Updated Jan 10, 2023
Updated Jan 10, 2023
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Standard home warranties are designed to provide homeowners with hassle-free, affordable maintenance for essential appliances and home systems as they break down over time. But many leading providers have expanded their coverage to include other integral parts of the home, like the roof. However, many home warranties only cover roof leak coverage, and in most cases, it’s optional, so policyholders must add it to their coverage.
Here are the top picks to keep a roof over your head.
While your home insurance policy might cover roof damage caused by extreme weather events, it won’t compensate you for roof leaks due to age-related wear and tear, which can easily cost thousands of dollars to repair without a home warranty. Nailing down the best home warranty for roof leak coverage ensures your roof is protected from more predictable deterioration. Still, it can be hard to recognize a solid policy if you’re a new home buyer or simply not a home warranty expert.
House Method’s line-up of the best home warranty companies for roof coverage highlights reputable warrantors with prompt customer service, competitive pricing, and fair coverage. All five of our recommended providers are home warranties that cover roofs.
Our top home warranty contenders for premier roof protection include:
Why Trust House Method
House Method’s Experts collected and analyzed 2000+ critical data points to identify what makes a great home warranty company in the eye of the consumer. Our reviews team used this data to assess over 60 home warranty providers for coverage extent, annual cost, and national availability to provide unbiased reviews so homeowners can confidently navigate key decisions about their homes.
Founded in 2008,Choice Home Warranty (CHW) may be a fairly new home warranty provider next to some of its competitors, but its two standard coverage levels are a popular pick among homeowners, landlords, and even real estate professionals.
In addition to its primary plans, Choice Home Warranty also has eight optional add-on items available for purchase, including its limited roof leak coverage. For an extra $70 per year, Choice’s roof coverage is available for shake, shingle, and composition roofs but only covers common areas of the house (no porches or patios). Exclusions include skylights, solar equipment, and total or partial roof replacement. Roof repairs through CHW have a coverage limit of $500 per policy period.
Choice Home Warranty’s plans are not available in WA.
Plans, Cost, and Coverage
For a free quote from CHW, fill out this online form or call 929-400-6164.
Keep reading about this provider in our full Choice Home Warranty review.
Select Home Warranty offers some of the most cost-effective yet comprehensive plans on the market, with standard home protection starting at just $1 per day, alongside low service fees and free roof leak coverage.
Though automatically included in its standard policy terms, Select’s roof leak coverage still has a few limitations. Select Home Warranty will only cover roof leak repairs for damage over occupied living areas of single-family homes (patios excluded). Metal roofing, cracked shingles, tar and gravel, tiles, and several other roofing materials are excluded from coverage. Select also won’t fund repairs requiring partial or complete replacement of the roof. Coverage is capped at $400 per year.
Select Home Warranty is available to customers in 46 states plus Washington, D.C., excluding WA, NV, WY, and NM.
Get a free quote from SHW by filling out this online form or calling 888-370-3953.
Visit our Select Home Warranty review for further details.
A veteran of the home warranty industry, American Home Shield (AHS) holds a B rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and has paid out over $2 billion in claims in the last five years alone. AHS offers three different standard plan options with cumulative coverage, allowing customers to select a level of protection that best suits their budget.
American Home Shield provides roof coverage as optional add-ons for customers looking to maximize their home warranty coverage, or automatically in its comprehensive ShieldPlatinum plan.
For an additional $39.99 per year, American Home Shield will cover leaks caused by dry rot, cracked or missing shingles, freezing and thawing cycles, or normal wear and tear. However, leaks present in metal roofs, partial and full green roofs, roof-mounted installations (like solar panels), gutters, and downspouts are not covered by AHS. Roof leak coverage is also not offered in Hawai’i. Coverage is capped at $1,500 per contract term.
American Home Shield is currently available in 49 states, but not AK.
Receive a free quote from AHS by filling out this online form or call 888-365-2839.
Continue reading about this home warranty company in our American Home Shield review.
The Home Service Club (HSC) is an ideal option for homeowners who recently purchased an older home with chattels and fixtures included, as this provider doesn’t limit its coverage based on the age of appliances.
HSC also allows new enrollees to begin using their home warranty benefits just ten days after signing up, which is significantly shorter than the one-month waiting period typical among other leading providers.
Along with its two base plan variations, the Home Service Club also offers 11 elective add-ons — one being a roof repair warranty — for its members to choose from. HSC’s roof coverage primarily covers water damage from rainfall that soaks into the roof’s layers due to the natural weathering of materials. This provider, unlike many others, will also cover roof leak repairs for attached garages.
For a free quote from The Home Service Club, fill out this form or call 800-842-9334.
Check out our complete The Home Service Club review to learn more.
As the only accredited home warranty company with an A rating from the BBB, we’ve deemed Liberty Home Guard (LHG) one of the most trustworthy home protection providers on the market.
Liberty Home Guard is an excellent choice for first-time homebuyers who may feel overwhelmed by the minutiae of different coverage variations available. LHG keeps its benefits schedule simple by offering three basic plans — one for major appliances, one that only covers systems, and another that combines the two.
