Does Texas license roofing contractors?
No. The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation lists the trades it licenses, from air conditioning contractors through to electricians and mold remediators. Roofing is not among them. A 2025 bill would have created a state licence for reroofing contractors, with a public database of licensees and proof of liability insurance; it did not pass, and the legislature does not meet in regular session again until 2027.
The Roofing Contractors Association of Texas runs a voluntary programme requiring two years as a principal in a Texas roofing company, a fixed business address and three exams. It is a trade-association credential, not a state licence, and the distinction is worth holding onto when a company describes itself as licensed.
What does the deductible rule mean on paper?
A contract worth $1,000 or more that expects payment from insurance proceeds has to carry a specific notice. State law requires it in 12-point boldface, stating that Texas law requires the insured to pay any applicable deductible and that it violates Texas law for a seller expecting payment from a claim to knowingly allow or assist the insured in failing to pay it.
That notice is the single easiest thing to check. Open the contract and look for it. Separately, advertising or promising to pay, waive, absorb or rebate a deductible is a criminal offence in Texas, a Class B misdemeanour. The Department of Insurance tells homeowners to walk away from anyone offering it, including anyone offering to build the deductible into the bid, and to report it to the Attorney General at 800-621-0508.
Can a roofer handle the insurance claim?
No, and the rule leaves no room around it. A contractor is barred from acting as a public insurance adjuster, or advertising to adjust claims, for any property they provide or expect to provide contracting services on. The statute adds that this holds regardless of whether the contractor holds an adjuster licence or has been given a power of attorney, which closes the usual workaround.
The Supreme Court of Texas upheld that provision in 2024 against a challenge brought by a roofing company. The practical version for a homeowner: the roofer prices and performs the work, and negotiating the claim with the insurer is not theirs to do.
What if they knocked on your door?
A door-to-door sale carries a three-day cancellation right. State law lets a consumer cancel by midnight of the third business day after signing, and the merchant must hand over a contract or receipt at the time of the transaction carrying a cancellation notice in boldface of at least 10 points, with a cancellation form attached.
Two limits matter. The right attaches to the solicitation happening away from the merchant's place of business, so a homeowner who calls a roofer and signs at their office is outside it. And there is no general Texas right to cancel a roofing contract after an insurer denies a claim. That rule belongs to Georgia and circulates widely in roofing content where it does not apply.
Does a declared disaster change things?
It adds a written-contract rule and a payment rule. For disaster remediation work following a declared natural disaster, the contract must be in writing, and the contractor is barred from requiring any payment before beginning work, or a partial payment beyond what is reasonably proportionate to work performed.
That chapter draws a line worth understanding, because it is a factual test rather than a judgement about anyone: it does not apply to a contractor who has maintained a physical business address in the county where the property sits, or an adjacent county, for at least a year before the contract date. For a Fulshear address that means Fort Bend or one of its neighbours.
How do you verify insurance?
Workers' compensation is the one you can check yourself, free. Texas is unusual: private employers choose whether to carry workers' compensation at all. A roofer without it is a lawful non-subscriber rather than a lawbreaker, so the question is about your exposure if someone is hurt on your roof, not about their legality.
The Department of Insurance publishes verification paths for subscriber coverage, certified self-insurers and registered non-subscribers, and answers coverage queries directly by email. That makes it independent of whatever certificate the contractor hands over.
General liability is different. With no state licence there is no state insurance minimum attached to one, so any requirement comes from somewhere else. In Fulshear that somewhere is the city: contractors working inside the city limits must register, supply a contractor licence and driver's licence, and carry at least $1,000,000 in general liability naming the City of Fulshear as additionally insured, at $200 a year.
Six things to check before signing
- The deductible notice in 12-point boldface, where insurance proceeds are expected.
- No blank spaces. The Department of Insurance warns that scammers present contracts as "an estimate" or "a release just to go on your roof".
- No assignment of the whole payout. Refuse wording that commits you to repairs "for the value of insurance proceeds".
- Three written bids on letterhead carrying a phone number and an address.
- Workers' compensation status, confirmed through the state rather than the certificate.
- Fulshear registration, where the address sits inside the city limits.
The city adds a warning of its own worth repeating: it cannot recommend contractors, it tells residents to background-check companies, and it rejects future permit applications from any company that has defrauded a homeowner.
Most of these questions land hardest after a storm, when schedules fill and decisions get made quickly. Wind and storm damage work covers what the emergency stage actually involves, and a dated photographic inspection gives you an independent record of the roof's condition before anyone quotes against it.