A free roof inspection is only worth something if we’re willing to tell you nothing’s wrong.
What a real inspection covers, what you get in writing, and how to tell the difference between an inspection and a sales call.
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Yes, it’s actually free. Here’s why that’s a fair question.
“Free roof inspection” is the opening line of every storm chaser who ever knocked on a door in Texas. The suspicion is earned.
To answer the question people actually type into a search bar: yes, ours is free. No charge, no obligation, and no fee if you decide not to hire us — including the fairly common case where the inspection concludes that your roof is in good condition and the right action is to look again in three years.
The reason that answer needs defending is that free inspections have a deserved reputation. After every significant hail event, out-of-state crews arrive, knock doors, and offer a free inspection. For that business model the inspection is not a diagnostic step; it is the sales call. A crew that drove 900 miles and is paid on signed contracts is structurally incapable of climbing down a ladder and saying nothing is wrong. The conclusion was decided before the ladder went up.
Our economics are different, and that is the only argument here worth anything. We are a local business with a permanent address in this metro, and we need to still be here in ten years. In that model, telling a homeowner they need a $22,000 replacement they do not need is not a win — it is a referral network destroyed, a review that stays online permanently, and an insurance carrier relationship we depend on. The honest recommendation is the cheaper option for us, which is why you can reasonably believe it.
One honest caveat, because "all inspections should be free" is not quite true either. Paid inspections exist and are legitimate. A pre-purchase inspection written for a buyer, or a formal roof certification for a lender or title company, is a document with liability attached to a signature, and it reasonably carries a fee. That is a different product than a condition assessment. If your situation is one of those, we will say so before we start rather than after.
What the inspection actually covers
Roof. Attic. Ground. 10 zones and 53 checkpoints, performed on every assessment. Skipping any of them produces a faster inspection and a less useful one.
Establishes what is actually up there before any conclusion is drawn.
- Every slope photographed and labeled by orientation
- Test square marked on each slope
- Roof pitch measured
- Existing layer count verified
Separates normal aging from storm damage across the open field of the roof.
- Granule loss and exposed mat
- Curling
- Cupping
- Factory sealant strip bond
- Nail pops
- Blistering
- Impact bruising
Where the large majority of leaks actually originate.
- Chimney and counterflashing
- Pipe boots
- Turbines
- Static vents
- Wall-to-roof transitions
- Skylights and curbs
- Valley type and condition
Decides whether water leaves the roof or tracks back into the wall assembly.
- Drip edge presence and lap direction
- Apron flashing at the eave
- Rake edge
- Fascia condition behind the gutter
- Shingle overhang
The exhaust half of the attic air path, and the most commonly mixed-up detail.
- Ridge cap condition
- Ridge vent type and continuity
- Hip cap condition
- Mixed-exhaust check
Half the useful information about a roof is on the inside.
- Decking condition from below
- Daylight at penetrations
- Daylight at the ridge
- Moisture staining and its pattern
- Insulation depth and coverage
- Soffit intake blocked by insulation or paint
- Bath and kitchen exhaust terminated outside the attic
Run on every assessment, including when the vents look correct from the ground.
- Attic area measured
- Net free intake area computed
- Net free exhaust area computed
- Intake-to-exhaust balance documented against the code ratio
Where the water goes after it leaves the roof, which is a structural question here.
- Gutter sizing against roof area
- Gutter pitch and fastening
- Downspout count relative to roof area
- Discharge location relative to the foundation
- Granule accumulation in gutters
Soft metals at ground level record a hail event independently of the roof.
- Gutters and downspouts
- Fencing
- A/C condenser fins
- Window screens
- Window wraps and trim
- Garage door and other soft metals
- Decks, patios and outbuildings
What the deck and framing say about the history of the roof.
