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What should I do after storm damage to my roof?

The short answer

Make it safe and temporarily watertight, photograph everything, contact your insurer before authorising permanent repairs, and be careful about contractors who arrive uninvited.

TradieAnswers editorial · written in-house and sourced to the authorities listed below

Checked against 5 published sources, listed in full at the end of this page. How we source this

Two things are happening at once after a storm: your house needs to stop letting water in, and a claim needs to be documented. They pull in slightly different directions, and the resolution is that emergency mitigation is expected and permanent repair is not.

The sequence

  1. Deal with safety first: fallen powerlines, unstable trees and anything overhead. Do not go onto a damaged roof.
  2. Photograph and film everything from the ground and from inside, before any work.
  3. Arrange emergency make-safe work, usually a tarpaulin. Insurers expect you to mitigate further damage and this does not prejudice a claim.
  4. Lodge the claim promptly and keep the reference.
  5. Do not authorise permanent repairs until the insurer has assessed, unless they have told you to proceed.
  6. Keep every invoice, including for the emergency work.

The post-storm pattern to watch for

Storms reliably bring door-knocking contractors offering immediate roof repairs, often with pressure to sign and pay a deposit on the spot. Agreements made through unsolicited approaches carry a cooling-off period under Australian Consumer Law, and there are limits on accepting payment during it. Nobody legitimate needs a signature today, and a tarpaulin buys you the time to check a licence.

Sources

Every source below was fetched and its response recorded on the date shown. Where a government site blocks automated clients, that is noted rather than reported as a successful check.

  1. Consumer rights and guarantees · Australian Competition and Consumer CommissionChecked 2026-08-10 · responded 200 OK
  2. Competition and Consumer Act 2010 · Federal Register of LegislationChecked 2026-08-10 · responded 200 OK
  3. NSW Fair Trading · NSW Fair TradingChecked 2026-08-10 · responded 200 OK
  4. Building and renovating · Consumer Affairs VictoriaChecked 2026-08-10 · responded 200 OK
  5. SafeWork NSW · SafeWork NSWChecked 2026-08-10 · responded 200 OK

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