Fannie Mae Just Let Carriers Pay Half The Roof. Here Is What Roofers Have To Change Monday Morning.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac quietly changed the rules. Homeowner policies backed by the GSEs no longer have to pay Replacement Cost Value on roofs. Actual Cash Value is now allowed.

That single sentence rewrites the post-storm conversation in every kitchen in America. Fannie and Freddie back roughly $8.5 trillion in U.S. mortgages. If the customer's lender is one of them, and their carrier moves them to ACV at renewal, the next claim pays the depreciated value of the roof, not a new roof. A 15-year-old shingle roof on ACV pays roughly 40 to 50 percent of the replacement bill. The homeowner eats the rest.

Most contractors have not read this yet. Their customers definitely have not. The roofers who get in front of it this summer own the conversation. The ones who do not are going to lose every job that ends in a homeowner saying "I cannot afford the deductible plus the depreciation."

The June Storm Event Is The Test Case

From June 1 through June 17, severe convective storms hit every major metro from the Rockies to the Northeast. Mid-single-digit billions in insured losses, per Gallagher Re. Confirmed derecho on June 10. Dozens of tornado touchdowns. Hail across the Plains. Manitoba alone took 20,000 claims from a single June 9 outbreak.

U.S. severe convective storm insured losses crossed $22 billion year-to-date by June 18 — the 11th consecutive year SCS losses topped $20 billion. The leads are already in your CRM. The question is whether your sales team is having the right conversation with them.

The roofer who walks up to a customer's door right now and says "do not worry, your insurance will handle it" is about to lose half those deals in the supplement phase when the adjuster cites depreciation.

Verisk Just Refreshed The Cost Math

Verisk's June 22 study landed at the same time. Average U.S. residential roof replacement cost jumped 33 percent in 2025 versus the prior four-year average. Repair costs climbed 25 percent. Claims volume fell 20 percent, but loss severity went up. Hail volatility and aging roofs are the drivers.

Materials inflation is also outrunning labor. In 2025, roofing material costs rose 1.48 percent while roofer labor costs rose only 0.79 percent. Construction input prices were up 9.6 percent year over year in May, driven by steel, copper, and tariff-sensitive materials.

So the homeowner's depreciated ACV payout is being calculated against a 2024 cost basis while you have to quote them at a 2026 replacement number. The gap is the deal. It is also a customer relationship that ends badly if you did not set the expectation up front.

Colorado Just Wrote The Counter-Move

On the policy side, Colorado SB26-155 was signed into law June 18. It creates a homeowner insurance enterprise specifically to fund resilient roofs, reduce hail losses, and support competition in wildfire-prone markets. Translation: state-level grants and incentives for upgrading to Class 4 impact-rated shingles, metal, and qualifying tile systems.

This is the template. Other hail states are watching. The roofers who get certified on impact-rated systems, line up the upgrade-financing partner, and build the consumer education page in their local market this summer pick up the share when those state programs replicate.

Metal roofing demand is already growing 18 to 22 percent according to industry trackers cited at the June 17 Weekly Blend. The shift was happening before Colorado. Colorado just accelerated it.

What To Change In Your Sales Process This Week

Three concrete moves:

• Add ACV vs RCV to the first homeowner conversation. Before you measure the roof, ask the customer if they have read the renewal letter from their carrier in the last six months. If they have not, they need to. Most carriers are notifying ACV switches in the renewal cycle, not at the claim. By the time the storm hits it is too late.
• Build the supplement and depreciation worksheet before you knock the door. If you handle insurance restoration, your office should produce a one-page summary showing the difference between the carrier's ACV payout estimate, the actual replacement cost at current material pricing, and the financing options to bridge the gap. Most homeowners have never seen this math. Showing it builds the trust your competitor cannot.
• Cap your storm-restoration revenue mix at 30 percent. Private equity buyers are now valuing storm and insurance restoration work at 0.5x to 0.7x the multiple of base retail revenue, per CT Acquisitions' June 17 exit guide. A 40 percent storm mix compresses a 7x EBITDA multiple down to roughly 5.5x to 6x blended. If you are within five years of an exit, the next 24 months of mix-shift is worth more than the next 24 months of top-line growth.

The AI Layer Belongs On Top Of All Of This

Twenty-two percent of homeowners now use AI to find a roofer (Comrade Digital Marketing June 19 survey), and AI search traffic converts at roughly five times the rate of traditional Google search. The roofers who publish a clear page-level explanation of ACV versus RCV in their local market this month get cited by ChatGPT and Gemini when homeowners ask the question. That citation drives the call. The job gets booked before the competitor returns voicemail.

The Fannie and Freddie shift is permanent. The June storm losses are already paying out. The Verisk cost math is the new normal. The roofers who change their sales conversation this week eat 2027. The ones who do not are about to feel why.