What counts as a prohibited advertisement
Florida law defines a prohibited advertisement as any written or electronic message that encourages, instructs, or induces a homeowner to file an insurance claim for roof damage, covering door hangers, flyers, business cards, magnets, and emails alike.[1]
Practices the law bars outright
A roofing contractor can't offer a rebate, gift, gift card, cash, coupon, or a waived insurance deductible in exchange for letting them inspect your roof or file a claim. They also can't interpret your policy or negotiate your claim without a separate public adjuster license.[1]
A roof repair agreement also has to include an itemized estimate of the repair cost before work begins, so a contract that skips straight to a lump sum on a storm-related job falls short of what the law requires.[1]
The extended cancellation window
Sign within six months of a state of emergency covering your address and the clock changes: instead of the usual three-day cooling-off period, you get until 10 days pass or the crew's scheduled start date arrives, whichever happens first.[1]
That cancellation right has to be printed in bold type of at least 14 points, directly above where you sign. If it's missing or buried in fine print, that's a contract worth having someone else look at before you proceed.[1]
What's at stake for a violation
A contractor who violates these rules can face fines running up to $10,000 per violation, which is part of why a legitimate, established roofing company in Florida knows this statute and builds its contracts around it rather than against it.[1]
Why this law exists in the first place
Lawmakers passed this statute after a wave of complaints about contractors chasing insurance-funded roof jobs rather than roofs that actually needed the work, sometimes filing claims on a homeowner's behalf before the homeowner had agreed to any repair at all.[1]
The itemized-estimate and bold-print cancellation requirements both trace back to that same pattern: a homeowner pressured into a fast signature, on a job funded by an insurance claim they didn't fully understand yet, sometimes for work well beyond what the actual storm damage justified.[1]
What to do if you think a contract violates this law
Read the cancellation clause first. If it's missing, undersized, or buried outside the space right above your signature, that's a specific, checkable defect rather than a matter of opinion, and it's worth raising with the contractor in writing before you proceed. Keeping a dated copy of everything you're given, signed or not, makes that conversation easier later.[1]