Storm chasers and door knockers in Tulsa

Why they come

Hail is common here: Tulsa County had hail on about 8.6 days a year from 1996 to 2025, and a big storm can cover whole subdivisions. When the May 21, 2024 storm crossed Jenks, Broken Arrow and Owasso, NOAA logged dozens of hail reports in the county in a single day. Each one is a street full of potential roof claims, which is a strong reason for a roofing company, local or not, to show up.

The FTC warns that home repair scammers may knock on your door or call after a windstorm or other disaster and pressure you to act quickly.

What Oklahoma requires of every roofer

• Registration. The Act covers resident and nonresident roofing contractors, including subcontractors, so an out-of-state roofer needs a valid Oklahoma registration before offering roofing work here. Acting as a roofer without a valid registration is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $500 per violation.
• Insurance. Registration requires a certificate of liability insurance of at least $500,000 for residential roofing work and at least $1,000,000 for commercial roofing work, plus proof of workers' compensation coverage or an exemption.
• Marked vehicles. Registered roofers must show the firm name and their registration number, which begins with "OK", in letters at least 2 inches tall on both sides of every work vehicle.
• A written contract that says workers are covered by workers' compensation.
• No deductible deals. Under 59 O.S. 1151.30, a roofer working on an insurance-paid job may not advertise or promise to pay all or part of your insurance deductible, and if one does, your insurer does not have to consider that roofer's estimate. Every roofer must give you written notice of the deductible rule with its first estimate.
• A 72-hour way out on insurance jobs. If your roofing contract will be paid from an insurance claim, you may cancel it within 72 hours after you receive written notice from your insurer that all or part of the claim was denied (59 O.S. 1151.21). After you cancel under that rule, the contractor must return your payments within 10 days. A contractor who did emergency work you agreed to in writing may keep the reasonable value of that work.

Door-to-door sales and your right to cancel

The FTC's Cooling-Off Rule gives you until midnight of the third business day to cancel many sales made at your home for $25 or more. The FTC rule does not cover sales needed to meet an emergency, or repairs you asked the seller to come to your home to do. Under Oklahoma's home solicitation sale law, a buyer may cancel a home solicitation sale made on credit until midnight of the third business day after signing, by written notice (14A O.S. 2-502). That right does not apply when you ask the seller to do the work without delay because of an emergency and the seller has started in good faith. For most post-storm roofing contracts paid by insurance, the 72-hour rule in the roofing law is the one that matters.

What Tulsa homeowners keep running into

Read enough local threads after a hail storm and the same stories repeat, with only the street names changed.

• The kitchen-table marathon. A salesperson who wants an hour or more at your table, a full presentation, and a signature the same day, before you have talked to anyone else. A good roofer can leave a written estimate and wait.
• The test square full of circles. Chalk circles on every shingle in a 10 by 10 foot square, then an adjuster who finds no storm damage at all. Circles are an opinion, not evidence. Ask for close-up photos with a scale, and be there when the adjuster inspects.
• Damage that appears after the inspection. A ladder visit is still a person walking on your roof. Ask who is going up, and ask for photos of the vents and pipe boots before and after.
• "Sign over the policy." Paperwork that hands the claim to the roofer. In a 2010 bulletin, the Oklahoma Insurance Department said a roofer must be licensed as a public adjuster to negotiate your claim or act as a go-between with your insurer. A roofer may give you an estimate to submit and may be present when the adjuster inspects. Read anything that mentions your insurer before you sign it.
• "Insurance never pays for all of it." Sometimes true, as a sales line it is also how an older homeowner ends up with a quote twice the size of the estimate. Compare the quote with the adjuster's estimate line by line. How to read the estimate.
• "No out of pocket." If that means the roofer will absorb your deductible, it is the thing 59 O.S. 1151.30 bars.

How to handle the knock

1. You don't have to let anyone on the roof. A free inspection is fine if you want one; ask for the registration number first.
2. Look it up on the CIB roofing search. How to check.
3. Ask for a local address and references from jobs you can drive by.
4. Don't sign anything with blank spaces, and don't pay a large deposit. The Oklahoma Insurance Department advises getting more than one bid, checking references, not paying upfront, not making the final payment until the job is complete, and never signing a contract with blank spaces.
5. Call your insurer or agent yourself to start the claim. In a 2010 bulletin, the Oklahoma Insurance Department said a roofer must be licensed as a public adjuster to negotiate your claim or act as a go-between with your insurer. A roofer may give you an estimate to submit and may be present when the adjuster inspects.