May and June Storm Season Readiness: 72-Hour Response Plan

The 72 hour window decides the storm

When a hail storm hits a neighborhood, the first 72 hours determine who books 80 percent of the jobs. Homeowners talk to neighbors, Facebook posts start, and the canvassers who show up first win. The rest of the companies pick over leftovers for 6 months.

Here is the storm readiness playbook we run in May and June so that when the alert goes out, we are in the neighborhood within 6 hours.

The storm response team structure

Before the first storm of the season, you need:

• Storm commander: Usually the owner or sales manager. Makes the go call and commands the first 72 hours.
• Canvass team lead: Deploys knockers and sets street assignments in real time.
• Inside support: Answers phones, schedules inspections, and feeds leads to closers.
• Materials liaison: Owns the supplier and emergency order relationships.
• Crew coordinator: Assigns production crews to tarp jobs and emergency repairs.

These are not dedicated hires. They are assignments on your existing team with clear role cards in RoofKnockers.

The 72 hour response plan

Hour 0 to 6: Activate

1. Storm commander confirms event via NOAA storm reports and local news
2. Group text to all reps with zip codes and meeting location
3. Canvass team lead assigns streets and deploys 2-rep teams
4. Inside support opens a dedicated phone queue
5. Materials liaison confirms supplier availability and standby pricing

Hour 6 to 24: First contact

1. Every rep has a door-hanger with the free inspection offer
2. Target: 100 doors per canvasser on day one
3. Inspection slots opened up to 7 days out
4. Emergency tarp crew dispatched on any roof with active leaking
5. Daily 7 pm huddle to adjust territory

Hour 24 to 72: Convert

1. Inspections scheduled and completed on storm homes
2. Claims filed with adjusters in the 24 to 48 hour window
3. Contracts signed with contingency language
4. Target: 25 signed contingency agreements per canvasser in first 72 hours

Housing commitments

If the storm is more than 90 minutes from your office, you need housing ready. Sign 3 Airbnb or extended stay partnerships in March for each market you serve. Pay a 500 dollar monthly retainer to keep 4 to 8 bedrooms on call. Having a place to sleep is the difference between a rep staying for the week and driving home after day 2.

Vendor standby

Before the season starts, sign standby agreements with:

• 2 dumpster vendors with 24 hour swap SLAs
• 1 portable toilet vendor with 48 hour deployment
• 1 emergency tarp crew (in-house or contracted)
• 2 supplier locations that will open early on request

Pay a 250 to 500 dollar standby fee if needed. Having the phone ring answered at 6 am on storm day is worth it.

Crew overtime policy

Production slows during storm chasing because your canvass team pulls your A players. Set a clear overtime policy so your install crews do not quit in July:

ShiftPay rateNotesStandard M-FBase hourly or piece rateDefaultSaturday1.25xVoluntary for first 4 weeks of peakSunday1.5xEmergency only, requires owner approvalOver 50 hours1.5x overtimeW-2 compliance, even for piece rate

Supplement follow through

Storm season reveals who actually supplements. Set the expectation that every single claim gets a supplement request after the first approval. Average supplement on a full replacement should be 2,000 to 4,000 dollars. If your average is under 1,500, you are leaving money on the table.

Train your closers in our sales bootcamp on the supplement process before the season starts.

Owner command checklist

During a storm, the owner stops being a contributor and becomes a commander. Your job:

1. Read the radar and storm reports daily at 6 am
2. Run a 7 am commander call with the 5 leads
3. Approve overtime and housing spend over 1,000 dollars
4. Handle escalations on adjuster disputes
5. Attend the 7 pm debrief

Do not knock doors yourself during storms unless you have zero reps available. Your time is worth 500 dollars an hour on command and strategy.

Storm season tech stack

Storm chasing breaks spreadsheet operations. By May 1, every piece of your tech should be dialed:

• CRM for contingency contracts (RoofKnockers or equivalent)
• Photo app with automatic upload for every inspection
• EagleView or Hover for every single estimate
• Xactimate for supplement letters
• DocuSign or native e-sign for contingency and final contracts

FAQ

How far will you chase a storm?

Our rule: within 3 hours drive for 3+ inch hail. Over 3 hours we evaluate on size of storm and available crew capacity. Chasing 6 hours away usually eats your margin in travel and housing.

How many canvassers per storm?

Deploy 1 canvasser per 500 homes in the affected zip. A 5,000 home suburb gets 10 canvassers on day one.

What if I cannot produce fast enough after a storm?

Sign a mutual aid agreement with a roofing company 2 states away. They help you produce during your storm, you help them during theirs. 8 to 12 percent revenue share to their crews. Better than losing customers because you cannot install for 8 weeks.