What is a roof surfacing payment schedule?

In exchange for a lower premium, the roof surfacing payment schedule endorsement subtracts your roof’s depreciation from your claim settlement for wind or hail damage. Roof depreciation is based on its age and surface materials.

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What is a roof surfacing payment schedule?

Most insurance companies either refuse to insure homes with older roofs or price the policy so high that it's cost prohibitive.

The roof surfacing payment schedule provides these homeowners with coverage at a more affordable price. And it allows homeowners to replace their roof when necessary rather than when it reaches an inflexible age cut-off.

A roof surfacing payment schedule is an endorsement that modifies how your roof is insured. Without this endorsement, a roof is typically covered for its replacement cost – that is, how much it would cost to completely replace the roof with similar materials at today’s market rate.

Once the roof payment schedule is attached to your policy, it lowers your premium significantly and covers the roof surface for its actual cash value – a fancy insurance term that means the roof’s depreciation is factored into your payout for wind or hail damage to the roof. Roof depreciation is based on its age and surface materials.

In this case, a roof surface can mean its shingles, tiles, underlayment, felt, membranes, vents, drip edges, turbines, skylights, or other roofing components.

The nice thing about this endorsement is that homes with older roofs can actually get insured instead of being turned away or forced to go to state-run insurance programs for coverage. And if you have a new roof, the depreciation deduction is very little, but you still save money on your home insurance premium.

This endorsement only applies to roof surfaces for wind and hail damage. Other damage to the home is paid on a replacement-cost basis as usual.

Who needs the roof surfacing payment schedule?

The roof surface payment schedule is designed to make a home insurance policy more affordable for homes with older roofs. But anyone who wants to save more on their premium would be a good fit for this add-on.

This endorsement may apply for homes with:

  • Shingle roofs more than 10 years old.
  • Metal roofs more than 10 years old.
  • Tile roofs more than 10 years old.

What are the benefits of a roof surfacing payment schedule?

The biggest benefit of this type of coverage is that it lowers your premium in exchange for a lower amount of roof coverage – but only for wind and hail damage. In short, the older your roof, the bigger your discount.

It’s also useful if you don’t want to pay for a brand-new roof in order to get insured to meet your mortgage requirements.

How is depreciation calculated for a roof payment schedule?

Roof claims for wind or hail damage are paid out on a depreciated value based on the roof’s materials and age. The depreciated value is calculated by subtracting the roof’s depreciation from its replacement cost.

This is the depreciation schedule:

  • Metal reaches maximum depreciation of 30 percent at 30 years (1 percent a year).
  • Tile reaches maximum depreciation of 60 percent at 30 years (2 percent a year).
  • Shingle reaches maximum depreciation of 75 percent at 19 years (4 percent a year).
  • Between 0 years and the years listed above, it depreciates linearly annually.

So say your shingle roof is heavily damaged during a windstorm, and it would cost $15,000 to replace it. Now let’s say your roof is 12 years old.

According to the schedule, your roof has depreciated by 48 percent (4 percent times 12 years = 48 percent). That puts a potential payout for this claim at $7,800: $15,000 (replacement cost) minus $7,200 (depreciation) = $7,800.

Select Roof Material:
  • The chart that displays the depreciation schedule for a shingle roof by its age. Shingle roofs have a 100% replacement cost at 0 years of age, an 80% replacement cost at 5 years of age, 60% replacement cost at 10 years of age, 40% replacement cost at 15 years of age, 25% replacement cost at 20 years of age, and 25% replacement cost at 25 years of age.
  • The chart that displays the depreciation schedule for a metal/slate roof by its age. Metal/slate roofs have a 100% replacement cost at 0 years of age, 95% replacement cost at 5 years of age, 90% replacement cost at 10 years of age, 85% replacement cost at 15 years of age, 80% replacement cost at 20 years of age, and 75% replacement cost at 25 years of age.
  • The chart that displays the depreciation schedule for a concrete/clay roof by its age. Concrete/clay tile roofs have a 100% replacement cost at 0 years of age, 90% replacement cost at 5 years of age, 80% replacement cost at 10 years of age, 70% replacement cost at 15 years of age, 60% replacement cost at 20 years of age, and 50% replacement cost at 25 years of age.

We'd like to emphasize that this chart represents depreciation, not eligibility.

When does the roof surfacing payment schedule apply?

The roof surfacing payment schedule only applies to roof damage caused by wind and hail events. That includes:

  • Windstorms.
  • Hail storms.
  • Sleet.
  • Hurricanes.
  • Tornadoes.
  • Derechos.

So if the roof is damaged by another event, like fire, the roof surfacing payment schedule wouldn't apply.

Does the roof surfacing payment schedule affect the rest of my home?

No, even with this schedule, the rest of your home is still insured up to its coverage limits. So say a hurricane tears a hole in your roof and damages the sides of your home and windows. Damage to the roof would be paid out in full minus the roof’s depreciation. The rest of the damage would be paid at what it costs to rebuild without subtracting depreciation if you have replacement cost coverage.

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