The Roofer Who Offers to Cover Your Deductible Just Put Your Insurance Claim at Risk

A hailstorm rolls through, and two days later there’s a guy on your porch. Free inspection. He’s seen worse on your block. Then the line he’s been saving: “Don’t worry about the deductible. We’ll take care of that.”

In Minnesota, saying that is the violation. He doesn’t have to follow through. The promise is enough.

Most homeowners hear “we’ll cover your deductible” as a discount. It’s the opposite. The statute that bans the pitch, Minn. Stat. § 325E.66, has a sentence almost nobody reads, and that sentence doesn’t land on the roofer. It lands on your claim. Once a contractor breaks the rule, your insurer “shall not be obligated to consider the estimate prepared by the residential contractor.” The one piece of paper saying the adjuster missed something can walk right out of the file. Some discount.

Is it illegal for a roofer to pay my deductible in Minnesota?

Yes. He doesn’t even have to pay it:

A residential contractor providing home repair or improvement services to be paid by an insured from the proceeds of a property or casualty insurance policy shall not:

(1) as an inducement to the sale or provision of goods or services to an insured, advertise or promise to pay, directly or indirectly, all or part of any applicable insurance deductible or offer to compensate an insured for providing any service to the insured.

— Minn. Stat. § 325E.66, subd. 1(a)(1) (emphasis added)

The verbs are “advertise or promise”. No money has to change hands. I read a storm roofer’s yard sign that says “We Pay Your Deductible” as a violation before anybody’s signed anything. And “directly or indirectly” and “all or part” are there for the guy who’s too clever to say the word “deductible.” He calls it a “storm credit” that just happens to equal half your deductible. I read those phrases to reach it just as surely as the cash.

The Legislature rewrote subdivision 1 in 2024 and, having clearly met a few of these guys, spelled out the side deals by name. The ban on compensating you “includes but is not limited to offering compensation in exchange for” letting the contractor inspect the property, “making an insurance claim for damage to the covered property”, or “referring the residential contractor’s services to others when insurance proceeds are payable”. § 325E.66, subd. 1(a)(1)(i)–(iii); 2024 Minn. Laws ch. 114, art. 1, § 14. A free inspection is fine. Getting paid to allow one isn’t. Neither is the referral bonus for every neighbor you send his way.

And it isn’t only roofers. The section covers residential roofers, residential building contractors, and residential remodelers, each as defined in § 326B.802. § 325E.66, subd. 1(c). Which label fits the guy on your porch is a licensing question under chapter 326B.

Is it a crime, or just a rule?

It’s a crime. The Legislature just makes you chase two cross-references to find that out.

Section 325E.66 doesn’t mention a penalty. Subdivision 3 says only that “[t]he commissioner of labor and industry shall enforce this section under sections 326B.081 to 326B.085.” Off you go. Section 326B.081, subdivision 3, defines “applicable law” for those sections, and § 325E.66 is on the list by number. Then § 326B.082, subdivision 16:

Except as otherwise provided by law, a person who violates an applicable law is guilty of a misdemeanor.

In Minnesota a misdemeanor is “a crime for which a sentence of not more than 90 days or a fine of not more than $1,000, or both, may be imposed.” § 609.02, subd. 3.

The Department of Labor and Industry has civil tools too, and those are what actually keep a contractor up at night. The commissioner may issue an administrative order with a penalty “of up to $10,000 for each violation”, § 326B.082, subd. 7(a), and may deny, suspend, limit, condition, or revoke a license for a violation of applicable law, § 326B.082, subd. 11(b)(1). For a storm chaser with a license and a truck, the license is the business.

Who actually gets hurt? You do.

Here’s paragraph (b), the part they skip on the porch:

If a residential contractor violates this section, the insurer to whom the insured tendered the claim shall not be obligated to consider the estimate prepared by the residential contractor. The residential contractor must provide a written notification of the requirements of this section with its initial estimate. The adjuster or insurer must provide a written notification of the requirements of this section in the initial estimate relating to the claim.

— Minn. Stat. § 325E.66, subd. 1(b)

Here’s how a hail claim goes. The adjuster writes a number. The contractor writes a bigger one. The whole fight is over the gap, and the contractor’s estimate is usually the only thing in your file saying the adjuster came in short. Paragraph (b) lets the insurer set that estimate aside. The roofer broke the law, and your claim takes the hit.

The second and third sentences have been there since 2018. 2018 Minn. Laws ch. 209, § 1. Both sides owe you a written notice of these rules: the contractor with its first estimate, and the adjuster or insurer in the first estimate on the claim. Got an adjuster’s estimate on the kitchen table? Go look. It’s supposed to be in there.

