roofers

How to Choose a Roofer in Texas: Seven Questions That Replace the License the State Never Issued

How to choose a roofer in Texas with no state license: seven questions on registration, RCAT, insurance, regional codes, deductible law, and bids.

How to Choose a Roofer in Texas: Seven Questions That Replace the License the State Never Issued

Texas has more roofing companies than any other state and no license for any of them. Anyone with a truck and a ladder can call themselves a roofer here, and after a hailstorm in Plano or a hurricane in Corpus Christi, a lot of people do. The absence of a license is the whole reason the hiring process here has to be built differently.

What the state does have is a voluntary license through the Roofing Contractors Association of Texas, a set of insurance fraud laws with real teeth, and, in the 14 coastal counties, a windstorm certification process that functions as a de facto inspection. Add the ordinary tools of business registration, insurance proof, and references, and you have enough to make a sound decision.

The seven questions below are the ones that matter, in the order a Texas homeowner should ask them. Each one is designed to be answered in a few minutes, and a roofer who cannot answer one of them cleanly has answered it anyway.

Is the Company Registered and Located in Texas?

Search the Texas Secretary of State or the Comptroller's franchise tax lookup for the business name. The record shows when the company was formed, its registered address, and whether it is in good standing, and a roofing company formed the week after the last hailstorm in Frisco is not the one you want.

Confirm the address is a place, not a mailbox. Map it, and if it resolves to a shipping store, a virtual office, or a suite in a building with 60 other tenants, treat the company as out of state until proven otherwise.

Ask for a Texas driver's license and a local phone number from the person who will sign the contract. Storm chasers in Texas routinely use area codes from Colorado, Oklahoma, and Florida, and the phone number tells you where the company was last spring.

Longevity in your county matters most. A roofer who has replaced roofs in Katy, Round Rock, or Mansfield for ten years can show you addresses, and one who arrived after the storm can only show you photos from somewhere else.

Does the Roofer Hold the Voluntary RCAT License?

The Roofing Contractors Association of Texas runs a licensing program that requires an exam, proof of insurance, and a track record, and it is the closest thing Texas has to a real credential. It is voluntary, so many good roofers skip it, but a roofer who has it has passed a filter the state does not provide.

RCAT publishes a searchable list of licensed contractors. Check it, and if the roofer claims the license and does not appear, that is worth a direct question.

Manufacturer certifications are a second signal. GAF, Owens Corning, and CertainTeed each certify installers who meet training and insurance standards, and those certifications qualify the roof for the better shingle warranties, so a roofer who holds one has a reason to install correctly.

Can They Prove Insurance Through Their Agent?

Ask for a certificate of insurance for general liability and workers compensation, and ask that it be emailed to you directly from the roofer's insurance agent. Forwarded PDFs are easy to alter, and Texas has more expired and fake certificates in circulation than any state in the country.

Texas is the only state where workers compensation is optional for private employers, and most roofing crews here work without it. That means a worker who falls from your roof may have no coverage, and the claim can land on your homeowners policy, so ask whether the company carries it and whether the certificate covers the subcontracted crew that will be on your house.

General liability of $1,000,000 per occurrence is the norm. A roofer carrying less, or one who cannot name the carrier without looking it up, is usually subcontracting the whole job to a crew found on another jobsite.

Do They Know Your Region's Roof?

Texas has four roofing climates, and a roofer who works one of them may not understand another. Dallas, Fort Worth, and the Hill Country are hail country, with Class 4 impact-resistant shingles earning insurance discounts of up to 30% from most carriers writing in the state.

Houston and the coastal counties are wind and water. Roofs in Galveston, Brazoria, Nueces, and the other 13 designated counties need a WPI-8 certificate from the Texas Department of Insurance to qualify for windstorm coverage through the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association, and a roofer who works the coast will know exactly what the TDI inspector needs to see.

Austin and San Antonio are heat and hail combined, with attics past 140 degrees in August and enough hail to justify impact shingles. The Panhandle and West Texas add extreme wind and UV, and a roof in Lubbock or Amarillo needs a higher wind rating and a shingle that resists sun fading.

