Most supplements fail before anyone writes a word, because the file behind them is incomplete. Four things decide whether a claim can be recovered on at all.
1. The carrier's full estimate
Every page, not the summary. The summary shows totals; the line items show what the adjuster actually counted, what was depreciated, and what was left out entirely. The gaps are only visible in the detail pages.
2. A complete photo package
This is the one that decides most claims. Photographs are the evidence behind every dollar requested — overview shots that establish the property, elevation shots for each slope, close-ups of damage with a scale reference, and shots of anything that had to be removed or opened up. More is always better. An item nobody photographed is an item nobody can bill.
3. Policy conditions and coverage
What the policy actually covers governs what can be requested. Code upgrade coverage matters most, because code-required work is frequently the largest missing category on a storm estimate — and whether it can be pursued at all depends on the policy, not the roof.
4. Claim number and property information
Administrative, but every submission has to land on the right desk with the right file attached, or it sits.
Build the file on the roof, not afterward
The difference between contractors who recover consistently and contractors who don't is rarely knowledge — it's capture. The crew is already on the property once. Everything the file needs should be documented during that visit, before anything is torn off, while the evidence still exists.