Does a home warranty cover a roof inspection?
A home warranty and homeowners insurance get confused all the time, but they do different jobs. A warranty plan pays to repair or replace things that wear out from normal use, like a water heater or an HVAC compressor. Insurance pays for sudden damage from a covered peril, like hail or a fallen limb. Roofs sit awkwardly between the two, which is why most warranty contracts carve them out.
What warranty plans usually say about roofs
- Base plans: commonly exclude the roof, gutters, flashing and skylights altogether.
- Roof leak add-ons: some companies sell optional coverage for leaks over occupied living space, usually limited to shingle or flashing repairs and capped at a modest dollar amount.
- Typical exclusions: pre-existing leaks, storm damage, ponding water, cosmetic issues and full replacement.
- Inspections: a routine inspection is maintenance, and warranty plans rarely pay for maintenance.
If you bought a home with a seller-paid warranty
Search the contract's coverage section for the words "roof" and "leak." If the roof is excluded, the warranty will not help with an inspection or a repair. If you have the add-on, the plan usually sends its own contractor after you open a service request, and that visit diagnoses one leak rather than evaluating the whole roof.
Where to get the roof looked at instead
After hail or high wind, most established roofers inspect for free, and that inspection is what you want before deciding whether to file a claim. If damage turns up, the claim goes to your homeowners insurer, not the warranty company. See whether homeowners insurance covers roof replacement and the after a hail storm checklist for next steps. When you are buying a home, the general home inspection includes a visual roof review, but a roofer actually walks the slopes and checks flashing, pipe boots and soft spots that are hard to judge from a ladder.