Your finished jobs
still owe you money.

On a replacement-cost (RCV) insurance claim, the carrier initially pays the depreciated value of the roof — the actual cash value, or ACV — and withholds the difference, called recoverable depreciation, until the work is completed and the completion paperwork is submitted. It's real money the policy already owes on the job; it just isn't released automatically. The homeowner or contractor has to file a completion certificate and the final invoice, then follow up with the carrier until the second check is actually issued. On a busy roofing crew, that filing step often gets skipped once the roof is built and the first check is banked — which is why completed jobs from the last 12 months frequently still have depreciation sitting uncollected at the carrier, waiting on paperwork nobody circled back to file.

On a replacement-cost (RCV) roofing insurance claim, the carrier calculates two numbers for the same job. Actual cash value (ACV) is the replacement cost minus depreciation for the roof's age and wear — this is the first check, paid at claim approval, and it's what actually funds the job. Replacement cost value (RCV) is the full cost to replace the roof with no deduction for age. The gap between the two — RCV minus ACV — is the recoverable depreciation: money the policy already includes in the claim but withholds until the contractor proves the work is actually complete. Homeowners and contractors sometimes assume the ACV check is the full payout; it isn't. The RCV amount is only released after completion paperwork is filed and followed up on, which is exactly the step that gets missed on a busy roofing crew's finished jobs.

Yes — most carriers require the completed work and the depreciation release request within a set window after the date of loss, commonly one to two years, and the exact deadline varies by carrier, policy, and state. That's exactly what the free 10-file diagnostic checks first: which files are still inside their window, which need a written extension request, and which have closed. If a file is close to its deadline, it goes to the front of the queue.

Because releasing it takes paperwork and persistence at exactly the moment your crew has moved on to the next roof. The completion certificate never gets filed, the release request stalls in a carrier queue, or the file gets marked closed in your books with the depreciation still sitting at the carrier. In busy storm seasons it happens constantly — not from negligence, from volume.

Your ten oldest completed insurance jobs where you're not sure the depreciation check ever came — claim number, carrier, and the final invoice for each. About fifteen minutes of your office's time. We classify every file — collectible, blocked, or expired — and walk you through the report on a 15-minute call. You keep the report either way.

No. We work for you, the contractor, on jobs that are already complete and claims that were already approved. We prepare and submit completion documentation and follow up on funds the carrier has already agreed to release — we don't adjust or negotiate claims, and we don't represent homeowners. If a genuine dispute over the claim's value comes up, that fight belongs to the insured and, where needed, a licensed professional — we'll say so and route it right.

The check is issued to your customer, the policyholder — but on a completed RCV job it corresponds to the final balance on your invoice for work you already did. Releasing it is routine completion paperwork, not a claim against the homeowner: the carrier just needs proof the roof was actually built. We prepare and file that proof and follow up with the carrier, and the funds flow the way your contract with the homeowner already directs them.

The 10-file diagnostic is free, and you keep the report either way. The desk itself is a flat per-file fee — $125 to $175, with your exact rate set on the diagnostic call, in writing — billed only when the carrier confirms the release on that file. No release on a file, no fee on that file. Never a retainer, and never a percentage of your claim or your check. New jobs can go to the desk as you close them, so check #2 stops slipping in the first place.