Sep 26, 2024
Helene
Water from below: record surge of 6.67 ft at Clearwater Beach, 6.31 ft at St. Petersburg, 7.2 ft at East Bay. Gusts of 60 to 75 mph.
Hillsborough · Pinellas · English and Spanish
Tampa Bay roofing contractors for repair and replacement
Shingles in the yard after a storm, a stain that shows in wind-driven rain, or a renewal letter asking how old your roof is: call a roofer who works your part of Hillsborough or Pinellas.
Roofing services
Pick the closest match. For storm damage, call.
Storm and hurricane damage
Tarps and emergency dry-in, a written scope with photos, and no assignment of benefits: the contractor documents, you own the claim.
Call 656-208-3747Roof leak repair
The stain that shows in wind-driven rain, the pipe boot cracked by the sun, the valley under the oaks. Finding the entry point is most of the job.
Call 656-208-3747Roof repair
A slope, a valley, the fascia, a limb through the deck: section repairs on a roof with years left, and a straight answer when it does not.
Call 656-208-3747Roof replacement
Tear-off, deck repairs, secondary water barrier, the covering you choose, permit and final. What a proposal should say, part by part.
Call 656-208-3747Shingle roof repair and replacement
The Tampa Bay roof. Architectural versus three-tab shingle, what the 145 mph design wind means, the fastening the approved system calls for, and the 15-year clock the insurer reads.
Call 656-208-3747Metal roofs
Standing seam or exposed fastener, aluminum near salt water, Citizens' 50-year documentation threshold, and why a shingle crew should not install it.
Call 656-208-3747Flat and low-slope roofs
The Florida-room addition that ponds and leaks at the wall. Modified bitumen, TPO, tapered insulation, and the transition detail.
Call 656-208-3747Roof inspection and wind-mitigation report
The renewal letter, the OIR-B1-1802 wind-mitigation form that can earn premium credits, the four-point for a new policy. Which document, and who is qualified to sign it.
Call 656-208-3747
Need a roofer? Call 656-208-3747
Which office permits your roof
Every re-roof around the bay is a permitted job with a final inspection. Who issues it depends on the address, not the contractor. A contractor who works your area knows the desk; these are the desks.
Hillsborough County
Brandon, Riverview, Carrollwood, Town 'n' Country, and everything unincorporated: HillsGovHub
City of Tampa
Inside the city limits: Construction Services, plus historic review (the Architectural Review Commission, or the Barrio Latino Commission in Ybor City) for designated properties in Hyde Park, Seminole Heights, Tampa Heights, and Ybor City
St. Petersburg
Construction Services and Permitting; roofing is never exempt from a permit here
Clearwater
City Permitting, online submittal
Largo
Building Division; unincorporated addresses around Largo go to the county
Pinellas Park
Building Development Division; Lealman goes to the county
June 1 to November 30
The storm season, and the two dates every roof around the bay remembers
Tampa Bay has not taken a direct hurricane landfall since 1921, and in 2024 it did not need one: two storms passing offshore and to the south, thirteen days apart, did this. The numbers below are the National Weather Service's county reports, and they are why the insurer, the permit office, and the contractor all talk about wind the way they do.
Oct 9, 2024
Milton
Wind and rain from above: gusts of 101 mph at Albert Whitted and 93 mph at Tampa International; 10 to 15 inches of rain across the two counties, with Albert Whitted recording 18.54 inches in one day.
Source: NWS Tampa Bay county impact narratives for Helene and Milton (2024).
The numbers
The rules that decide what happens to your roof
Not Miami's rules. Tampa Bay is outside the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone, and the numbers that matter here are these.
15
years: the insurance line
Under 15 years, roof age alone cannot be the reason an insurer refuses to write or renew. At 15 or older, an inspection showing five or more years of remaining life blocks a roof-age refusal. Citizens adds a documentation rule at 25 years for shingle and 50 for tile or metal, plus a four-point inspection on homes over 20 years old.
Florida Statute 627.7011(5)25%
of a roof section: the repair line
Repair, replace, or recover more than a quarter of a roof section in a year and the whole section goes to current code, unless the roof or section was built, repaired, or replaced in compliance with the 2007 Florida Building Code or later, in which case only the repaired part has to.
Florida Statute 553.844(5)145
mph: the design wind in Pinellas
Pinellas County designs ordinary homes to a 145 mph ultimate wind speed everywhere in the county; Hillsborough uses the Florida Building Code map at similar speeds. It is the design input the contractor works from when choosing an approved roof system and fastening schedule for the property, not a rating printed on a shingle bundle. Products carry a Florida Product Approval (a Miami-Dade Notice of Acceptance is also accepted); the HVHZ-specific rules do not apply here.
Pinellas County local amendment to FBC §1609.3Hillsborough and Pinellas
From the historic districts of Tampa and St. Petersburg to the first re-roofs in Riverview: contractors who know which office permits the address and what the housing there was built under.
Need a roofer? Call 656-208-3747
Roofers for both sides of the bay
Roofing across Hillsborough and Pinellas: leaks, storm damage, shingle, metal and flat roofs, replacement and insurance inspections. English or Spanish.
Questions people ask
My insurer says my roof is too old. What now?
Florida Statute 627.7011(5) sets the line at 15 years: under that, age alone cannot be the reason for a refusal; at 15 or older, an inspection showing at least five years of remaining life blocks a roof-age refusal. A licensed roofing contractor or home inspector inspects and writes the report; if the roof will not pass, they say so and what a replacement would involve.
Does a repair need a permit around here?
A replacement always does, in every city and both counties. Repairs depend on where you are and how much roof: St. Petersburg never exempts roofing; the others have thresholds. The contractor who works your area knows, and pulls the permit in their own license.
Do I have to replace the whole roof if more than a quarter is damaged?
Not always anymore. Since 2022, a roof or roof section that was built, repaired, or replaced in compliance with the 2007 Florida Building Code or later only needs the repaired portion brought to current code. What matters is the roof's own permit history, not the year the house was built; a contractor checks the record before saying which side of the line you are on.
Should I sign the contractor's assignment of benefits?
On policies issued since January 1, 2023, Florida law does not allow assignment-of-benefits agreements, so a contractor cannot take over a current claim; on an older policy, read any such document carefully before signing. Either way the contractor documents the damage and writes the scope; you file and own the claim.
What does it cost?
What drives the number: the covering (shingle, metal, tile, flat membrane), size and pitch, how much deck needs replacing (unknown until tear-off), the underlayment, permit fees, and the warranty. The contractor quotes after seeing the roof.
Do you help in Spanish?
Yes. Call in English or Spanish; every page is in both.
Get a roofer on the phone
Storm damage or an active leak: call now. Say what you are seeing and where the house is.
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