What the certificate covers when a certified roof leaks
Call the accredited NRCIA member whose name is printed on the certificate. That is the first move, and it matters more than anything else on this page. A LeakFREE® Roof Certification is a dated record. It states that a specific roof, at a specific address, met the published LeakFREE® criteria on the day that member inspected it. The certificate is not insurance and it is not a service contract. When a certified roof leaks, the document tells you who inspected the property, on what date, and on what terms a follow-up visit happens.
Roofs live outdoors. Materials age, storms arrive, and other trades walk across the deck. A certification records condition on a date. It does not stop weather.
The priority service call
Most certificates carry a stated fee for a priority service call, and the number is printed on the certificate itself. You are not negotiating it after the fact. The member returns to the property, traces the water, and identifies the source.
Think Like a Raindrop™ describes the method. Water enters at the weakest point, travels along framing or decking, and surfaces somewhere else entirely. The entry point is rarely directly above the stain, which is why tracing matters more than patching the first suspicious spot.
Who pays for the repair
That depends on the cause, and establishing the cause is the whole purpose of the service call.
- Normal wear and tear on a component the member previously repaired: handled under that member’s own workmanship terms. Those terms are set by the member, not by NRCIA.
- Perils of nature such as hail, wind or falling limbs: frequently a homeowners insurance matter. Members accredited through DisasterGUARD™ handle insurance-related evaluations and can document the damage for a claim.
- Third party damage: a satellite installer, a solar crew, a painter, a cable technician. Whoever went up there and broke something is usually the responsible party.
NRCIA does not repair roofs, adjust claims, or set what any member charges. Members carry their own licenses and set their own pricing.
Keeping the certification in force
Repairs performed by an NRCIA member keep the record intact. When someone outside the membership does the work, a re-inspection by a member is required before the certification stands again. The reason is simple: the member who signed the certificate has no basis to vouch for work they never saw.
Re-inspection can take more than one visit if the repairs come back incomplete, and each visit carries a cost. For most owners, hiring an accredited member for the repair is the shorter and cheaper path.
What the record is actually worth
A LeakFREE® Roof Inspection Report puts a trained set of eyes on five zones of the property: interior, attic, exterior, perimeter and rooftop. The written record that comes out of it can be read years later by a buyer, an agent, a lender, an adjuster or a court. When a leak shows up eighteen months after closing, that dated record is what separates a documented condition from an argument.
LeakFREE® is our federally registered trademark. Only NRCIA members can issue a LeakFREE® certification, and every certificate is generated and registered through InspectionPLUS®. A certificate produced outside that platform is not valid.
Start with an accredited member
If you hold a certificate, the name on it is your first call. If you are buying, selling or managing a property and need an inspection, the member directory lists accredited members by region.
Find an accredited NRCIA inspector near you.
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.