Limited roof leak coverage is just one of the 41 different elective plan add-ons that Liberty Home Guard offers. For $14.99 a month, LHG’s limited roof leak coverage strictly covers customers for roof leak patch repairs only over shared common areas of single-family homes. On occasion, LHG offers a limited-time discount where roof leak protection is free for new customers.
For a free quote, fill out this online form or call 866-451-2281.
Read our full Liberty Home Guard review for more information.
A home warranty is a service contract that covers specific items, mainly home appliances and systems, with the scope of your coverage ultimately depending on the plan level you purchase.
As you examine different policies, you’ll find that roof leak coverage is usually only available at an additional cost outside of most standard home warranty inclusions. Because elective features like roof leak coverage aren’t usually part of a provider’s main policy framework, their coverage can sometimes be relatively narrow and even a bit finicky to qualify for.
According to our research, only 6% of home warranty companies include roof leak coverage within their policies. However, another 40% of companies offer roof coverage as an optional coverage rider. Some providers, like Select Home Warranty, offer free roof leak coverage with the purchase of a policy.
Nearly 54% of home warranty companies do not offer any sort of roof leak coverage. Home warranty companies such as First American Home Warranty do not offer any sort of roof warranty, whereas some other providers like Liberty Home Guard will only cover roof repairs, not partial or full roof replacements.
Not all roof coverage riders are created equal, and exclusions will vary between companies. Some carriers instate annual maximums on how much they’ll pay for repairs, while others may limit repairs to leaks that occur within shared living spaces of the home. Most won’t cover roofs with skylights or roofs made of non-traditional materials like metal, tile, green roofing, etc.
Also, many home warranty providers reserve their roof leak coverage for addressing the source of the leak itself, but not any secondary water damage to your home’s walls, ceilings, insulation, or infrastructure.
Even if your property sustains significant damage due to a roof leak, virtually no home warranty companies will pay for the cost of a complete roof replacement. However, some carriers may estimate how much just fixing the leak would cost and pay you that amount toward the roof replacement.
There are six common types of roofing materials: asphalt shingles, slate, metal, wood shakes, clay, and TPO roofing. Each of these types varies in its durability, installation costs, and lifespan. However, no matter what type of roofing material a homeowner chooses to use, there will inevitably be related repair and replacement costs as the roof wears.
Asphalt shingles are the most popular roofing material in the United States. According to the Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association (ARMA), over 5 million homes each year (4 out of 5) are roofed with asphalt shingles.
The popularity of shingles is likely due to their affordability, ease of installation, and reasonable lifespan that shingles have. Other leading roofing materials, such as Slate or Clay, are much more durable with lifespans of up to 100 years, but cost significantly more.
All materials and types of roofs are eligible for a home warranty, given that the policyholder adds the roof coverage add-on option to their plan. Our experts recommend Choice Home Warranty, as the company covers the repair of shake, shingle, and composition roof leaks for up to $500 per contract term.
Your roof is one of the most fundamental parts of your home’s exterior — it provides basic shelter, structural support, and, when well-maintained, can even increase the value of your home if you ever decide to put it up for sale.
We’d recommend that all homeowners add roof coverage to their home warranty unless they’ve recently had a new roof installed on their home during their residence at the property.
The reason is that roofing shingles often come with a limited lifetime manufacturer’s warranty, so long as you were the owner of the home when the roof was installed.
Most manufacturers will still only cover the cost of new shingles, but not labor or replacement costs. Also, any manufacturer’s warranty on roofing materials will only cover factory defects in the product itself and not failures resulting from improper installation. So, after a few years, it’s pretty unlikely that you’ll be able to prove that a roof leak is due to an initial flaw in the material.
Most roofing contractors will guarantee the installation for one or two years, but it can take five or six years for problems to show up, so any workmanship warranty isn’t likely helpful.
Homeowners with a roof over a decade old should consider a home warranty with roof coverage. Homes located in states prone to heavy rainfall — like Mississippi, Florida, and Louisiana — are also better off investing in roof leak coverage ahead of time.
The cost of home warranty roof coverage is $0 to $125 per year, not including out-of-pocket trade call fees. For some home warranties, like Select Home Warranty, roof coverage is free for the year, whereas for AHS, roof coverage is $79.99.
Ultimately, the amount you’ll pay for a roof leak repair will largely depend on your home warranty provider and whether roof coverage is automatically included or only available as an optional add-on.
Here’s how the five providers featured in this guide compare cost-wise:
Provider | Cost per year |
Choice Home Warranty (CHW) | $70 |
Select Home Warranty (SHW) | Free |
American Home Shield(AHS) | $39.99 |
The Home Service Club (HSC) | $3.33 to $16.66 |
Liberty Home Guard (LHG) | $149.99 (or free when added at sign-up) |
Home warranties with roof coverage can save homeowners thousands in repair and replacement costs for their roofs.
