How to Become a Storm Restoration Contractor – Matt Grassmyer – Steve Patrick

The storm-restoration space is a 250-billion-dollar-a-year business, and it's far from saturated: 6-9 million homes were hit by 1-inch-plus hail in 2019, yet only 50-60% of roofs get replaced after a storm.

The best entry point for a GC isn't chasing the big storm; it's mining your own past-customer list against weather data (via a tool like Hail Trace) to find which prior jobs were impacted.

Done right with the correct software and processes, storm restoration can be worked 10-12 months a year instead of being purely storm-season based.

Restoration isn't a 'money grab' or a 'free roof': you sell it exactly like retail, a roof needs repair, replacement, or nothing based on objective standards, not opinion.

Hail compromises the structural integrity of shingles so they no longer perform as designed, and damage can worsen over seasons of heat and rain even if a storm doesn't total a roof immediately.

Insurance is a transfer of risk: the homeowner pays premiums and the insurer accepts the risk under the policy contract, obligating payment for legitimate covered storm damage.

Run retail and storm as separate divisions: retail keeps cash flow steady while storm work requires an entirely different skill set for dealing with adjusters.

Being established in your own town when a storm hits is the best of all worlds (Steve's example: a repeat 2.5M apartment-complex job from an existing, trusting client) if you're trained and staffed to move fast.

Compete on value, not price: Hail Trace's staff of six meteorologists produces more accurate maps, and the most valuable contractors, like the best mappers, aren't the cheapest.