Storm damage to a roof: how do you price, document and invoice work the insurer pays for?

With storm damage to a roof your client is the customer, not the insurer. The customer receives your invoice and still owes the agreed price, even if the insurer pays out less. The insurer makes a payment to its policyholder, or to you through a deed of assignment.

Split the work into an emergency repair and a permanent repair. The emergency repair counts as damage mitigation: the insurer pays for it if the measure was necessary, reasonable and effective. Your photos and your damage report help decide what is paid.

Position as at 29 October 2026. Policy terms differ between insurers. If in doubt, read the customer's policy terms.

In this article

1. Who is your client when the insurer pays for storm damage?
2. What is the difference between an emergency repair and a permanent repair?
3. What photos and damage report does the insurer need?
4. How do you price emergency work and work in the evening or at the weekend?
5. Who receives the invoice, and what does a deed of assignment arrange?
6. What do you do if the insurer pays less than your invoice?
7. When does a loss adjuster come, and what does that mean for you?
8. How do you handle storm work in your accounts?

Who is your client when the insurer pays for storm damage?

Your client is the customer who asks you to repair the roof. For a home that is usually the owner, because storm damage to a home is usually covered by the buildings insurance (Dutch Association of Insurers, 2026). The insurer makes a payment to its policyholder. It does not buy your work.

That is why your invoice goes to the customer, even when the insurer transfers the money. No VAT is charged on compensation that someone receives as an insurance payment (Tax Administration, VAT on compensation). The VAT is only on your invoice for the work.

With a rented home or a flat, ask who owns the roof and who may give the order. Have that party sign the job sheet.

What is the difference between an emergency repair and a permanent repair?

An emergency repair stops the damage from getting worse straight away, for example a tarpaulin over a hole or putting loose tiles back. A permanent repair restores the roof to how it should be. Treat them as two jobs, with two job sheets and two invoices.

For the insurance that difference matters. After damage the policyholder must take reasonable measures to prevent or limit the damage, and the insurer pays the costs of doing so (Article 7:957 of the Dutch Civil Code). A policy may not limit that payment to the detriment of the policyholder (Article 7:963(5) of the Dutch Civil Code). These costs are called mitigation costs.

The Supreme Court sets two conditions. The policyholder must reasonably have assumed that there was an immediate threat that could only be removed with special measures. And the measures must be reasonable and effective. In principle the policyholder may rely on the advice of an expert (Supreme Court, 22 April 2022). So write on the job sheet what threat you saw and why it could not wait.

Repair is not automatically mitigation. At Kifid, the Dutch complaints institute for financial services, a consumer claimed €561.95 for repairing a leaking pipe as mitigation costs. The committee rejected this, because the damage could also have been prevented by switching off the boiler and draining the system (Kifid, ruling 2026-0487). It concerned underfloor heating, but the lesson also applies to a roof.

The Dutch Association of Insurers advises not to wait unnecessarily when damage needs limiting immediately, and to agree the permanent repair with the insurer or adviser (Dutch Association of Insurers, 2026). Only start the permanent repair once the insurer has agreed, or the customer bears the costs themselves.

The split also helps with the cooling-off period. A consumer who called you out for an urgent repair cannot cancel that agreement, but extra work is not covered by this (Article 6:230p(b) of the Dutch Civil Code). See also getting paid for work in the home.

What photos and damage report does the insurer need?

Take overview photos and detail photos, before and after the emergency repair, and write a short damage report. Also keep the invoices for emergency measures and repairs, as the Dutch Association of Insurers advises (Dutch Association of Insurers, 2026).

The customer must report the damage as soon as reasonably possible. They must give the insurer, within a reasonable time, all information and documents needed to assess the claim (Article 7:941 of the Dutch Civil Code). Your photos and report are often exactly those documents.

• Address, date and time of your visit, and the date of the storm according to the customer.
• What you found: which part of the roof, how many tiles or metres of roofing, and damage inside.
• The condition of the surrounding roof: age, wear and earlier repairs.
• What you did as an emergency measure, with hours and materials.
• What the permanent repair needs, as a separate estimate.

Write down what you see, even if it does not help the customer. In a case at Kifid a consumer reported a leak in a flat roof and sent the roofer's quote along. It included removing rotten timber. The expert used that quote and the roofer's photos to establish that the roof had been leaking for a long time (Kifid, ruling 2021-0548).

As a result, the roof repair, a quote of about €1,380 according to the consumer, remained at his own expense. The damage inside, put at €725 by the expert, was paid.

A clear report also protects you. In a field experiment with computer repairs, the bill rose by more than 80% when the repairer heard that an insurer would pay. In the control group the average price was about €70 (Kerschbamer, Neururer & Sutter, 2016). It was not about roofs, but it explains why insurers read damage invoices closely.

How do you price emergency work and work in the evening or at the weekend?

State the price in advance, even in an emergency. Agree a fixed amount or an hourly rate with a surcharge and put it on the job sheet. If no price was agreed, the client owes a reasonable price. What counts is what you usually charge and what expectation about the price you created (Article 7:752 of the Dutch Civil Code).

An emergency surcharge is easy to explain if it covers your real extra costs. If your staff fall under the Bikudak collective agreement, you pay a supplement on the hourly wage for overtime. For staff on standby the agreement sets a fixed allowance per day (Bikudak collective agreement, Articles 10A1 and 13A).

If your company falls under another collective agreement, check that agreement. Only charge the surcharge on the hours that really fall outside normal working time.

You charge the same VAT rate on the emergency surcharge as on the work. You charge VAT on the total amount you invoice, including costs such as travel costs (Tax Administration, charging VAT on services). For roof repairs that is usually 21%. When 9% or 0% is possible is explained in the article on VAT on roofing work.

