Our Primary Focus
Generalists vs. Specialists: At Lone Star Catastrophe Services, Inc., we are true SPECIALISTS. We only work with homeowner insurance claims. In addition, we carry the state of Illinois residential roofing license and we are members of the National Roofing Contractors Association. Lone Star Cat Project Managers are certified professionals having completed the "HAAG Certified Inspector-Residential Roofs" course. We combine our HAAG education and adherence to NRCA guidelines and standards along with strictly following all manufacturer suggested installation procedures. This allows us to provide unmatched expertise in all of our restoration projects from beginning to end. At Lone Star Cat we have the experience and expertise to have your property fully indemnified to whole in its entirety, because we focus exclusively on insurance restoration projects.
For the most part, “bid" roofers only provide roofing work. Their business is built upon only replacing your roof with no capability to repair any other exterior damage such as gutters, siding, or windows. General contractors, by their nature, have a very broad focus. They do a little bit of everything from kitchen remodels or interior work to varied exterior work. They are typically a jack of all trades and a master of none. Their business is built upon selling additional services other than what you might have originally requested. You call with roof damage - they want you to pay separately for items that should be included as part of your roofing system. More importantly, generalists (roofers and contractors) have zero knowledge on how to work with a storm damage insurance claim. Ask a roofer or contractor what ACV means or have them describe how non-recoverable depreciation may be applied to your insurance claim. They will not have an answer.
We Serve Our Clients
At Lone Star Catastrophes Services, Inc., how we treat our clients is critical to our success. We take our role as advocates for our clients very seriously. We are here to solve a real problem in their daily lives and return their quality of life to the level they enjoyed before their home was damaged. As such, we treat our clients with respect and perform our services with integrity.
Lone Star Catastrophe Services, Inc. takes pride in the way we approach our business. We strive to continuously focus on our Core Principles: Ethics and High Character, Humility, Service and Community. We believe a foundation of Ethics and a staff exemplifying High Character are an instrumental aspect of how we do business. Our staff is held to a strict safety, cleanliness, and respectability code from the very start. The face of Lone Star Cat and how we employ our market strategy is guided by Humility. We don't pressure, up sell, or mislead our clients, and we are upfront about our business practices from the very beginning. We humbly walk around neighborhoods in our area and knock on doors, talking to friends and neighbors candidly about our company and our services. We pride ourselves in our extensive knowledge and understanding of the risk industry informs all of our services. As an advocate to both the community and the risk industry, Lone Star Cat aims to provide maximum service to both parties. Last, but certainly not least, Lone Star Cat is a locally- and family-owned and operated business. We take pride in being part of the vibrant community of the Metro East area and the great city of St. Louis.
Our Project Managers are bound by a Client Respect Agreement. This requires us to adhere to strict standards from the initial property assessment to the last shingle and cleanup. We start by providing an objective and unbiased property assessment. A generalist will play the numbers, encouraging everyone to file a claim, hoping that at least a few claims will be approved. At Lone Star Cat, we are impartial in our assessment of damage. We do not counsel our clients to file insurance claims on marginal storm damage. In addition, we do not aggressively up-sell. Our staff is trained to identify storm damage, not sell you a shingle upgrade which should be part of your standard roofing system. We are well-versed on numerous upgrades. However, we do not push homeowners into an unwanted purchase. We only offer these value-added upgrades upon request. Finally, our quality control practices ensure that at the end of our work, all expectations are met, and more often than not, exceeded.
Knowledge and Expertise
We Are Insurance Claim Experts
Our first objective is to meet with insurance adjusters and ascertaining the full scope of the storm damage to your entire property. This provides a huge advantage to our clients by adding items to your claim which can easily be overlooked if you do not have someone who truly understands the claim process. Our Project Managers have completed hundreds of insurance claim restoration projects, and nearly all of our clients have received a full roof replacement. A generalist might be able to get your roof replaced, but they'll miss the details as they may only look at your roof damage. We all know when mother nature strikes, she usually does more than roofing damage. We perform an entire property inspection and will look at every detail including all soft metals, gutters, fascia, downspouts, window screens, garage doors, siding, deck, and A/C units. We will find every bit of storm damage to your home and resolve to have everything fully restored. Beyond the adjustment meeting, our principal area of expertise is negotiating with the insurance company, pushing for items missed, product enhancements and code upgrades, and ensuring depreciation funds are released.
Quality Is Our Priority
At Lone Star Catastrophe Services, Inc., we pride ourselves on our quality. We perform a 25-point Quality Control Punch List at the end of every roofing project. This comprehensive checklist includes everything from drip edge inspection to an eave and rake flush. We are so confident in our quality, all of our restoration projects offer a minimum of a 5 year limited warranty. In certain cases we can offer up to 10 years of protection. We are certified with GAF, Certainteed and Owens Corning. We can provide extended warranties by choosing from these preferred partners or other comprehensive weather packages.
We Adhere to the Most Strict of Industry Standards
The National Roofing Contractors Association (NRCA) is the construction industry's most respected trade association and the voice and leading authority in the roofing industry for information, education, technology and advocacy. Most municipalities do not have code enforcement for residential roofing in our area, so roofers, contractors and "storm chasers" do FAR less than a quality job on roofing systems they build because nobody is checking their work. Lone Star Catastrophe Services, Inc. follows all manufacturer suggested procedures and NRCA Guidelines for all projects. And, despite limited code enforcement, we adhere to International Residential Code (IRC). IRC specifies that in areas with a history of ice forming along the eaves, an ice barrier consisting of properly installed underlayment should be applied. Lone Star Cat provides Ice & Water Shield as a complementary service.
HAAG Engineering is a multi-faceted engineering and consulting company. HAAG is recognized as a global leader in setting the technical standards in numerous areas including mechanical and electrical engineering, construction and also catastrophe and roofing. For our specific industry, HAAG Education offers certification programs focused solely on roofing and wind damage assessment. Our project managers have completed this certification and share their knowledge and expertise across our team of project managers through education and mentoring.
In addition to being experts in identifying storm damage, at Lone Star Cat we also follow the industry guidelines for pricing. Xactimate is the standard price estimating software used by 80% of the risk industry. Since we work exclusively with insurance restoration claims, Lone Star Cat maintains a paid subscription for Xactimate Software to eliminate negotiation and pricing disputes. During the adjuster meeting, we work hard to set the correct “scope of damage.” The pricing is already determined by the standards set by Xactimate. This eliminates the "bidding" process. In addition, if any damage is missed or if any items need to be added to your claim, our expertise and use of the Xactimate software ensures that proper pricing is in place. (See further information on “How Bids Work Against You.”)
We are Licensed, Bonded, and Insured
Lone Star Catastrophe Services, Inc. maintains a Roofing Contractor Limited License by the State of Illinois. We carry a $10,000 Surety Bond and Worker’s Compensation Insurance. In addition, we carry $2,000,000 in General Liability Insurance. This ensures that in the extremely unlikely event that something goes wrong with your project (we have ZERO lost hours due to injury during the entirety of our 8 years in business), you will have no financial liability and all of our workers will be covered.