The roof is the whole conversation
The Front Range sits in one of the most active hail corridors in North America. Insurers know it, and they have spent the last decade changing how roofs are covered rather than refusing to cover them.
The change that catches people is the shift from replacement cost to actual cash value on older roofs. Replacement cost pays what it takes to put a new roof on. Actual cash value pays that figure minus depreciation for the years the roof has already lived. On a roof with a few seasons left, those two numbers are very far apart, and which one applies to you is written in your policy right now.
Cosmetic damage exclusions are the other one. Hail can dent a metal roof or scar shingles without breaching anything. Some policies treat that as damage. Others exclude it by name.
Wildfire, and how insurers score your address
Carriers use wildfire risk models that score individual properties, not just zip codes. Defensible space, roof material, deck construction and the vegetation around your home all move that score, and the score moves availability and terms.
This is one of the few areas where work you do on your own property changes what an insurer will offer. It is worth knowing where you stand before you need to.
What we actually go through
Dwelling limit against what rebuilding would genuinely cost today, which is rarely what you paid. Personal property, and whether yours is scheduled or lumped. Loss of use, which people forget exists until they need somewhere to live. Liability limits, and whether they are anywhere near what you have to lose.
Then the deductible, which on a hail-exposed home is often a percentage of the dwelling limit rather than a flat number — a distinction that surprises people at exactly the wrong moment.
Also written here
- Condo (HO-6) and renters coverage
- Landlord and rental dwelling policies
- Scheduled personal property for jewellery, firearms and collections
- Water backup and sump failure