Then there’s the question nobody on the porch wants to answer. If the roofer’s giving away your deductible, where’s it coming from? Either it was baked into his price all along, or he plans to find it in the claim.

That second version has a name. Minnesota’s insurance-fraud statute reaches anyone who, “with the intent to defraud for the purpose of depriving another of property or for pecuniary gain,” presents, “causes to be presented,” or “prepares with knowledge or reason to believe that it will be presented, by or on behalf of an insured,” information that “contains a false representation as to any material fact, or that conceals a material fact” concerning “a claim for payment or benefit under an insurance policy”. § 609.611, subd. 1(a)(2). Intent to defraud is an element, so a homeowner who had no idea what the roofer was up to isn’t who that sentence describes. But when a deductible gets buried in an estimate, the estimate is the false statement, and it goes in on your claim, with your name at the top.

And that statute’s in no hurry. The limitations period “shall not begin to run until the insurance company or law enforcement agency is aware of the fraud, but in no event may the prosecution be commenced later than seven years after the act has occurred.” § 609.611, subd. 2. On conviction, restitution “must be ordered”. § 609.611, subd. 3.

Can the contractor deal with my insurance company for me?

Not unless he’s a licensed public adjuster. The 2024 rewrite put this on the list of things a residential contractor shall not do:

(3) interpret policy provisions or advise an insured regarding coverages or duties under the insured’s policy, or adjust a property insurance claim on behalf of the insured, unless the contractor has a license as a public adjuster under chapter 72B.

— Minn. Stat. § 325E.66, subd. 1(a)(3)

That “unless” looks like a door. Then you open the public-adjuster statute. Among the things no public adjuster shall do:

(6) have an interest directly or indirectly in a construction firm, salvage firm, or appraisal firm.

— Minn. Stat. § 72B.135, subd. 4(6)

Put those side by side and, the way I read them, the door’s painted on the wall. Sure, a roofer can get the license. But a licensed public adjuster can’t have an interest in a construction firm, and a roofer’s own company is a construction firm. That’s my reading of two statutes together. I haven’t found a court that’s put them together.

What the contractor can do, and has to do, is hand you real numbers. A residential contractor shall not “provide an insured with an agreement authorizing repairs without also providing a good faith estimate of the itemized and detailed cost of services and materials undertaken pursuant to a property and casualty claim”. § 325E.66, subd. 1(a)(2). Whatever the form calls itself (authorization, agreement, assignment, direction to pay), if it authorizes repairs, the itemized estimate has to come with it. A one-page form with a signature line and no prices on it is exactly what that sentence was written for.

Want somebody to argue with the insurer for you? That’s what a real public adjuster is for. He works for you, for a fee, and the statute makes him disclose that fee in writing. § 72B.135, subd. 5(b).

What if the insurer denies the claim after I’ve signed?

You get a short window to back out. Section 326B.811 lets you cancel the contract “within 72 hours after the insured has been notified by the insurer that the claim has been denied.” The licensing side, including the notice form he has to give you before you sign, is at /news/minnesota-hiring-a-contractor-recovery-fund/.

Emergency work gets paid anyway. If the contractor “has performed any emergency services, the contractor is entitled to compensation for such services.” § 326B.811, subd. 3. Cancel all you want. The tarp still isn’t free.

The statute can’t make up its mind about refunds. The cancellation form the contractor must attach says payments come back “within ten business days following receipt by the contractor of your cancellation notice.” § 326B.811, subd. 2(a)(2). The very next subdivision says the contractor must tender your payments “[w]ithin ten days after” the contract is canceled. § 326B.811, subd. 3. Same section, two clocks. Somebody at the Capitol should’ve caught that.

Is it only roofing? The Revisor’s headnote says roofing, and subdivision 4 defines “contractor” as a residential roofer, or a building contractor or remodeler “who is providing roofing services”. But the sentence in subdivision 1 that actually gives you the right names residential building contractors, remodelers, and roofers with no roofing limit, and headnotes, however official they look, aren’t part of the statute, § 645.49. So a siding or window contract paid from insurance has a real argument under subdivision 1, and the contractor has an argument from subdivision 4. No appellate court has settled it that I found. And the right is triggered by a denial. The statute doesn’t say what happens when the insurer approves the claim at a third of what the roofer wrote. A lowball feels a lot like a denial. I read the statute not to reach one.

There may be a second exit, depending on how the roofer found you. Minnesota’s home-solicitation statute covers sales of “goods, services, or improvements to real property” that the seller personally solicits, when you agree to buy somewhere other than the seller’s place of business, § 325G.06, subd. 2, and it carries its own cancellation right, § 325G.07. It has exclusions, including one for a buyer who called the seller out to make a repair. How that one works, and what happens when the seller never hands over the notice, is at /news/minnesota-home-solicitation-sales-cancellation-325g/.