There are many factors that will affect the cost of a new or replacement roof, such as home location, roof material, old roof disposal, and roof square footage. With this in mind, the average new roof in the U.S. costs $8,000, while roofs with more expensive materials can go for upwards of $25,000.
The most affordable roof is 3-tab asphalt shingles, coming in at $2.38-$3.57 per foot, followed by concrete tiles and wood shingles that average around $4.65-$7 per square foot. Next is a slate roof, which is $7.68-$11.70 per square foot, followed closely by clay tiles, which are $8.55-$12.83 per square foot. On the more expensive side, generic metal roofing costs $17.99-$26.99 and copper roofing costs $15.42 to $23.14. The most expensive roofing is Solar Shingles, coming in at around $33.33-$42.12 per square foot.
Keep in mind that the material cost for roof replacement isn’t the only out-of-pocket cost. Roofing companies also charge up to 60% of the total project cost in labor fees, making roof replacement much more expensive. Also, the total complexity, location, and square footage of the project have a high impact on overall costs.
Roof repair costs are much more affordable than whole-roof replacements, and will typically be covered by a roof home warranty.
Minor roof repairs will usually cost less than $1,500 per occurrence. Roof leaks are typically the most inexpensive repair, only costing $80-$120, and these are often covered by home warranty policies. If there are a few missing shingles that need repairing, that may only cost $200-$400.
The average cost for shingle repairs is $300-$700, whereas wood shake repairs will land between $400 and $850. More expensive fixes, such as those on metal roofs, will be upwards of $1,000.
DIYing a roof repair can be difficult if you aren’t well-trained in structural roof fixes. A home warranty policy can prevent you from having to climb onto your roof or pay costly fees to a contractor to come to fix it for you. With a home warranty saving you up to $1,000 per year in roof leak coverage, all of your repairs could be completely taken care of.
Say you’ve started noticing visible water stains on your interior ceilings. Upon further inspection of your roof, you discovered an area where the shingles have deteriorated with age, allowing rainwater to permeate.
Assuming you have roof leak repair coverage through your home warranty plan, you should call your service provider, who will arrange for a pre-screened technician to come to your home. The technician will determine if the issue is a covered item and if so, they will repair it if possible.
If the roof repair is approved, all you’ll be charged for is the service call, a fee that generally ranges from $75-$125. Pricing is different for each provider, so check your service contract to know your fees and monthly premiums.
Reading through the sample contract of any provider that piques your interest before signing up is the best way to reduce your odds of future claim denials.
Most home warranty policies include a limited roof leak cover within the policy, as an optional add-on, or as a free perk! When signing up for a home warranty policy, if you do not see roof coverage as an option, be sure to contact a sales representative so you don’t miss out on the coverage you need.
Most roof leaks aren’t covered by home insurance, so a home roof warranty plan is a good way to protect yourself from the cost of roof repairs and give you peace of mind. For example, if a tree falls through your roof during a storm, your homeowner’s insurance will likely cover the damage. Like home warranties, home insurance policies won’t cover roof damage resulting from a lack of proper maintenance.
The average lifespan of a roof is about 30 years. Still, true longevity ultimately depends on the type of roof you have:
In the United States, more than three-quarters of residences have asphalt shingle roofs and more than 70% of new homes are built using asphalt shingle roofing materials.
Home warranties provide discounted servicing for most home appliances and major systems. The systems included in a basic plan are usually electrical, plumbing, water heating, and HVAC. As for appliances, conventional household items like refrigerators, dishwashers, clothes washers/dryers, garage door openers, built-in microwaves, trash compactors, and cooktops/stoves/ovens are typically covered.
For customers looking to further supplement their coverage, optional riders for specific servicing needs are occasionally available for purchase. Some of these add-ons include coverage for guest units, in-ground pools and spas, septic tanks, and pumping systems, well/sump pumps, and secondary refrigerators.
The cost of installing a new roof varies depending on the removal and disposal of the old roof, new roofing materials, and labor costs. All in all, the average cost of replacing a roof will cost between $8,000 and $12,000.
Home warranties allow you to limit the cost of unexpected repairs because you only have to pay the service fee rather than the entire cost to repair or replace covered appliances or systems.
A typical home warranty with roof coverage covers isolated instances of age-induced deterioration in the roof, plus an array of major appliances and systems that a home buyer may be interested in having covered. Most home roof warranties do not cover roof replacement because of the extensive cost, but roof leaks are covered.
Considering the current national average cost of repairing a minor roof leak is $998 per service appointment, pursuing roof coverage for a yearly payment that rarely exceeds $150 seems like a no-brainer. And, if knowing you’ll only have to pay a small service fee will prevent you from delaying the repair, a home warranty that covers the roof could easily pay for itself.
At House Method, transparency and trust are our most important values for the reader. We’ve done the homework for you and have researched over 50 home warranty companies so you can have the information you need to make the best choice for your home.
Our team spent hours on the phone speaking to representatives from each home warranty company to get information right from the source. We also dug into the fine print on each company’s service agreement to ensure no detail was left out.
To make the most of our research, we developed an objective rating system to score each home warranty company based on the following criteria:
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