Published August 6, 2026 — Hurricanes make landfall twice in Florida: once as weather, once as the convoy of out-of-state trucks that arrives with the sunshine. Some carry honest crews; a predictable share carry the same four schemes that follow every storm. Here’s each one’s playbook, the tells, and the verification protocol that keeps your roof AND your claim intact.
The knock comes within days: out-of-area plates, “we’re doing your neighbor’s roof,” today-only pricing, and a large deposit to “get you on the schedule.” The endings vary — vanished deposits, tarp-quality “repairs,” unpermitted work that fails inspection, liens from unpaid suppliers — but the opening is always urgency plus cash. The protocol: Florida license verified on the DBPR site (unlicensed contracting is a crime here, and after emergencies the state actively hunts it), a physical local address, certificates of insurance you call to confirm, written scope and permits, and payment structured so money follows completed work — never large sums up front.
The friendliest-sounding fraud in Florida. Your hurricane deductible is real money — 2–5% of dwelling coverage — and the contractor’s “free” solution is an inflated invoice to the insurer that quietly covers it. That’s insurance fraud, the homeowner signs the paperwork that commits it, and Florida statute says so explicitly. The tell is the opener itself: any contractor leading with “you won’t pay your deductible” has announced their invoicing philosophy. Walk.
An Assignment of Benefits hands a contractor your claim — the right to bill, negotiate, and litigate against your insurer in your name. Reforms have narrowed the abuse, but the driveway version persists: sign here so we can “deal with the insurance for you,” and control of your largest financial event transfers to a stranger with a clipboard — sometimes with your payout inflated, contested, and delayed while their attorneys work. The rule: sign work authorizations narrowly, keep claim control, and let anything titled “assignment” spend a night with your own reading glasses (or an attorney) first.
Licensed public adjusters are legitimate professionals who can genuinely move large or disputed claims — for a state-capped percentage. The trap wears their costume: door-knockers in the debris field pushing same-day contracts at maximum fees on claims a homeowner could settle cleanly alone. The screen: license verified, fee understood against claim size, references, and the same rule as everything post-storm — nothing signs in the driveway during week one.
1) Mitigate first, contract later: tarps and water extraction (receipts kept) protect the claim per the denial-defense playbook — that work doesn’t require signing away anything. 2) Your insurer before their salesman: report immediately; the claim number anchors everything. 3) Three bids on permanent work, all licensed-and-verified, all in writing. 4) Local wins: the roofer with a five-year-old address survives on reputation; the convoy doesn’t need to. 5) Slow is safe: every scheme above runs on urgency, and none survives a week of verification.
The cleanest way to win the post-storm gauntlet is needing less of it: homes with hardened openings — the garage door first, impact glass or shutters on the rest — take the small claims that settle in weeks, not the catastrophic ones that draw the convoy. Harden now (free quote), document per the paper-trail protocol, and when the trucks roll in next September, you’ll be the house they skip.