So where’s the homeowner’s real leverage?

Not with the roofer. With the policy.

Minnesota writes an appraisal clause into fire policies by statute, § 65A.01, subd. 3, and hail has its own version with its own short deadlines, § 65A.26. That’s where a fight over the amount of the loss can go. I wrote about how appraisal works, and what it can’t decide, at /news/minnesota-property-insurance-appraisal-65a01/. If the insurer itself is the problem, Minnesota’s bad-faith statute is a formula, not a tort, and I explained how it actually pays out at /news/minnesota-insurance-bad-faith-604-18/.

You can also go after the contractor himself. If a residential contractor violates subdivision 1, “the insured or the applicable insurer may bring an action against the residential contractor in a court of competent jurisdiction for damages sustained by the insured or insurer as a consequence of the residential contractor’s violation.” § 325E.66, subd. 2. Your insurer gets the same lawsuit you do, which is a fun thing for a roofer to find out. The section says nothing about attorney fees, though, so plan on the damages being the case. You can also take a complaint to the Department of Labor and Industry, which enforces the section. § 325E.66, subd. 3.

And if a roofer you’ve fired turns around and records a lien against the house, chapter 514 decides whether it survives. The deadlines are short and unforgiving, and I laid them out at /news/minnesota-mechanics-lien-deadlines/.

I went looking for a Minnesota appellate decision applying § 325E.66 or § 326B.811 and didn’t find one. That search ran through CourtListener, which has real gaps for Minnesota and doesn’t index district court files. So a lot of what’s above is the plain text, read straight, with no court’s gloss on it yet.

Your deductible’s the cheapest part of your claim. Don’t trade the rest of it to save that.

Madgett Law, LLC

Madgett Law, LLC represents Minnesota property owners in first-party insurance disputes, including fire, wind, hail, and water losses, appraisal demands, coverage denials, and suit-limitation deadlines. I also represent Minnesota consumers in disputes with contractors, including door-to-door and in-home sales. More on that work is on our general litigation page. If a storm contractor is holding your claim hostage, or your insurer is hiding behind his estimate, call me at 612-470-6529 or send us a message.

Sources: Minn. Stat. § 325E.66 (2025), subd. 1(a)(1) (deductible-payment and compensation inducements), subd. 1(a)(1)(i)–(iii) (inspection, claim, and referral compensation), subd. 1(a)(2) (good-faith itemized estimate with any repair authorization), subd. 1(a)(3) (no interpreting, advising, or adjusting without a ch. 72B public adjuster license), subd. 1(b) (insurer not obligated to consider the violating contractor’s estimate; contractor’s and adjuster’s or insurer’s written-notification duties), subd. 1(c) (residential contractor defined by reference to § 326B.802, subds. 11, 12, 14), subd. 2 (private action by the insured or the insurer), subd. 3 (enforcement by the commissioner of labor and industry). 2024 Minn. Laws ch. 114, art. 1, § 14 (2024 rewrite of § 325E.66, subd. 1). 2018 Minn. Laws ch. 209, § 1 (written-notification sentences). Minn. Stat. § 326B.081, subd. 3 (definition of “applicable law”, including § 325E.66). Minn. Stat. § 326B.082, subd. 7(a) (administrative penalty up to $10,000 per violation), subd. 11(b)(1) (licensing orders for violations of applicable law), subd. 16 (misdemeanor). Minn. Stat. § 609.02, subd. 3 (misdemeanor defined). Minn. Stat. § 609.611, subd. 1(a)(2) (insurance fraud concerning a claim), subd. 2 (limitations), subd. 3 (sentence; mandatory restitution). Minn. Stat. § 72B.135, subd. 1 (72-hour cancellation of a public-adjuster contract), subd. 4(6) (no interest in a construction firm), subd. 5(b) (written fee disclosure). Minn. Stat. § 326B.811, subd. 1 (72-hour cancellation after notice of denial), subd. 2(a)(2) (notice-of-cancellation form; ten business days), subd. 3 (ten-day tender; emergency services), subd. 4 (contractor defined by roofing services). Minn. Stat. § 325G.06, subd. 2 (home solicitation sale defined; exclusions); § 325G.07 (buyer’s right to cancel). Minn. Stat. § 65A.01, subd. 3 (statutory fire-policy appraisal provision); § 65A.26 (hail-policy appraisal clause). Minn. Stat. § 645.49 (headnotes are not part of the statute). This article is general legal information about Minnesota law. It is not legal advice, it does not create an attorney–client relationship, and no particular outcome is promised or implied.