Water is coming in. The first job is stopping it — the second job is the one you get a written price for.
An emergency roof call is not a roofing job. It's a triage job that becomes a roofing job. Something has failed — a shingle field stripped by wind, a tree limb through the deck, flashing that finally let go in a storm — and water is actively entering the building. The priority is to stop that, protect what's underneath, and buy the time to do the permanent repair properly rather than badly in the dark.
We treat those as two separate pieces of work, and we price them separately, because merging them is how homeowners end up paying emergency rates for a whole roof. Stabilisation is stabilisation. The permanent fix gets scoped, photographed and quoted like any other repair, and you approve the price before we start it.
The goal is containment, not craftsmanship. Nothing done in an emergency stabilisation is meant to be permanent, and we'll tell you exactly which parts are temporary so you're never under the impression the roof is fixed when it isn't.
If this turns into an insurance claim — and storm-driven emergencies usually do — the adjuster is going to assess damage that has already been tarped over. Nobody can un-tarp a roof to prove what was underneath. The photographs taken in the first hour, before anything is covered, are frequently the entire evidentiary basis of the claim. We shoot them as a matter of course, slope by slope, with the same discipline as a full inspection, because the cost of not having them is measured in thousands.
Plenty of calls that feel like emergencies aren't, and we'd rather say so than charge you for urgency you don't need. A stain on a ceiling that hasn't grown in a week, a few missing shingles with no water entry, granules in the gutter after a storm — those are all real problems worth looking at, and none of them need somebody on your roof tonight. Booking a normal inspection gets you a better job at a lower cost.
We're roofers. We stop the water and we fix the roof. Drywall, insulation, flooring and anything mould-related is restoration work, and on an insurance claim it's usually a separate line handled by a restoration contractor. We'll document what we can see so it's in the record, and we'll tell you when you need someone else — that's a better outcome for you than a roofer improvising.
Emergency stabilisation is priced separately from the permanent repair, and it reflects the fact that it's unscheduled work, often after hours. We'll tell you what it is before we come. What we won't do is roll the urgency into the permanent repair price — that gets scoped and quoted normally.
Only from inside, and only if it's safe. Do not go on a wet, wind-loaded or hail-damaged roof — that is how people get seriously hurt, and Alberta roofs after a storm are covered in loose granules that behave like ball bearings. From inside, put a container under the drip and move what you can. Photograph everything before you move it.
Sudden and accidental damage — storm, wind, impact — is generally what a policy is for. Gradual failure from a roof that wore out usually isn't. That distinction is exactly what the documentation establishes, which is why the first-visit photographs matter so much. We can't tell you your policy will pay; we can make sure the evidence exists.
It depends on the day and on how many other people are calling — after a major storm, every roofer in Calgary is triaging at once and anyone promising you a guaranteed hour is guessing. We'll give you a real window when you call rather than a comforting one.
Drop your name and a way to reach you. We'll follow up with next steps — no pressure, no sales call.
