Storm Damage Contractor in Katy, TX: The 2026 Repair Playbook

What a Katy Storm Damage Contractor Actually Does

"Storm damage contractor" is not a regulated job title in Texas. Anyone with a truck and a ladder can claim it, which is why the post-Beryl AOB lawsuits filed in Harris County District Court have been such a mess. What you actually need is a licensed Texas general contractor with deep roofing, framing, and water-intrusion experience — someone who can take a single hurricane event from board-up to final walk-through under one scope of work.

The real scope of a Katy storm damage contractor breaks into eight workstreams:

• Emergency mitigation — tarping, board-up, water extraction, dehumidification within 48–72 hours. This is what your insurance policy's "duty to mitigate" clause requires you to do.
• Damage documentation — drone imagery, attic moisture readings, infrared scanning, photo evidence indexed by elevation. This becomes Exhibit A on your claim.
• Insurance scope coordination — meeting your adjuster on-site, presenting the contractor's scope of loss, supplementing the claim when tear-off reveals more damage.
• Permit pulling — Harris County permits required for any roof replacement, structural framing repair, electrical/mechanical work, or window replacement at a size larger than the original opening.
• Exterior repair — roof, siding, fascia, soffit, gutters, fence, exterior doors, windows.
• Structural repair — rafter sistering, decking replacement, header reinforcement, hurricane strap retrofit.
• Interior restoration — drywall, texture, paint, flooring, cabinets damaged by water intrusion.
• Mold remediation — required when water intrusion has been undetected for 48+ hours, common in Katy attics after a hurricane.

A storm damage contractor that only does roofs is a roofer marketing the storm angle. A real Katy general contractor for storm damage handles the entire scope and warranties the integrated result.

The First 72 Hours: Mitigation Beats Speed

The biggest mistake Katy homeowners made after Hurricane Beryl on July 8, 2024 was signing a roofing contract within the first 48 hours. We saw it across every Katy ZIP — 77449 Cinco Ranch, 77450 Mason Creek, 77493 Old Towne, 77494 Cross Creek Ranch. Contractors knocked on doors offering "free roof inspections" before the wind had even fully died down. By Wednesday many homeowners had signed AOB documents they didn't read carefully.

Here's the sequence that actually protects your home and your claim:

Hours 0–24: Document and mitigate

• Photograph every elevation from ground level. Include reference shots that show your address sign or house number.
• Pull out your insurance policy declaration page. Find your wind/hail deductible (usually 1% or 2% of dwelling coverage — on a $400K Katy home that's $4,000–$8,000).
• Call your insurance carrier's claims line, get a claim number. Do this even if you're not sure damage exceeds your deductible.
• If your roof has a visible breach, get a licensed contractor to tarp it. Insurance covers reasonable mitigation cost regardless of whether the full claim is approved.
• If interior water has entered, extract it within 24 hours. Mold colonies establish in 48–72 hours in Katy's summer humidity.

Hours 24–72: Don't sign anything permanent

• Get 2 or 3 written estimates from local Katy contractors with permanent addresses you can verify.
• Do not sign an Assignment of Benefits (AOB) — this transfers your insurance proceeds directly to the contractor and removes your control of the claim.
• Schedule your adjuster inspection. Carriers are required to acknowledge claims within 15 days under Texas Insurance Code Section 542.
• Ask your chosen contractor to be present at the adjuster inspection. This is standard, professional, and dramatically reduces disputes.

The 8 Damage Types We See in Katy and What Each One Costs

Across the 380+ Katy storm damage jobs Tell Projects has completed since Harvey, eight distinct damage categories account for about 95 percent of the work scope. Here's how the 2026 cost ranges break out for a typical Katy single-family home.

A typical Katy claim after a Cat 1 hurricane like Beryl runs $18,000 to $42,000 in total scope. After a hailstorm, $9,000 to $24,000 (roofs and gutters dominate). After the May 2024 derecho, the average Katy claim was $31,800 because of the combination of roof damage plus interior water plus fence rebuild plus window debris all in one event.

