Roofing Insurance Laws in Kentucky

Informational only — not legal advice. Laws and case precedent change, and outcomes depend on your specific policy language. Verify current law with your state Department of Insurance or a qualified attorney before relying on it.

Can insurers depreciate labor when calculating ACV?

Permitted

Kentucky permits labor depreciation when the policy provides for it. The state's unfair-claims regulation lists labor among the costs that may be depreciated in an actual cash value settlement, so the policy language, not state law, decides whether the carrier can withhold labor as depreciation. Read the ACV definition in your customer's policy before arguing the deduction.

Authority

806 KAR 12:095 Section 9(2)(a) defines actual cash value for residential fire and extended-coverage settlements as replacement cost at the time of loss less depreciation, and provides that if the policy so provides, depreciation may include the costs of goods, materials, labor, equipment, overhead and profit, taxes, fees, and services necessary to replace, repair, or rebuild the damaged property. The regulation as amended effective November 30, 2021 controls over the earlier contrary results in Bailey v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co. (E.D. Ky. 2015), aff'd sub nom. Hicks v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co. (6th Cir. 2018), which barred labor depreciation under the policies then at issue.

806 KAR 12:095 (KY Legislature, official text)

Must insurers replace undamaged materials so the repair matches?

Required

Kentucky requires matching. If replacement items do not reasonably match the undamaged items in quality, color, and size, the insurer must replace all items in the area to a reasonably uniform appearance, and the homeowner pays nothing beyond the deductible. For roofs the Department of Insurance reads "area" as the entire roof and rejects a line-of-sight limit, so unmatched shingles on one slope support full replacement. If the original shingle is still in production and available, using it satisfies the rule even where the existing roof has faded with age.

Authority

806 KAR 12:095 Section 9(1)(b), the unfair claims settlement practices regulation for property and casualty insurance, requires the insurer to replace all items in the area so as to conform to a reasonably uniform appearance when replaced items do not reasonably match in quality, color, and size. Kentucky Department of Insurance Advisory Opinion 2023-08 (Oct. 17, 2023), issued by Commissioner Sharon P. Clark, applies that provision to roofs, reads "area" as the entire roof, and expressly rejects a line-of-sight rule.

806 KAR 12:095 - Kentucky Legislative Research Commission (official administrative code) · Kentucky DOI Advisory Opinion 2023-08 RE Matching (official insurance.ky.gov PDF)

Can a contractor pay or waive the homeowner's deductible?

Prohibited

Kentucky bans the deductible pitch outright by contractor-specific statute. Where the work will be paid from a property and casualty policy, you may not offer to pay or rebate any part of the deductible or claim proceeds as an inducement, grant an allowance or discount against your fee, or give the insured anything worth more than $100. Advertising that you cover the deductible is itself an unlawful offer, whether or not you ever perform the work.

You may

Bill the carrier the price you actually charge
Collect the full deductible from the homeowner
Offer a payment plan so the deductible can be paid over time
Refer the homeowner to third-party financing for their share
Give a genuine, disclosed discount and price the estimate at the discounted amount
Give a thank-you item worth $100 or less

You may not

Offer to pay, absorb, waive, or rebate the deductible
Advertise "no out-of-pocket," "we eat your deductible," or "free roof"
Grant an allowance or discount against your fee as an inducement
Pay the insured a bonus, coupon, credit, gift, prize, or referral fee over $100
Bill the carrier a price higher than the one you intend to collect
Represent or negotiate on the homeowner's roof or property claim

Penalty: Any person injured may obtain injunctive relief plus two times actual damages and, at the court's discretion, reasonable attorney's fees and costs; general Chapter 367 consumer-protection and Attorney General enforcement also applies, and the deductible provision is not itself criminal.

Authority

KRS 367.628, "Acts prohibited for contractor," subsection (2) bars a contractor, where goods or services will be paid from a property and casualty insurance policy, from offering to pay or rebate all or any portion of an insurance deductible or claim proceeds as an inducement to sale, from granting any allowance or discount against the fee, and from paying the insured compensation over $100 in any form. The provision is currently codified at (2)(b) after 2024-2025 amendments that broadened the section from roofing contractors to contractors generally; it was (2)(a) as enacted by 2016 HB 366. KRS 367.628(1) separately bars representing, negotiating, or advertising to represent or negotiate on an insured's roof or property claim. The double-damages private action was created by 2016 HB 366, sec. 2. A discount stays lawful only if it is real and disclosed: the price you bill the carrier must be the price you charge, so the carrier pays proportionally less and the homeowner is not spared the deductible. Financing or a payment plan is lending against the deductible, not waiving it, and remains lawful.

KRS 367.628 – Acts prohibited for contractor (KY Legislature, official) · 2016 HB 366 Senate Committee Substitute – enacted text amending KRS 367.628 and creating the double-damages private action (KY Legislature, primary)

Can a contractor negotiate the homeowner's claim?

