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One document decides whether a Jefferson County roof stays eligible for windstorm coverage through the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association. This page explains it in TDI's own words, says who does what, and is honest about the one thing a roofing contractor cannot do, which is issue it.
The Texas Legislature passed the requirement in 1987, and the Texas Department of Insurance says its inspection process “began on January 1, 1988.” The rule covers what TDI calls the designated catastrophe area: the fourteen first-tier coastal counties TWIA writes windstorm coverage in, plus parts of Harris County east of Highway 146. TWIA names those counties on its coverage-eligibility page: Aransas, Brazoria, Calhoun, Cameron, Chambers, Galveston, Jefferson, Kenedy, Kleberg, Matagorda, Nueces, Refugio, San Patricio and Willacy. Every address in Beaumont, Port Arthur, Nederland, Port Neches and Groves is in Jefferson County, so every one of them is inside the area.
Orange County and Hardin County are not on that list. That is the whole reason Vidor, Orange, Bridge City and Lumberton get their own pages on this site with a different first paragraph.
From TDI's Windstorm Inspection Program page, quoted rather than paraphrased: “To qualify for wind and hail insurance through TWIA, new structures, alterations, additions, or repairs to existing structures, including re-roofs or roof repairs, located in the designated catastrophe areas must be constructed and inspected according to the building specifications adopted by TDI.”
TWIA's windstorm-certification page turns that into a list. Work that requires a Certificate of Compliance includes new structures, additions, windows, entry and garage doors, patio covers, decks, “replacing a roof or repairing a significant portion of a roof,” and “re-siding a significant portion of an exterior wall.” Work that does not includes painting, plumbing and electrical repairs, fence repair, “repair or replacement of gutters,” and “temporary repairs after a storm.” The consequence TWIA states for skipping it: without a certificate, the structure “may be considered uninsurable and ineligible for coverage with TWIA.”
To the building specifications TDI has adopted for the catastrophe area: decking attachment, fastening pattern, underlayment, edge and ridge details. That is the contractor's whole role in the certificate. The replacement page goes through what that looks like on the roof.
TDI's fact sheet gives the homeowner two routes: request a TDI inspector, which the fact sheet describes as complimentary, or engage a Texas-licensed professional engineer or a TDI-appointed qualified inspector. TDI keeps the list of appointed inspectors; the state engineering board confirms that only TDI does.
The WPI-8 is, in TDI's words, “the compliance certificate the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) issues to show that a property, repair, or addition on the Texas coast meets building code requirements.” TDI sends inspection and certificate information to TWIA nightly.
What a roofer cannot do is certify the roof. Any page or flyer in Beaumont that says a contractor will “certify” or “windstorm-certify” your roof has the sequence wrong. The contractor builds; the inspector or engineer inspects; TDI issues. This site keeps that order on every page.
Older paperwork in Jefferson County comes in three forms, and TWIA's certification page defines each. A WPI-8 is “a Certificate of Compliance issued by the Texas Department of Insurance for new and ongoing improvements.” A WPI-8-E is one “issued by the Texas Department of Insurance for completed improvements.” A WPI-8-C is one “issued by TWIA for completed improvements,” and TWIA “accepted applications for WPI-8-Cs from January 1, 2017 to May 31, 2020.” Then the program consolidated: “As of June 1, 2020, all Certificates of Compliance are issued by the Texas Department of Insurance as part of its Windstorm Inspection Program.”
The practical point for a homeowner in the West End or in Groves: a roof put on in 2018 may carry a WPI-8-C that lives in TWIA's lookup rather than TDI's, and a roof put on in 2009 carries a certificate against the specification of 2009. TDI's specifications have been revised since; a roof that passed then is not automatically what today's inspector would pass. The inspection page covers the pre-sale check.
This page explains what TWIA is, who is eligible, what the certificate is and why a re-roof needs one. It does not go further. Texas law (Tex. Ins. Code §4102.163 and Tex. Bus. & Com. Code §27.02) draws lines around what a roofing contractor may say about insurance claims and deductibles, and the contractors this site connects you with stay on the right side of them. Questions about your policy, your claim or your deductible go to your agent or to TWIA, not to a roofer.
Texas Department of Insurance, Windstorm Inspection Program (tdi.texas.gov/wind) and its WPI-8 fact sheet; Texas Windstorm Insurance Association, coverage eligibility and windstorm certification pages (twia.org); Texas Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors, windstorm process page. Read them yourself before a job starts; they change, and this page is a summary.
TWIA lists "replacing a roof or repairing a significant portion of a roof" among the improvements that require a Certificate of Compliance, and lists "temporary repairs after a storm" and gutter work among those that do not. What counts as significant is decided by the inspector for the specific job, which is why TDI's fact sheet says to ask the local windstorm inspections office before work starts.
TDI's WPI-8 fact sheet says a homeowner may either request a TDI inspector at no charge or hire a Texas-licensed professional engineer or a TDI-appointed qualified inspector. The contractor doing the work will usually know which inspectors are active in Jefferson County, but the choice, and the appointment, are the homeowner's.
No. Orange County is not on TWIA's fourteen-county list, so the TDI windstorm inspection requirement does not apply there, and the same is true of Lumberton in Hardin County. Windstorm coverage in those places comes from the private market on its own terms.
Yes. TDI's website has a search for WPI-8 and WPI-8-E certificates, and TWIA keeps its own lookup for the WPI-8-Cs it issued between January 1, 2017 and May 31, 2020. TDI also answers by phone at 800-248-6032, option 3.
Get connected with a Jefferson County contractor who builds to TDI's windstorm specification and expects the inspector.
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