Wind Speed Code: ASCE 7-22, IRC R301, and the Harris County 2024 Adoption

When your storm damage contractor replaces your roof, siding, or windows in Katy, the work must comply with the wind design code in effect at permit issuance — not the older code your house was originally built to. Harris County adopted the 2024 International Residential Code (IRC) in February 2025, which incorporates the ASCE 7-22 wind speed maps.

What ASCE 7-22 says for Katy

Under ASCE 7-22 Figure 26.5-1B (Risk Category II, residential), Katy sits in the 130 mph ultimate design wind speed contour. This is the 3-second gust wind speed corresponding to a 700-year mean recurrence interval. Translated to "nominal" wind speed for prescriptive code calculations under IRC R301.2(4), this is roughly 100 mph nominal — what most builders and inspectors refer to.

For comparison: Galveston Island is 150 mph ultimate, downtown Houston is 130 mph ultimate, and the Brazoria/Galveston bay coast inland of FM 1462 is 140 mph ultimate. Katy is on the 130 mph contour but the safety margin matters because debris fields don't respect contour lines.

What this means for your storm repair scope

• Roof fastening: 6 nails per asphalt shingle (not 4), driven flush, no overdrive. High-wind starter strip on all eaves and rakes. 6-inch nail spacing pattern at the leading edge.
• Underlayment: Synthetic underlayment rated to 130 mph minimum. Ice and water shield in all valleys and 6 feet up from eaves (required even though we don't get ice).
• Decking: Any decking with delamination, rot, or sister fastener failure must be replaced — not patched. Decking must be 7/16" minimum OSB or 1/2" plywood, ring-shank nailed to rafters at 6" panel edge, 12" interior.
• Hurricane straps: Required at all rafter-to-wall connections on new framing or any framing exposed during repair. Existing un-strapped rafters do not require retrofit under prescriptive code, but our recommendation is to strap them while the decking is off — the marginal cost is about $35 per rafter and the wind resistance improvement is dramatic.
• Siding fastening: Hardiplank attachments to studs (16" o.c.), not just OSB. Stainless or hot-dipped galvanized nails — electrogalv corrodes in 4–6 years in Houston humidity.

The Texas Insurance Claim Workflow Katy Homeowners Need to Follow

Texas Insurance Code Chapter 542 ("Prompt Payment of Claims Act") sets specific timelines and obligations for storm damage claims. Here's what should happen and what the legal deadlines are.

If the insurer misses these deadlines, you have leverage. Under Section 542.060, an insurer that fails to comply owes 18% interest per year plus reasonable attorney's fees on top of the underlying claim amount. After Beryl, multiple Houston-area carriers settled supplemental claims at the 18% penalty rate rather than litigate.

Recoverable depreciation: the trap homeowners miss

Most Texas homeowner policies are "Replacement Cost Value" (RCV), but pay out in two parts:

1. ACV (Actual Cash Value) — paid up front. This is RCV minus depreciation. On a 12-year-old roof, depreciation can be 40–60% of replacement cost.
2. Recoverable depreciation — paid only after you complete the repair and submit signed invoices proving the actual replacement cost.

This is why "we'll do it for the insurance money" pitches from storm chasers fail mathematically. They'll do the roof for the ACV amount, never collect the recoverable depreciation, and the work quality drops accordingly. A real Katy contractor scopes to the full RCV and helps you collect the recoverable depreciation when the work is done.

Storm Chasers vs. Real Katy Contractors

The Texas Department of Insurance issued a public warning after Beryl listing the patterns to watch for. Tell Projects has run into the same pattern across every Katy storm event since 2017.

The storm chaser pattern

• Knocks on doors within 48 hours of a named storm.
• Offers "free inspection" — uses it to escalate damage claims that may not be storm-caused.
• Pressures you to sign an Assignment of Benefits (AOB) document.
• Promises to "cover your deductible" — illegal under Texas Insurance Code § 27.02, classified as insurance fraud.
• Permanent business address is in another state or is a UPS mailbox.
• Has no Texas RMP license, or operates under a borrowed/leased RMP.
• Works through subcontractors who change every storm season.