- Deck deflection
- Framing observations
- Evidence of prior repairs
We measure the attic area and compute net free intake and net free exhaust on every assessment, including when the vents look correct. A roof can carry the right number of vents and still be badly out of balance, because intake and exhaust are areas rather than counts and blocked soffits do not look blocked from the driveway. A number tells you whether the air path works. A glance at the ridge does not. See attic and ventilation for what imbalance does to shingle life.
Gutters, fencing, A/C condenser fins, window screens, wraps and trim, garage doors and other soft metals all dent at lower energy than a shingle does. Because they sit at ground level and can be photographed from a standing position, they record a hail event independently of anything happening on the roof. Two separate lines of evidence pointing at the same storm are worth more than one.
What you get in writing
A verbal opinion at the bottom of a ladder is not a deliverable.
Every inspection produces a written report, sent to you afterward, whether or not there is work to do. It contains:
- Dated photographs of every slope and of every specific finding, labeled by location so the images mean something to someone who was not standing there.
- A plain-language condition summary. Not a materials list and not a proposal — a description of what state the roof is in.
- An estimated remaining service life in years, with the reasoning behind the estimate rather than just the number.
- A specific recommendation, which will be one of three outcomes: no action needed, targeted repair, or replacement — and why that outcome rather than the other two.
- Where a storm is involved, documentation formatted for an insurance carrier: test square locations and counts, measurements, and a description of functional versus cosmetic damage.
The report is yours. Keep it, file it, or hand it to another contractor for a second opinion — we would rather you do that than feel cornered into a decision at your kitchen table. A roof is a large purchase and there is no version of this where you need to decide today.
Nine questions that separate an inspection from a sales call
Use these on any contractor, including us. The answers sort people quickly.
- 1Will you show me photographs of all four slopes, or only the damage you found?
- 2Can you show me the attic side, and what did you see from below?
- 3What is your estimate of remaining service life, in years?
- 4Under what conditions would you tell me to do nothing?
- 5Do I get the written report if I do not hire you?
- 6Are you offering to cover, absorb, waive, or rebate my deductible?
- 7Do you have a permanent local address I can drive to?
- 8Will the manufacturer warranty be registered in my name, and can I see the registration?
- 9Are you asking me to sign anything today?
Question six deserves emphasis. In Texas, a contractor offering to pay, absorb, waive, or rebate your insurance deductible is committing a criminal offense, and so is the homeowner who accepts it. It is not a discount and it is not a favor — it is insurance fraud, and it is an immediate disqualifier no matter how good the rest of the pitch sounds.
A contractor who gets defensive at any of these nine has answered them.
When you should get one
Six situations where an inspection changes a decision rather than just confirming one.
Damage is frequently invisible from the ground. Your policy's notice window and the state limitations period both start at the date of loss, so the clock runs whether or not you looked. Check your policy language.
A roof is the single largest deferred-maintenance item in most transactions, and both sides negotiate better with a dated condition report than with a guess.
Most Central Texas asphalt roofs are in the back half of their service life at this point. This is when planning replaces reacting.
Any season, any weather. A stain means water has already been in the assembly long enough to travel, and the source is rarely directly above it.
Mounting an array onto a roof with five years left means paying to remove and reinstall it later. Check the roof before the panels, not after.
Renewal notices and carrier inspections increasingly flag older roofs. A documented condition report is the most useful thing to have in that conversation.
Inspections by area
Roof age, terrain, and housing stock differ enough across Central Texas that the inspection method does too.
Uniform builder roofs of similar age, with west-facing slopes failing well ahead of the rest.
Alamo Ranch roofing guideSteep Hill Country pitches and mature canopy — usually a drone inspection rather than a walk.
Bulverde roofing guideEvery housing era in one market, so remaining service life has to be assessed address by address.
San Antonio roofing guideBlackland clay and foundation movement, which shows up first as flashing separations.
Cibolo roofing guideMetal, tile, and custom rooflines where inspection method matters more than usual.
Boerne roofing guideA large cohort of builder roofs from the same years now reaching the same decision point together.
New Braunfels roofing guideRoof inspection FAQs
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