Every roofing contractor running insurance work eventually asks the same question: do I need a supplement company, and if so, which one? There are dozens of companies in this space now. Some are excellent. Some are taking your money and submitting bare-minimum supplements that leave thousands on the table.
Here's how to tell the difference. These are the 7 criteria that actually matter when you're choosing a supplement partner — and the red flags that should end a conversation immediately.
Xactimate is the industry-standard estimating software used by virtually every major insurance carrier. If your supplement company isn't writing supplements in Xactimate — or if their people aren't certified — you're working with amateurs.
Xactimate offers three certification levels: Level 1 (basic competency), Level 2 (advanced), and Level 3 (expert/instructor). Level 2 is the professional benchmark. It means the estimator understands line codes, pricing structures, condition adjustments, and how to build a supplement that carriers take seriously.
Ask any supplement company you're evaluating: "What Xactimate certification level do your estimators hold?" If they can't answer clearly, or if the answer is Level 1 or "we don't have certifications," keep looking.
📋 What to ask: "Are your estimators Xactimate Level 2 certified?" If they hedge or change the subject, walk away.
Time is money in roofing. Every day a supplement is sitting in someone's queue is a day you can't close your final invoice, a day your crew is carrying the cost of materials, a day the homeowner is waiting to get paid by their carrier.
The professional standard is 24 to 48 hours. The industry average at most companies is 5 to 10 business days. That's unacceptable — especially during storm season when you may have 20, 30, or 50 claims in the pipeline simultaneously.
Sovereign guarantees 24-hour turnaround on complete submissions received before 5 PM CST. If you submit a complete claim package — scope of loss, claim number, photos, job details — you'll have a supplement back the next business day.
When you're evaluating a company, don't just ask what their turnaround time is. Ask what it is during peak storm season, when volume is highest and carrier desks are most backlogged. That's when you need speed the most.
This is the single most important filter. Walk away from any supplement company that charges upfront fees, flat fees per supplement, or monthly retainers.
Here's why: if a company charges you regardless of outcome, their incentive is volume, not results. They get paid whether your supplement recovers $500 or $5,000 — or nothing at all. That's a misaligned incentive structure that will cost you money.
Performance-based pricing — where the company only earns a percentage of what they actually recover — is the only model that puts both parties on the same side of the table. They only win when you win. That means they're motivated to find every dollar, fight for every line item, and push back when carriers under-approve.
Sovereign operates on a performance-only model: 15% on residential supplements, 9% on commercial, 5% on reinspections. No recovery, no fee. Period.
⚠️ Red Flag: Any upfront fee — even a small "processing fee" — is a signal that the company's business model doesn't depend on results. That means you can't trust their incentives.
You should be able to see exactly what was submitted on your behalf, in real time. That means a client portal where you can log in, see the status of every active claim, review the supplement that was written, and track payments.
If a supplement company can't tell you the status of a claim without you calling them, or if you have no visibility into what was actually submitted, that's a problem. You have no way to verify they're doing good work. You have no documentation if a carrier dispute comes up. You're flying blind.
Ask for a portal demo before you sign up. If they don't have one, that tells you everything about how seriously they take the client relationship.
Any legitimate supplement company should be able to give you real numbers on their approval rate and average supplement amount recovered per claim. These are the two most important performance metrics in this business.
Ask specifically: "What percentage of your submitted supplements are approved, in whole or in part?" and "What's your average recovery amount per residential claim?" If they can't answer these questions, or if the answers are vague, they either don't track their results or the results aren't worth sharing.
Sovereign's residential average is $4,000 to $6,000 per claim. Our approval rate on properly documented supplements exceeds 90%. Those are numbers we're proud to put in front of any contractor.
When a carrier pushes back on a supplement — and some do — what happens? Does your supplement company fight back with documentation, or do they roll over? Do they notify you immediately, or do you find out weeks later when nothing shows up?
Communication should be proactive, not reactive. You shouldn't have to chase your supplement company for updates. They should have a defined process for how they handle denials, partial approvals, carrier requests for additional information, and escalations.
Ask about their process when a supplement is denied or only partially approved. The answer will tell you whether they're a real supplement shop or just an Xactimate typing service.
Not all carriers are the same. State Farm handles supplements differently than Allstate. USAA has different documentation requirements than Travelers. A supplement company that mostly works Texas storm claims is going to have a very different carrier mix than one focused on hail in the Midwest.
Ask which carriers your supplement company has the most experience with. If you're doing primarily State Farm and Allstate work in North Texas, make sure your supplement partner has deep experience with exactly those carriers in that geography. They'll know the adjuster patterns, the common denial tactics, and how to structure supplements to get approved faster.
📍 Local matters: A supplement company based in Texas — like Sovereign in Keller — understands Texas carriers, Texas codes, and Texas adjuster patterns at a depth that out-of-state operations simply don't have.
If you see any of these, move on immediately:
After you've vetted everything above, ask this: "Can I submit one claim, see your work, and then decide whether to continue?" Any supplement company worth working with will say yes. Sovereign does. We believe our work speaks for itself — and we're willing to prove it on the first claim.
Sovereign is Xactimate Level 2 certified, performance-only, 24-hour turnaround, full portal access. Submit your first claim and see what a professional supplement looks like.
Submit Your First Claim