The real Katy contractor pattern

• Permanent Houston-area business address you can drive to.
• Texas Department of Insurance Roofing Contractor Registration (since the 2023 RCAT registration requirement).
• General liability insurance certificate available on request, with Texas as primary location.
• Workers' comp policy (Texas law allows opt-out, but real contractors carry it).
• Visible history of Harris County permits over 5+ years.
• References from Katy-area projects, not out-of-state.
• Will not promise to "cover your deductible."
• Will not pressure an AOB signature.
• Provides a written contract with itemized scope, not a one-page Letter of Intent.

Realistic Katy Repair Timeline After a Category 1+ Event

Homeowners expect storm repair to happen in weeks. The reality, as Hurricane Beryl proved, is months. Here's the honest Katy timeline.

If your contractor promises to finish a full hurricane scope of work in 30 days, they're either lying or cutting corners. The post-Beryl reality was 6 to 9 months for many Katy homes, dragged out mostly by material lead times and adjuster backlog.

Hidden Damage: What Tear-Off Reveals on Katy Roofs

About 30% of Katy roofs reveal additional damage once the shingles are off and the decking is exposed. Knowing what's typically hidden helps you understand why supplemental claims are normal, not contractor padding.

Decking delamination

OSB decking exposed to roof leaks for years swells, then delaminates. The shingles look fine because the asphalt holds shape, but the OSB beneath is structurally compromised. You won't see this until tear-off. Replacement runs about $2.50–$4.00 per square foot installed including underlayment.

Rotted rafter tails and fascia backing

Wind-driven rain finds the gap between gutter and fascia and runs into the rafter tail. Over years it rots out the 2x6 tail board. A typical Katy home reveals 4–8 rotted rafter tails during a storm tear-off. Sistering and fascia replacement runs $180–$320 per rafter.

Underlayment failure on ridges and valleys

Original 15-pound felt underlayment that was state of the art in 2002 has likely failed at the ridge cap and along valleys, where heat and water stress are highest. Even if the shingles look intact, the underlayment may be paper-thin. This is why a tear-off-and-replace beats overlay every time on Katy roofs older than 12 years.

Skylight flashing failure

Almost every original skylight on a 15+ year-old Katy home has flashing that's lost its sealant. Hurricane wind drives water under failing flashing and into the attic. Skylight reflash or replacement during tear-off is $480–$1,400 per unit.

Attic moisture from old leaks

The most expensive hidden damage. Years of slow attic moisture from a tiny ridge leak grow black mold colonies on rafters and decking. Remediation can add $4,000–$12,000 to the scope. Tell Projects always recommends an infrared attic scan before contracting tear-off so the scope reflects reality.

How to Choose Your Katy Storm Damage Contractor

Use this checklist when you're interviewing contractors after a Katy storm.

1. Texas RMP license number on the truck and contract. Look it up at the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation website. If they're roofing-only, the Texas Department of Insurance RCAT registration is the equivalent.
2. Permanent Houston-area business address. Drive by it. Confirm it's not a UPS Store or a residential driveway.
3. Active general liability insurance certificate. Get a Certificate of Insurance (COI) emailed directly from the insurance broker, not a copy from the contractor.
4. Workers' compensation coverage. Texas allows non-subscriber status but if the contractor doesn't have workers' comp and someone gets hurt on your property, the homeowner can be sued personally.
5. Harris County permit history. Look up the contractor's permits on the Harris County Permits portal for the past 2 years. A real Katy contractor has dozens.
6. Written, itemized scope of work. Not a Letter of Intent. Not an AOB. A real contract with materials, labor, allowances, timeline, change order process, and warranty all spelled out.
7. References from Katy ZIPs. Not "satisfied customers in Texas" — actual addresses on your side of Houston that you can drive past and see the finished work.
8. Warranty in writing. Minimum 1 year on labor, 5 years on tear-off and reinstallation work, manufacturer's warranty on shingles (transferable, 30–50 years on most premium products).
9. No "we'll cover your deductible" language. If a contractor offers this, walk away. It's a Texas insurance code violation that gets the contractor (and potentially you) in legal trouble.
10. Local lien releases. Final payment is conditioned on signed lien waivers from all subcontractors and material suppliers, so no surprise liens land on your title two months later.

Frequently Asked Questions