The roof is on.
Where's the last check?

What it tends to cost

On a replacement-cost policy, the carrier usually pays actual cash value first and holds the depreciation back until the work is done and proven. Texas also lets the carrier hold that money until it has reasonable proof the deductible was paid.

So the last check on every insurance job only shows up if the paperwork does. Not if the roof is good. If the paperwork is good.

Nobody has published how much recoverable depreciation roofers never collect, and I'm not going to invent a figure. For context only, a 2020 vendor survey of more than 540 construction firms put average days sales outstanding at 83 days, and that's construction generally rather than roofing.

What makes this category worth looking at first is the math on the other side. A job you didn't sell costs you the gross profit, because you never bought the materials. Money already earned is worth full value, because the roof is already on the house.

A better plan

Final invoice goes out the same or next business day, checked against the contract, the approved scope and any signed change orders. Most disputes are surprises, and a surprise is a timing failure more than a pricing one.

The depreciation package goes out within two business days of completion, with the photos and the certificate of completion the carrier will ask for anyway.

Keep one list of open depreciation, reviewed weekly, with the date requested and the policy deadline on every line. Policies have deadlines for claiming recoverable depreciation, and a missed deadline is money that simply stops existing.

Check this yourself this week

Run the A/R Aging Detail in QuickBooks Online as of today. Read everything past 60 days.

Then, separately, try to answer this without looking: how much recoverable depreciation are you owed right now, and how old is the oldest piece? If you can't answer it, that's the finding.

The napkin version

Ten minutes with your own numbers, no spreadsheet needed:

Completed insurance jobs with depreciation still held, times the average amount held, times the share you never end up collecting. Count this one at full value, because the roof is already on the house.

It'll be rough. That's the point. A rough number you worked out yourself is worth more than a precise one somebody sold you.

What the assessment does differently

The Leak Assessment reconciles your aging against your completed insurance jobs and tells you what's genuinely collectible, at full value rather than at margin, with the oldest items flagged against their policy deadlines. This is often the fastest money in the report, because it doesn't require selling anything.

Haven't taken the scorecard yet? It's twelve questions and about three minutes.