Can a roofer waive my insurance deductible in Texas?

No. Under Texas Business and Commerce Code Section 27.02, a contractor who expects to be paid wholly or partly from a property insurance claim may not pay, waive, absorb, rebate or otherwise help you avoid your deductible, and doing so is a Class B misdemeanor (Tex. Bus. & Com. Code 27.02). Contracts of $1,000 or more for such work must carry a printed notice saying exactly that. Separately, Texas Insurance Code Section 4102.163 says a contractor may not act as a public adjuster, or advertise to adjust claims, for any property it is working on (Tex. Ins. Code 4102.163). "We'll take care of your deductible" is therefore not a discount. It is an offer to commit an offense with you as the insured party.

What the statute actually says

Section 27.02(c) lists three things a seller of goods or services may not do without the insurer's consent when the seller reasonably expects to be paid from a property insurance claim: pay, waive, absorb or otherwise decline to charge or collect the insured's deductible; provide a rebate or credit that offsets all or part of the deductible; or in any other manner assist the insured in avoiding payment of the deductible (Section 27.02(c)). The third clause is the wide one. Inflating the invoice to the insurer so that the "deductible" is covered by the claim, adding a line for work that is not done, or handing back cash after the check clears are all "any other manner."

Section 27.02(b) requires a contract with a price of $1,000 or more for goods or services reasonably expected to be paid from a property insurance claim to contain, in at least 12-point boldfaced type, this notice: "Texas law requires a person insured under a property insurance policy to pay any deductible applicable to a claim made under the policy. It is a violation of Texas law for a seller of goods or services who reasonably expects to be paid wholly or partly from the proceeds of a property insurance claim to knowingly allow the insured person to fail to pay, or assist the insured person's failure to pay, the applicable insurance deductible." (Section 27.02(b)). If your roofing contract does not have that paragraph, the contractor has not complied with the statute before a single shingle has been priced.

Section 27.02(d) makes an offense under the section a Class B misdemeanor (Section 27.02(d)).

Why the offer is a warning sign for you, not just for the roofer

The deductible is your share of the loss under your own policy. If the roofer "covers" it, the money has to come from somewhere, and there are only two places: the roofer's margin, which is rare, or the insurer, through an invoice that is higher than the work. In the second case you have signed a claim you know to be inflated. The contractor's exposure is a misdemeanor; yours is the insurer's fraud investigation, a denied claim or a cancelled policy. That is a bad trade for the price of a deductible.

The offer also tells you about the quote. A roofer who is willing to absorb a deductible has room in the price to absorb it, which means the price was not built from labor hours and materials. Our guide on checking a roofing quote line by line shows how far a shingle line and a labor line can be tested against public data; a quote with a hidden deductible in it will usually show up in the labor line.

The roofer cannot handle your claim either

Texas Insurance Code Section 4102.051 says a person may not act as a public insurance adjuster, or hold themselves out as one, without a license. Section 4102.163 goes further for contractors: a contractor may not act as a public adjuster or advertise to adjust claims for any property for which the contractor is providing or may provide contracting services (Tex. Ins. Code 4102.051 and 4102.163). That means the roofer who offers to "meet the adjuster for you," "handle the whole claim" or "negotiate the supplement" on your roof is stepping outside what the Insurance Code allows, whatever the contract calls it.

You can have someone on your side of the claim. A licensed public adjuster, working under a written contract on the form the commissioner approves (Section 4102.103), may do it. Your roofer may not, and a roofer who insists on it is asking to be both the party who decides how much the claim is and the party who gets paid from it.

What to do when a roofer offers it

1. Say no to the deductible offer, and keep the message. A written offer to waive a deductible is evidence if the job later goes wrong.
2. Read the contract for the Section 27.02 notice. If it is not there on a job of $1,000 or more (Section 27.02(b)), ask why before signing.
3. Do not sign an assignment of benefits or a "direction to pay" that lets the contractor deal with the insurer in your place. Stay the one who talks to the adjuster.
4. Ask the contractor for a quote built from crew hours, squares and product names, the same as any other roofing job. The insurer's estimate and the contractor's quote should describe the same roof.
5. Report a contractor who insists. The Texas Department of Insurance takes complaints about claim handling, and a Class B misdemeanor is a matter for local law enforcement.

If you want the contractor's quote and the insurer's scope checked against public data before you sign, upload them. We compare labor hours to the local BLS wage with the TxDOT loading and shingles to the import chain, print every source and formula, and write the questions for you. We are paid by homeowners only and take no fee from contractors or insurers. Check a quote from $39.

Questions

Is it illegal for a roofer to waive a deductible in Texas?

Yes. Texas Business and Commerce Code Section 27.02 makes it a Class B misdemeanor for a seller who expects to be paid from a property insurance claim to pay, waive, absorb, rebate or otherwise help the insured avoid the deductible.

Does my roofing contract have to mention the deductible?

If the contract is for $1,000 or more and is to be paid from a property insurance claim, Section 27.02(b) requires a boldface notice stating that Texas law requires the insured to pay the deductible and that helping them avoid it is a violation.

Can my roofer negotiate with the insurance adjuster for me?

No. Insurance Code Section 4102.163 bars a contractor from acting as a public adjuster or advertising to adjust claims on any property it works on. A licensed public adjuster, under a written contract, can.

What happens to me if I accept a deductible waiver?

The statute's offense is the contractor's, but the money usually comes from an inflated invoice to your insurer, which puts your claim and your policy at risk. Decline the offer in writing and keep the message.

Sources

Every figure above links to the public record it comes from. The wage, import, margin and markup figures are the ones our reports use, published as USCCDB v1.0 under CC BY 4.0. Statutes and city pages are quoted as published on September 27, 2026; check the source for changes.

1. Texas Business and Commerce Code, Chapter 27, Section 27.02
2. Texas Insurance Code, Chapter 4102 (Sections 4102.051, 4102.103 and 4102.163)
3. Federal Trade Commission, consumer advice: How To Avoid a Home Improvement Scam

Related guides

• The contractor says the price is only good today. What can I do?
• Is my roofing quote too high?
• How much should a roof replacement cost in Austin, TX?

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