The first 24 hours after hail: a roofing crew playbook

First hour: verify before mobilizing

• Confirm the report time, location, source, and reported hail size.
• Check for nearby observations that may represent the same moving storm.
• Compare the event with saved markets and drive-time limits.
• Apply the company’s minimum hail threshold rather than reacting emotionally.

The goal is not perfect meteorology in sixty minutes. It is avoiding two expensive errors: missing a meaningful local event and dispatching a crew to every noisy observation.

Hours 1–3: decide capacity before promising appointments

Count available inspectors, production constraints, current customer obligations, and the number of follow-ups already due. Assign one person to weather and route updates so every salesperson is not running a different map. Existing customers in the affected market should receive priority over broad cold outreach.

Hours 2–6: build the smallest useful route

Start near credible observations and group candidate addresses by street. A compact route teaches the team more quickly than a large speculative territory. Ask field reps to report conditions, access issues, and obvious non-residential areas so the second route reflects local evidence rather than only desktop data.

A public report is not a customer lead and does not establish damage. See hail map versus address report before deciding what language belongs in a sales script.

Hours 3–12: communicate in the right order

1. Existing customers: offer a condition check without asserting damage.
2. Active prospects: reference the local report and ask whether they want an inspection.
3. Referral partners: share the verified storm context, not a sensational claim.
4. Field outreach: follow federal, state, and local solicitation and privacy requirements.

Keep messages specific: reported hail size, approximate area, observed time, and what your company can do next. Avoid “your roof was hit” unless a qualified inspection has established that fact.

Hours 12–24: reconcile the storm and schedule follow-up

Additional observations, corrections, and reports often arrive after the first alert. Review the event again, group likely duplicates, update the route, and separate confirmed field findings from weather-derived candidates. Record which prospects were contacted so a second nearby storm does not trigger an accidental duplicate introduction.

The one-page storm board

A manager should be able to see these facts without opening six tools:

• largest credible reported hail and observation window;
• distinct storm areas rather than raw notification count;
• markets that qualified and markets that did not;
• inspection capacity, assigned streets, and field findings;
• customers and prospects already contacted;
• the next review time.

RoofHeadsUp’s Hail Activity Index uses the same distinction between raw observations and distinct storm areas at the six-state level.