Inspections
There are two different inspections here and people often want the second while asking for the first.
The condition inspection
What is wrong, what is ageing and how long is left. On a coastal roof a competent version spends real time on the metal: fasteners, flashing, drip edge, vent housings, gutters. A report that describes only the shingles has looked at the part least likely to fail here.
You want located photographs rather than a gallery, a statement of what could not be accessed, a distinction between failing now and ageing, and permission for the answer to be “nothing yet, look again in two years”. An inspection that always finds work is not an inspection.
The wind mitigation inspection
A different document with a different purpose: it records construction features that reduce wind loss, so an insurer can credit them.
Two things to get right. Ask your agent what your carrier actually credits before paying for the inspection, because the credits vary and there is no point documenting something nobody will pay for. And if you are about to reroof, sequence it properly: features get built in during the work and documented after, and doing it the other way round wastes the opportunity.
South Carolina also runs a grant programme through its insurance regulator to help fund mitigation work, which is worth asking about while the roof is being planned rather than after it is finished.
Before buying
A roof is one of the largest single line items in a house purchase and one of the more assessable. You want an age estimate, a condition note on the details rather than the field, the corrosion state of the metalwork, and a plain sentence about remaining years.
Be careful with “serviceable”. It means not leaking today. It does not mean you are not buying a roof in two years, and on the coast the gap between those two states can be short.
Questions people ask
- Free or paid?
Plenty of companies inspect free after a storm, and that is a sales call, which is not the same as dishonest but is worth naming. A paid inspection from somebody not bidding the work is a different product and occasionally worth the money, particularly before a purchase.
- Does a wind mitigation inspection definitely lower my premium?
No. It documents features your carrier may or may not credit. Ask your agent what they credit before you pay for the inspection, because the answer varies by carrier and the inspection is only worth having if somebody will act on it.
- How often on the coast?
After any named storm or serious blow, before buying, and otherwise every couple of years once the roof passes its halfway point. Salt does its work steadily and quietly.