What should a Texas roofer look for when buying storm damage leads?

Six things: exclusivity, swath provenance, a permit cross-reference, address accuracy, DNC compliance, and export rights. Most storm-damage lead lists fail at least two of those, which is why RoofCRM takes a different route — leads imported by you from a hail swath, filtered by permits, inside a CRM — rather than a purchased list. Use the same six checks on any source, including this one.

1. Exclusivity

Ask any seller directly: how many contractors receive this same list? An address list resold across a county is a race to the first knock, and you are paying to enter a race you cannot see the field of. The honest answer about storm data generally is that no one can sell true exclusivity — the storms themselves are public record. What actually separates contractors is speed and filtering, not secrecy, so treat any exclusivity promise as a question about refresh rate and resale count, and get it in writing.

2. Swath provenance

Where do the hail polygons come from? The credible answer is radar-derived data — MRMS MESH estimates of hail size along the storm track — anchored by NOAA's Storm Events database and the Storm Prediction Center's storm reports. If a vendor cannot name their sources, or describes "storm data" they will not explain, walk. How swath data works is worth understanding before you pay anyone for it.

3. The permit cross-reference

A list of addresses under a swath is not a list of leads: some of those homeowners have already re-roofed. The single highest-value filter is a permit check — properties inside the swath with no re-roof permit on file stay, and recent permits go. Ask whether the seller does this. If not, a meaningful share of what you buy is work another roofer already finished.

4. Address accuracy

The addresses should be real property addresses inside the polygon — not ZIP-code centroids, not "the Plano area." A ZIP-level list scatters your canvass across homes the storm never touched, and every dead address costs the same drive time as a live one. Ask how addresses are derived and how close to the storm track they sit.

5. DNC compliance

If a seller hands you phone numbers with no Do-Not-Call handling, the liability just transferred to you. Look for DNC enforced at the data layer: numbers withheld, the call path blocked for DNC leads, quiet hours, opt-out handling, and an audit log. Email remains a compliant path where calling is not. This is the area where cutting corners follows you home.

6. Export rights

Your leads should leave when you do. Ask whether the data exports to CSV, whether the vendor claims ownership of addresses you worked, and what happens to your pipeline if you leave. A platform that holds your list hostage is a lock-in cost, whether or not it says so.

How RoofCRM's lead import compares

RoofCRM is not a lead seller. You pick a hail swath on the Storm Map, import its addresses as leads yourself, and the hail event attaches to every card with a grade badge for the hardest-hit blocks. The permit cross-reference through PermitLookup filters out recent re-roofs. DNC is enforced at the data layer before any rep sees a number. And leads are exportable to CSV, so the list you built is yours. The trade-off, stated plainly: you are choosing your own storm and building your own list, not buying someone else's. The 48-hour playbook shows what that looks like step by step.

Apply it by metro: San Antonio, DFW, Austin, and Houston. The CRM behind the import is on the storm-data page and the storm-restoration page, with the full feature list.