How to Read Your Red Roofed Roof Report: What the 0–100 Score Really Means
A plain-English guide to your roof's 0–100 score, the public data behind it, and the right next step for Florida homeowners, buyers, and agents.
A plain-English guide to your roof's 0–100 score, the public data behind it, and the right next step for Florida homeowners, buyers, and agents.
Think of Red Roofed as the RoofFax for a Florida roof. Just like a vehicle history report gives you a quick, data-driven read on a used car before you ever pop the hood, a Red Roofed report gives you a quick read on a roof's likely condition before anyone climbs a ladder. You type in an address, and you get back a 0–100 score and a simple status — Clear, Watch, or Red Roofed.
Here's the important part, stated plainly: Red Roofed is a private data service. We are not a government agency, not your insurance company, and not a licensed inspector. The score is an informational screening tool built from public records and documented storm history. It's a starting point for a conversation about your roof — not the final word, and not a substitute for an in-person inspection by a licensed professional.
We built it because roof condition is one of the biggest unknowns in a Florida home, and it's usually invisible until something goes wrong. A report turns scattered public data — year built, construction type, county permit records, NOAA hurricane history — into one number a normal person can actually use.
Every score falls into one of three bands, and the colors mean exactly what you'd expect:
Clear (80–100): The roof is likely still within its service life, or it's been recently replaced or verified. Green doesn't mean 'perfect forever' — it means there's no strong signal in the data that this roof is near the end of its life. Roofs still age, so a Clear status today can drift toward Watch over the years.
Watch (50–79): The roof is aging and approaching its replacement window. This is the 'keep an eye on it' zone — a good time to budget, schedule a check-up, and avoid surprises. Many perfectly functional roofs live in Watch for years; the point is awareness, not alarm.
Red Roofed (0–49): The data suggests a high likelihood that the roof is at or past the point where replacement is commonly needed. A Red status is a flag to look closer — not a verdict that your roof is leaking today. The single best response to a Red is a free inspection from a license-verified contractor, which we'll cover below.
The score isn't a guess pulled from thin air — it's assembled from public records and documented storm data. The biggest single factor is roof age, estimated from the property's year built in the county tax roll, unless a newer roof permit or an inspection tells us the roof is younger. Age is then weighed against the expected life of the roofing material.
That material matters a lot in Florida. As a general rule of thumb, asphalt shingles tend to last roughly 15–25 years here (our intense sun and UV shorten the upper end), concrete and clay tile systems can last much longer — often 30–50+ years for the tile itself, though the underlayment beneath usually needs attention sooner — and metal roofs commonly run 40+ years. Red Roofed infers the likely material from the property's construction class on the public record, so a 25-year-old shingle roof and a 25-year-old tile roof are scored very differently.
On top of age and material, the score factors in storm exposure using NOAA / National Hurricane Center data. Florida's Gulf coast has taken a documented beating over the last two decades — Charley (2004), Wilma (2005), Irma (2017), Ian (2022), Idalia (2023), and the 2024 trio of Debby, Helene, and Milton, which made landfall as a major hurricane near Siesta Key. We match each property to its county's documented hurricane history and weigh how many of those storms the current roof has actually lived through. A roof installed in 2003 in Sarasota County has weathered far more than one installed in 2023.
Finally, two things can move a score in your favor with hard evidence: a finalized roof-replacement permit on file with the county, and a verified on-site inspection. More on both next.
A Red Roofed status is intentionally 'sticky.' It does not quietly disappear, and you can't talk it off. This is by design — the whole value of a RoofFax-style record is that it reflects reality, not wishful thinking.
A Red tag clears in one of two data-driven ways. The cleanest is the public record: when a roof-replacement permit is finalized by the county, that's an un-gameable government signal that the roof was actually replaced. On the next scan, that property flips from Red toward Clear automatically. We don't clear it by hand and neither does a contractor — the county's finalized permit does. The other path is a verified inspection (below), where a licensed contractor physically confirms the roof's condition.
The flip side is that the list is living. Roofs that look fine today keep aging, so a property can slide from Clear into Watch, or Watch into Red, over time as it crosses typical replacement windows. That's not a glitch — it's the report staying honest as the years pass.
This is the section worth reading twice, because a Red status is easy to misread. A Red does NOT mean your roof is actively leaking, that it failed an inspection, that it's unsafe, or that you've done anything wrong. It's a data-based estimate, built largely from year-built and construction type — and year-built is only a proxy for roof age. If your roof was replaced without a permit on file, the public record may not know it yet, and the score can be wrong in your favor's direction.
A Red also is not an insurance decision or a legal judgment. We don't pull or report your insurance claim history, and a Red Roofed score is not a 'consumer report' used to deny you anything. Separately, Florida's own roof rules are worth understanding on their own terms: state law generally bars insurers from refusing or non-renewing a policy solely because of roof age if the roof is under 15 years old, and for older roofs it allows a homeowner-arranged inspection showing remaining useful life. That's general educational information, not legal or insurance advice — for your specific policy, talk to your agent or carrier.
Bottom line: treat a Red as a prompt to verify, not a sentence. The fastest way to replace an estimate with a fact is to get eyes on the roof.
Start by checking your address. A Red Roofed lookup is free, takes seconds, and tells you which band your roof falls into. If you don't know your status, that's step one.
If you're a homeowner: A Clear is good news — note your roof's age so you can plan ahead. A Watch is your cue to budget and schedule a routine check-up. A Red is the signal to book a free inspection from a license-verified contractor. A real person on the roof either confirms the concern or corrects the record, and if you do replace the roof, the county's finalized permit clears your status on the next scan. Keep your paperwork: a documented, verified roof is an asset when you sell or shop for insurance.
If you're a buyer or agent: Use the report the way you'd use a RoofFax — as early due diligence, not a closing document. A Red on a listing isn't a deal-killer; it's a question to answer with an inspection and, ideally, a roof estimate before the appraisal and underwriting stages. Knowing a roof's likely status up front helps everyone price and negotiate honestly.
And one last reminder in the spirit of the whole report: Red Roofed is informational. It points you toward the right next step, but only a licensed, in-person inspection can tell you the true condition of your roof. When the data says 'look closer,' look closer.
No. The score is an estimate built from public records and documented storm history — it's a screening tool, like a RoofFax for Homes. It's not an inspection result and not a substitute for one. Only a licensed contractor physically on the roof can confirm its true condition, which is exactly why a free verified inspection is the recommended next step for a Red status.
The score estimates roof age from the property's year built on the public tax roll, so a roof replaced without a permit on file can score older than it really is. Two things correct the record: a finalized roof-replacement permit with your county (which clears the status automatically on the next scan), or a verified on-site inspection from a license-verified contractor, which overrides the estimate.
Red Roofed is a private data service, not an insurance company, and we don't report your score or claim history to insurers. A score has no direct effect on your policy. Florida has its own separate roof-age rules — for example, insurers generally can't decline coverage solely on roof age for roofs under 15 years old — but that's general educational information, not insurance or legal advice. For your specific policy, check with your agent or carrier.
See your home's 0–100 roof score in seconds — built from county records, storm history, and permits. No signup, no obligation.
Check My Address →