Put the surcharge on the invoice as a separate line, with date and time. Then the customer can show the insurer why the work could not wait until Monday.

Who receives the invoice, and what does a deed of assignment arrange?

The invoice is in the name of your customer, with the insurer's claim number as reference. Make separate invoices for the emergency repair and the permanent repair. Then the insurer can see straight away which part is mitigation costs.

If you want to receive the money directly from the insurer, the customer can transfer their claim against the insurer to you. This is called assignment. It is done with a deed, a statement signed by the customer, and a notice to the insurer (Article 3:94 of the Dutch Civil Code). After that the insurer pays you.

Assignment does not make the insurer your client. You only get the right to the insurance payment. State in the deed or the order that the customer pays the rest themselves, and within what period.

Who gets the VAT back depends on the customer. A consumer cannot deduct the VAT, so for them the VAT is part of the damage. A business with the right to deduct reclaims the VAT through its VAT return. Its insurer then often pays out without VAT, and the customer pays you the VAT themselves (VAT on damage repair).

What do you do if the insurer pays less than your invoice?

Then the customer pays the difference. Your agreement is with the customer, who still owes the agreed price. What the insurer pays out is a matter between the customer and their insurer.

There are a few common causes. Cover, terms and excess differ per policy (Dutch Association of Insurers, 2026). An excess is deducted from the payment. Wear or a roof that had been leaking for a long time is often not covered. And a policy may pay less for an old roof.

An example of the last point. For a slate roof containing asbestos from 1930, the insurer paid only 5% of the damage to the roof, based on a depreciation clause. The consumers claimed €59,546. Kifid did not find the clause unreasonably onerous and rejected the claim (Kifid, ruling 2026-0611). It was a non-binding opinion.

A worked example. The permanent repair costs €4,000 plus €840 VAT, €4,840 in total. Through a deed of assignment the insurer pays you €4,200. The customer pays you the remaining €640. Put that in the order beforehand.

For a larger repair ask for a deposit or instalments, but mind the cooling-off period. If you made the agreement with a consumer at their home, you can only demand payment once the cooling-off period has ended (Article 6:230t(5) of the Dutch Civil Code). That cooling-off period does not apply to the urgent repair the customer asked for.

Do not link your payment term to the insurance payment. Write in the order that the invoice must be paid within your normal term, even if the insurer has not yet decided.

When does a loss adjuster come, and what does that mean for you?

The insurer sends a loss adjuster when it wants the cause and the amount of the damage established. The insurer decides per claim. In the Kifid case about the flat roof, the insurer appointed an adjuster to establish the amount and the cause (Kifid, ruling 2021-0548).

The reasonable costs of establishing the damage are borne by the insurer (Article 7:959(1) of the Dutch Civil Code). According to Kifid this only applies once it is established that the damage is covered. The customer then pays for their own expert, a counter-expert, to prove the cause (Kifid, ruling 2021-0548).

Wait with the permanent repair until the adjuster has been or the insurer agrees. In the same case the roofer repaired the roof on the day the adjuster called. The adjuster then assessed the damage from photos alone, and those photos were decisive.

If the adjuster comes, make sure you are there or can be reached, with your photos, report and estimate. The customer may then sign a deed of valuation, a document recording the amount of the damage, as in the asbestos case (Kifid, ruling 2026-0611).

How do you handle storm work in your accounts?

Book every invoice to the customer as a debtor, even if the insurer pays. You match a payment received through assignment against the customer's open item. The difference stays open in the customer's name.

Create a file per claim with the claim number, the job sheets, the photos, the report, the deed of assignment and the emails with the insurer. An insurance payment can come months later.

If the permanent repair runs over the year end, it is work in progress: work that has started but is not yet finished and invoiced. It goes on the balance sheet like any other project. How that works is explained in the article on work in progress at a roofing company.

Keep a separate eye on storm peaks. After the February storms of 2022 the Dutch Association of Insurers estimated the insured damage at at least 500 million euros, with many roof tiles blown off (Dutch Association of Insurers, 2022). After such a storm, set a fixed day to go through all open insurance items.

Sources

• Dutch Association of Insurers (22 October 2026). Storm Austen on its way: prevent damage before the wind really picks up. verzekeraars.nl
• Tax Administration (Belastingdienst). VAT on subsidies, compensation and voluntary contributions, consulted 29 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl
• Dutch Civil Code Book 7, Articles 7:752, 7:941, 7:957, 7:959 and 7:963, version in force from 8 October 2026. wetten.overheid.nl
• Supreme Court of the Netherlands, 22 April 2022, ECLI:NL:HR:2022:588 (mitigation costs). rechtspraak.nl
• Kifid Disputes Committee, ruling 2026-0487, 22 May 2026, binding opinion. kifid.nl
• Dutch Civil Code Book 6, Articles 6:230p and 6:230t. wetten.overheid.nl
• Financial Services Disputes Committee (Kifid), ruling 2021-0548, 15 June 2021, binding opinion. kifid.nl
• Kerschbamer, R., Neururer, D. & Sutter, M. (2016). Insurance coverage of customers induces dishonesty of sellers in markets for credence goods. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(27), 7454-7458. doi.org
• Collective agreement for bituminous and synthetic roofing companies (Bikudak), 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2027, Articles 10A1 and 13A. fnv.nl
• Tax Administration (Belastingdienst). Charging VAT on services, consulted 29 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl
• Dutch Civil Code Book 3, Article 3:94, version in force from 1 July 2025. wetten.overheid.nl
• Kifid Disputes Committee, ruling 2026-0611, 25 June 2026, non-binding opinion. kifid.nl
• Dutch Association of Insurers (21 February 2022). Over 500 million euros of damage from the February storms. verzekeraars.nl