Prohibited

Kentucky bars a contractor from representing or negotiating on a homeowner's insurance claim, as a public adjuster or otherwise, and from holding itself out as a claims or insurance specialist or as affiliated with an insurer. The statute expressly protects your own work: you may provide an estimate for your goods and services and confer with the carrier's representative about the damage once the insured has filed the claim. Write your scope, estimate, and supplement, and defend your line items, measurements, and pricing to the adjuster. Do not act as the homeowner's advocate on the claim, advise on coverage, or take authority to handle or settle it.

You may

Provide an estimate for your own goods and services
Submit your scope and supplement for the work you will perform
Confer with the carrier's representative about the damage after the insured files the claim
Explain and defend your line items, measurements, and pricing
Document the damage with photos and measurements
Recommend that the homeowner file a claim

You may not

Represent or negotiate on the insured's claim, as a public adjuster or otherwise
Advertise that you represent or negotiate claims for homeowners
Hold out as a claims or insurance specialist or expert
Claim affiliation with an insurer or an insurer's agent
Advise the homeowner on policy coverage
Take a contract term or authority letting you handle or settle the claim
Be financially connected to, or solicit or provide contracts for, public adjusters or claim-settlement specialists

Penalty: Any contract provision violating the ban is unenforceable; the Attorney General may seek a $5,000 civil penalty per violation plus KRS 367.990 penalties, and an injured homeowner may sue for an injunction, two times actual economic damages, and attorney's fees.

Authority

KRS 367.628(1)(a)1 prohibits a contractor, or a person representing a contractor, from representing, negotiating, or advertising to represent or negotiate, as a public adjuster or otherwise, on behalf of any insured on any insurance claim in connection with goods or services relating to real estate. Subsection (1)(a)2 bars holding out as a claims or insurance specialist or expert or as affiliated with an insurer or insurer's agent, and (1)(b) makes any contract provision violating (1)(a)1 unenforceable. The carve-out at (1)(c) permits providing an estimate for goods or services relating to real estate and conferring with an insurance company's representative about damage to real estate after a claim has been submitted. KRS 367.620(2)(c) excludes investigating, negotiating, or effecting the settlement of an insurance claim, and otherwise adjusting covered losses, from "goods or services relating to real estate." Subsection (2) separately bars deductible rebating, inducements over $100, causing damage, mechanic's liens for the uninsured excess, and, new in 2026, financial connection to or solicitation of contracts for public adjusters and claim-settlement specialists. Enforcement is at KRS 367.627: the Attorney General enforces; KRS 367.110 to 367.300 remedies and KRS 367.990 penalties apply; private and Attorney General actions carry injunctive relief, two times actual economic damages, and reasonable attorney's fees and costs, plus a $5,000 civil penalty per violation; actual damages need not be proved for other remedies; remedies are cumulative. Criminal exposure attaches only to the damage-causing conduct in subsection (2)(a), which KRS 367.628(3) makes a fraudulent insurance act under KRS 304.47-020 and criminal mischief in the first degree under KRS 512.020. A public adjuster license is not a workaround. KRS 304.9-430(1)(a) requires a license to act as or hold out as an adjuster, and "public adjuster" at KRS 304.9-020(20) reaches anyone who for compensation renders advice or assistance to an insured on a first-party property claim, or who advertises or solicits as such, excluding attorneys and persons furnishing only facts or technical assistance to a licensed adjuster. Discipline and civil penalties follow under KRS 304.9-440 and KRS 304.99-020. Effective July 15, 2026, 2026 Ky. Acts ch. 54, sec. 4 struck the former carve-out for licensed public adjusters from KRS 367.628, and 2026 Ky. Acts ch. 141 suspends acceptance and approval of new public adjuster license applications for two years (KRS 304.9-430(1)(b)) and bars any public adjuster from negotiating with an insurer on an insured's behalf for two years from that date (KRS 304.9-4331(7)). New KRS 367.355 makes violations of the public adjuster conduct statutes deceptive practices under KRS 367.170.

KRS 367.628 — Acts prohibited for contractor (official text, eff. July 15, 2026), Kentucky Legislative Research Commission · KRS 367.620 — Definitions for KRS 367.620 to 367.628 (official text, eff. July 15, 2026), Kentucky LRC · KRS 367.627 — Enforcement by Attorney General; injunctive relief; double actual economic damages; $5,000 civil penalty (official text, eff. July 15, 2026), Kentucky LRC · 2026 Ky. Acts ch. 54 (HB 355) — sec. 4 amending KRS 367.628 (shows deletion of the licensed-public-adjuster carve-out), full act text · 2026 Ky. Acts ch. 141 (HB 568) — sec. 1 (KRS 304.9-020(20) "public adjuster"), sec. 2 (KRS 304.9-430 licensing and two-year application suspension), sec. 5 (KRS 304.9-4331), full act text · KRS 304.9-4331(7) — two-year bar on public adjuster negotiation beginning July 15, 2026, Kentucky LRC · KRS 304.9-440 — Probation, suspension, revocation, and refusal of adjuster license; penalty, Kentucky LRC · KRS 367.355 — Violations of adjuster provisions are unfair, false, misleading, or deceptive acts (created 2026 Ky. Acts ch. 141, sec. 9), Kentucky LRC

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