to the public or do not know how to do so effectively. The net result of this underinvestment is additional adjustment costs borne by the insurers as their adjusters and external contractors go back and forth endlessly to determine the right jurisdiction, roofing codes, and payment amounts.
Finally, there is an easier way now available for both insurers and their partners to streamline the process, ensure that it accounts for local laws and ordinances, and achieve both lower loss costs and lower adjustment costs.