Case Study
Most people think roofing is about getting on a roof and replacing shingles. In the insurance restoration segment, it is actually a follow-up business. The typical timeline for an insurance roof replacement looks like this: storm hits, homeowner notices damage, roofer does a free inspection, homeowner files a claim, insurance sends an adjuster in 1 to 3 weeks, adjuster approves or negotiates the scope, homeowner signs a contract, materials get ordered, and the roof gets replaced. Start to finish, that process takes 30 to 90 days.
During those 30 to 90 days, the homeowner is in limbo. They are waiting on the insurance company, fielding calls from other roofers canvassing the neighborhood, and second-guessing their choice. The roofer who stays in touch during this period wins the job. The one who disappears after the initial inspection loses to whoever shows up next.
Peak Roofing and Restoration in Dallas understood this. The owner had been doing insurance restoration work for six years. He knew that the inspection-to-close ratio was directly proportional to follow-up consistency. But knowing it and executing it are two different things, especially when you have 30 to 50 pending insurance claims at any given time during storm season.
The follow-up system, if you could call it that, was a Google spreadsheet with columns for homeowner name, address, date of inspection, insurance company, claim number, adjuster visit date, and status. The owner would update it after each inspection and try to review it every few days to see who needed a follow-up call.
In practice, the spreadsheet fell behind within the first week of storm season. After a major hailstorm in the DFW area, the team would do 15 to 20 inspections in a week. Each one needed to be entered into the spreadsheet with all the relevant details. Then each one needed follow-up at specific intervals: 7 days after the inspection to check on the claim filing, 14 days to ask about the adjuster visit, 21 days to check on the adjuster's decision, and 30 days to close the loop.
With 40 active claims and each one needing four follow-up touchpoints, that was 160 follow-up actions per month. The owner managed to hit about 20% of them. The rest slipped through. He would realize three weeks later that he never followed up with a homeowner whose adjuster approved the claim two weeks ago. By then, the homeowner had signed with another roofer who happened to knock on their door the previous weekend.
The close rate on insurance jobs was 30%. Industry average for well-run restoration companies with good follow-up is 50 to 60%. The gap between 30% and the industry average was not a sales problem. It was a follow-up problem. Every claim that went unfollowed was money left on the table. At an average insurance job value of $8,500, the lost revenue from poor follow-up was staggering.
The system was configured with a specific insurance claim follow-up workflow. After every inspection, the homeowner was entered into a sequence with four automated touchpoints at 7, 14, 21, and 30 days. Each message was tailored to the stage of the insurance process.
At 7 days: "Just checking in. Have you had a chance to file your claim with [Insurance Company]? If you need any help with the process or documentation, we are here." At 14 days: "How is the claim progressing? Has the adjuster scheduled a visit yet? We can be present during the adjuster's inspection if that would be helpful." At 21 days: "Any update from the adjuster? Once the scope is approved, we can get materials ordered and have your roof scheduled within the week." At 30 days: "Wanted to follow up one more time. If the claim has been approved, we would love to get your roof on the schedule before the next storm season."
Every single pending claim got every single touchpoint. One hundred percent follow-up rate. Not 20%. Not "most of them." Every single one. The system did not forget, did not get busy, and did not deprioritize follow-up because there was an inspection to do.
The close rate on insurance jobs went from 30% to 58% in the first 60 days. That was 4 additional closed jobs in a period where they had 15 active claims. At $8,500 average per job, that was $34,000 in revenue that would have been lost under the old system. Not new leads. Not new marketing spend. Just following up with people who had already expressed interest and were waiting for someone to stay in touch.
"I had a spreadsheet with 40 pending insurance claims and I was following up on maybe 8 of them. The other 32 just sat there until the homeowner either called me or signed with someone else. Avo follows up on 100% of them, on schedule, every time. My close rate almost doubled. That is $34,000 in recovered revenue in two months."
The daily workflow starts with new lead capture. During storm season in Dallas, leads come in through door-knocking follow-ups, Google searches, neighbor referrals, and social media. Avo handles the initial response and qualification: What type of damage are you seeing? When did the storm occur? Have you already filed a claim? Do you have a preferred insurance company contact?
After the inspection, the owner marks the lead as "inspection complete" and enters the insurance details. The follow-up sequence activates automatically. From that point forward, the homeowner receives consistent, professional touchpoints at each milestone in the insurance process. If the homeowner responds at any point with a question or an update, the system flags it for the owner to handle personally.
The system also tracks claim status based on homeowner responses. When a homeowner replies that the adjuster has approved the claim, the system immediately alerts the owner and shifts the conversation to scheduling. This eliminates the lag between approval and contract signing, which is where many jobs are lost to competing roofers.
Beyond insurance follow-up, the system handles the standard post-job workflow: review requests, referral asks, and periodic check-ins on the roof's condition. Insurance roofing customers who had a good experience are some of the most valuable referral sources in the industry because they tell their neighbors, and in a hail-damaged neighborhood, every neighbor is a potential customer. The automated referral request has generated 3 to 4 warm referrals per month, which convert at a significantly higher rate than cold leads.
The owner has since expanded the follow-up framework beyond insurance claims. Quote follow-ups, referral nurturing, and annual roof inspection reminders all run on similar automated sequences. The principle is the same across all of them: consistent, well-timed communication with every customer, every time, without relying on anyone to remember.
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