NRCIA contributes to Redfin’s home warranty guide
Redfin’s article “What to Ask When Buying a Home Warranty” gathered guidance from housing and home service professionals across the country. NRCIA contributed on the coverage area homeowners most often misread: roof leaks and water intrusion. The home warranty questions below are the ones worth asking before a contract is signed.
The Redfin piece covers coverage limitations and exclusions, repair and replacement caps, maintenance requirements, claims processes, contractor qualifications, and roof leak coverage. It is worth reading in full.
Do not assume roof leaks are covered
Roof coverage varies widely between providers. Some home warranty contracts include limited roof leak repair. Others exclude roofing entirely. Others cap the payout, or restrict coverage to the portion of the roof above the living area, or exclude anything the contract classifies as pre-existing or as a maintenance failure.
“Before selecting a home warranty, homeowners should ask exactly what systems and components are covered, what exclusions or maintenance requirements apply, and whether roof leaks or water intrusion are included.”
Paul Watrous, President, NRCIA
NRCIA members see the same pattern in the field. Homeowners find the gap after the leak, once the water has already moved somewhere expensive.
The home warranty questions to ask before you buy
- Are roof leaks covered at all, and is that coverage in the base contract or a paid add-on?
- What is the dollar cap per claim, and per contract year?
- Which parts of the roof are included? Flat sections, patios, garages, detached structures and skylights are frequently carved out.
- How does the contract define a pre-existing condition, and who decides?
- What maintenance records will be required at claim time, and how far back?
- Is resulting interior damage covered, or the leak repair alone?
- Who selects the contractor, what are their qualifications, and can you request a specific one?
- What is the waiting period between purchase and the first eligible claim?
Ask for the contract language on each of these in writing. A sales summary is not the contract.
A roof leak is rarely a roofing problem alone
By the time water shows itself on a ceiling, it has usually been traveling for a while. A single leak can produce damaged drywall, saturated insulation, mold growth, electrical hazards, wood rot, structural deterioration and ruined interior finishes.
Most of that damage sits outside the roof section of a warranty contract. Read the language on resulting damage as carefully as the language on the roof itself.
Where an inspection changes the math
A home warranty responds after a failure. An inspection finds the condition before it becomes one.
An accredited NRCIA member performs a LeakFREE® Check, a five-zone inspection covering the interior, the attic, the exterior, the perimeter and the rooftop, and documents it in a LeakFREE® Roof Inspection Report. Where the roof meets the published criteria, that member can issue a LeakFREE® Roof Certification through InspectionPLUS®, recording that the roof at that address met those criteria on that date.
A LeakFREE® certification is a documented condition of record. It is not insurance, it is not a service contract, and it is not a promise that a roof will never leak. Its term is set by the findings, the slope, the materials and the condition, up to ten years, and the expiration is printed as a date.
Across 6,460 member inspections nationwide, more than 66 percent of roofs either qualified for a LeakFREE® certification or could be repaired to qualify. For most homeowners, the finding is a repair list rather than a replacement bill.
That record gives you something a warranty application, a listing agent, an adjuster or a buyer can all read: a dated, photographed baseline of what the roof looked like before anything went wrong.
About NRCIA
Founded in 1995, the National Roof Certification and Inspection Association is a national standards body for roof inspection and certification. NRCIA sets the standard, trains and accredits members, administers the LeakFREE® certification system, and maintains the public member directory. NRCIA does not inspect roofs and does not issue certifications. Accredited members do.
Get your roof documented
Find an accredited NRCIA inspector near you in the NRCIA member directory.
LeakFREE®, Forensic ROOF®, Mr. RoofCheck®, InspectionPLUS®, Today’s Inspection… Tomorrow’s Protection®, and Got Leaks?® are registered trademarks of Field Gate FLP, used by permission. RoofGUARD™, ForensicGUARD™, DisasterGUARD™, E3GUARD™, and Think Like a Raindrop™ are trademarks of Field Gate FLP.
