Hail went through the neighbourhood, the roof looks fine from the driveway, and three companies have offered to “take a look”. You have no way of judging whether any of them did a real inspection or a five-minute walk-around with a phone camera.
That judgement matters, because the report is the only thing your insurer will act on, and a weak one costs you the claim rather than the inspection fee. This guide explains what a hail damage roof inspection in Edmonton actually involves, what has to be in the written report, and when a free contractor visit is not enough.
The short answer: an inspection is evidence, not a sales call
A hail inspection exists to answer one question in writing: did hail damage this roof, on which slopes, on what date, and to what extent. Everything on the roof — the test squares, the soft-metal check, the flashing survey, the attic — is there to make that answer defensible when somebody sceptical reads it.
Three pages, three different jobs. What you can safely spot yourself is in signs of hail damage on an Edmonton roof. Booking a visit is free roof inspection. What the insurer's own adjuster does on their visit is the adjuster's roof inspection. This guide is about the inspection you arrange, and the document it has to produce.
What happens on the roof, in order
A competent hail inspection follows a sequence, and it starts before the ladder comes off the truck.
Soft metals first, from the ground
Aluminium and thin steel record hail better than asphalt does: eavestroughs and downspouts, gutter aprons, fascia, vent caps, the air-conditioning fins, fence caps, the garage door, the mailbox. This is collateral evidence, and it is the part an adjuster can verify without climbing anything. Age does not dent aluminium, so a dented downspout is an argument that shingle granule loss on its own can never make.
Test squares and strike counts
On the roof, the inspector marks out a test square on each slope — a defined area, chalked or taped, counted and photographed with the chalk visible. Every impact inside it is marked, and the count is recorded per slope, along with the compass direction that slope faces. Bruising is found by touch as much as by eye: a fractured mat feels soft under a thumb even when the granules have barely moved.
The threshold that triggers replacing a whole slope is set by each insurer's own claim guidelines rather than by any public standard, which is exactly why a report should record the count and the photograph and let the guideline do its own work. How that plays out on a claim is in the Alberta hail claim guide.
Flashings, vents and the ridge
Hail lands hardest on the details: ridge cap, hip cap, the turtle vents, the power vent housing, skylight curbs, chimney and wall flashings, and the drip edge. These are also the places where a “repair only” scope quietly fails, because a bruised ridge cap that nobody replaced leaks two winters later. Anything found here should appear as its own scope line — see roof and chimney flashing repair.
The attic and the underside
The last stop, and the one most often skipped. Daylight through the sheathing, wet insulation, staining on the underside of the deck and around the vent penetrations. An attic check also separates a hail claim from a ventilation problem that was there before the storm — which is the distinction an adjuster is looking for anyway.
What the report has to contain
An inspection you cannot forward to an insurer is a conversation, not evidence. The difference is this list.
| Element in the report | Why an adjuster needs it |
|---|---|
| Property address and the date of the inspection | Ties the evidence to the risk and the claim file; an undated photo set proves nothing |
| Stated date of loss and the storm it refers to | The whole claim hangs on whether damage and weather event line up |
| Slope-by-slope findings with compass directions | Directionality is the main test separating storm damage from age |
| Test square photographs with the markings visible | Shows the count was made on your roof, not asserted |
| Soft-metal collateral photographs | Corroborates hail independently of the shingle condition |
| Flashing, vent and ridge detail shots | These become scope lines; missing shots become missing money |
| Attic observations | Separates storm damage from pre-existing ventilation problems |
| Shingle type, approximate age and layer count | Drives the settlement basis and whether a match is available |
| Written scope of repair or replacement | Gives the adjuster something concrete to agree or dispute |
| Name and contact of the person who inspected it | An anonymous report is treated as marketing |
A documentation checklist drawn from what an insurer needs in order to act. Insurers publish claim guidelines to their own adjusters rather than to the public, so this is presented as practice, not as a published standard.
Free contractor inspection or paid engineer's report?
Both exist in this market and they are not substitutes. Knowing which you need saves either money or months.
What the free inspection is for
Establishing whether there is a claim at all, documenting it while the evidence is fresh, and producing a scope. It is free because the roofer expects to quote the work — which is normal, and also the reason to read the report critically rather than accept the conclusion. A free inspection should still be written, dated and photographed; if it is not, it is a sales visit.
When the second opinion is worth paying for
Pay for independence when the dispute is about cause rather than about scope: a refusal that says the damage is wear, a disagreement over the date of loss, structural questions about the deck, or a large loss where the gap between positions runs to five figures.
Independent roofing inspectors work in this province as their own discipline — ARCA maintains an inspector directory and sets out the role third-party inspections play in its warranty programme.
| Contractor inspection | Independent paid report | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Find and document damage, produce a scope | Give an opinion that does not belong to a bidder |
| Cost | Normally free | Paid by you, quoted up front |
| Best used | Before you file, and before the adjuster visit | After a refusal, or when cause is disputed |
| Weakness | Written by someone who wants the job | Costs money and takes longer to arrange |
| What it does not do | Bind the insurer | Bind the insurer either |
Neither document obliges an insurer to pay. Both change what the file looks like when somebody decides.
How to read the report you are handed
Five checks, in two minutes
- Is there a date on it, and does it match the storm?
- Are there slope-by-slope findings, or one paragraph about “the roof”?
- Can you see the test square markings in the photographs?
- Is there at least one soft-metal photograph?
- Does the scope list flashings, vents and ridge separately from the field shingles?
Four red flags
- Stock photographs. If a shot could be any roof in Alberta, it is not evidence of yours.
- A conclusion with no count. “Extensive hail damage” is an opinion; a marked square with its impacts counted and photographed is a fact.
- A quote but no report. The document you can send your insurer is the report, not the price.
- Anything about the deductible. An offer to absorb, waive or “work around” your deductible is the single loudest warning in this trade — see storm chasers in Alberta.
Two scheduling facts are worth planning around. Insurance Bureau of Canada puts hail season in Alberta and the Prairies from June until September.
After a major event the queue for inspections, adjusters and crews is long: IBC records the Calgary hailstorm of 13 June 2020 as producing approximately 70,000 claims and over $1.3 billion in insured damage, the costliest hailstorm in Canadian history. Being early in the queue is worth more than being clever.
To summarise: a hail damage roof inspection in Edmonton is worth exactly as much as the document it produces. Soft-metal collateral, marked test squares counted slope by slope, flashing and ridge detail, an attic check and a dated written scope are what turn a wet afternoon into a claim an adjuster can approve. A storm damage roof inspection without those things is a visit, not evidence.
If hail has been through your area, get the roof documented before the weather, the crews or your own memory blur the date. Book a free roof inspection with a written report, then read it against the five checks above — and if it does show damage, hail damage roof repair and the claim process pick up from there.