The Coastal WPI-8 Process

In the 14 coastal counties, the roofer should schedule a TDI-appointed inspector to observe the installation, and the WPI-8 certificate that results is what TWIA requires to write or renew windstorm coverage. Skipping it can leave a Corpus Christi or Port Arthur homeowner uninsurable against the one peril that matters most.

Ask the roofer who their inspector is and how many WPI-8 jobs they completed last year. A coastal roofer answers that question without pausing.

Will They Handle Your Deductible the Legal Way?

Since 2019, Texas law makes it a crime for a roofer to waive, rebate, or absorb your insurance deductible, and the roofer is required to get reasonable proof that you paid it before the insurer releases the final payment. A roofer who offers to eat the deductible is offering to commit fraud with your name on the paperwork.

The offer usually comes packaged with a promise to handle the claim. Texas does not allow contractors to act as public adjusters, and a roofer who negotiates with your insurer is stepping over that line as well.

File the claim yourself, meet the adjuster with your roofer present if you want a second set of eyes, and hire the roofer to do the approved scope. Never assign your insurance benefits to a contractor, because that hands them control of the money.

Texas also gives you three business days to cancel a contract signed in your home, which is worth knowing if a door-to-door pitch got ahead of your judgment.

Does the Estimate Say What You Are Buying?

A useful Texas roofing estimate lists the shingle brand and product line, the underlayment, the ice and water shield placement where applicable, the drip edge, the flashing at every wall and penetration, the ventilation plan, and a per-sheet price for replacing bad decking. A one-line quote with a total is a guess wearing a logo.

Get three estimates and compare the scope before the price. The cheapest bid nearly always left out the ridge vent, used a lighter underlayment, or left decking open-ended, and once you know what is missing the totals make sense.

Price context for 2026 helps. A 2,000 square foot architectural shingle roof runs $9,000 to $17,000 in the Texas metros, with Austin and Dallas suburbs at the top and rural areas lower. Class 4 shingles add $1,500 to $3,000, and metal, which is increasingly common in the Hill Country and West Texas, runs $20,000 to $40,000.

Radiant barrier decking is worth asking about in Texas. Replacing the roof deck with foil-faced sheathing during a tear-off adds $1,500 to $3,000 and can cut attic temperatures by 20 degrees or more, which matters in Houston and San Antonio more than almost anywhere in the country.

What Happens After the Crew Leaves?

The contract should include the start window, the duration, every product by name, the permit responsibility, the cleanup and nail sweep, the payment schedule, and both warranties in writing. Deposits of 10% to 30% are normal, and a demand for half or more up front is a warning.

Permits vary widely in Texas. Most cities require one for roof replacement and unincorporated county areas usually do not, and where a permit is available, the inspection is a free check on the work that you should want.

The manufacturer warranty covers the shingles and the workmanship warranty covers the installation, which is where leaks come from. Five years of workmanship coverage is a minimum for a Texas roofer, ten is common among established companies, and any warranty is only worth what the company's odds of still existing are.

Ask who will be on the roof. Most Texas roofing companies sell the job and hand it to a subcontracted crew, and you want to know that crew's name, whether it is covered by the insurance you verified, and who supervises it during the install. You can compare the roofers listed for your part of Texas when you are ready to start asking these questions, and there are more Texas home guides on our blog.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do roofers need a license in Texas?

No. Texas has no state roofing license. The Roofing Contractors Association of Texas offers a voluntary license, and the 14 coastal counties require a TDI windstorm inspection for insurance purposes, but neither is a legal requirement to do the work.

How much does a new roof cost in Texas?

A typical 2,000 square foot architectural shingle roof runs $9,000 to $17,000 in 2026 in the major metros. Class 4 impact shingles add $1,500 to $3,000, and metal roofs run $20,000 to $40,000.

Can a Texas roofer pay my insurance deductible?

No. Since 2019 it has been a crime in Texas for a contractor to waive or absorb a deductible, and the roofer has to collect proof you paid it before the insurer releases final payment.

What is a WPI-8 certificate?

It is the windstorm inspection certificate issued through the Texas Department of Insurance for roofs in the 14 coastal counties. Without it, the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association will not write or renew windstorm coverage on the home.

Are Class 4 shingles worth it in Texas?

In Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio, and the Panhandle, yes. Insurers offer discounts of up to 30% for impact-resistant shingles, and the $1,500 to $3,000 upgrade typically pays back within a few years.