Comparing Roofing Bids in Madison County, Indiana

We create a scope of work and send it to local contractors.

You compare any written bids you receive for your roofing project, and the decision stays yours.

In Madison County, a hail or wind storm can leave roof damage that is easy to underestimate from the ground. Comparing written bids is one way to check scope and pricing.

The central Indiana climate and your roofing

In central Indiana, where Madison County is located, NOAA's 2022 Indiana State Climate Summary notes that the state has a long and deadly history of tornadic storms. It identifies June 2, 1990 as Indiana's largest tornado outbreak, with 37 tornadoes, several of them at F4 intensity, and says spring and summer precipitation has generally been above average since the 1990s.

Roofing issues to look for after a storm

Ventilation and code items — older roofs may need code-related upgrades; ask your contractor and your building department how local code items are handled.
Slow leaks after a storm — minor damage can go unnoticed until water stains show indoors.
Wind-lifted and creased shingles — broken seal strips let later storms drive rain under the roof surface.
Impact damage that hides from the ground — hail strikes are hard to see without getting on the roof, which is why documentation matters.
Hail bruising and granule loss — impact marks that shorten shingle life even when no leak appears immediately.

What to expect locally

After a storm in Madison County, the useful work is slow: getting damage documented, raising questions with your insurer, and having the repair scoped carefully. Many homeowners find it helps to slow the process down at the start — documenting damage before tarps and repairs change the evidence, reading their policy before the first phone call, and getting more than one written bid before signing anything.

Be appropriately skeptical of anyone who shows up unsolicited after a storm, pressures you to sign paperwork on the spot, or quotes a price without getting on the roof or examining the damage up close. Storm-chasing crews can show up after any major storm, and one practical defense is unhurried, written bids that you can check against each other.

Season and timing

Storm damage in central Indiana can arrive in clusters: a single hail event can affect many roofs, gutters, and siding elevations in an area at once. Comparing more than one written bid for the same scope is one way homeowners check pricing when demand spikes.

Madison County notes

NOAA storm rows for Madison County, Indiana, from 2016 to 2026

Madison County's hail record in NOAA's Storm Events downloads for 2016 through 2026, using only the Indiana rows named MADISON, comes to 41 rows over 17 distinct dates, the first on March 27, 2016 and the last on March 22, 2026. The yearly rows/dates are 2016 5/3, 2017 13/3, 2018 6/1, 2019 1/1, 2020 4/1, 2021 3/2, 2023 2/2, 2024 1/1, 2025 4/2 and 2026 2/1, and 2022 is empty. Stone sizes in inches (rows): 0.75 (7), 0.88 (4), 1.00 (20), 1.25 (3), 1.50 (1), 1.75 (5), 2.00 (1). Thirty rows on 14 dates reach an inch or more. A single 2.00 row is labeled Markleville and dated June 18, 2021, stamped 18:15 standard time (19:15 daylight time). Five rows read 1.75: Woodlawn Heights on March 30, 2017, Gridley on March 28, 2020 ("Relayed via Indiana State Police."), and three on June 8, 2018 under Elwood and Elwood Airport. One of those says "The golf ball sized hail stones badly dented cars and punctured four holes in an awning." March 30, 2017 alone supplies 9 rows, and June 8, 2018 supplies 6. March holds 19 of the 41 rows (5 dates), June 11 (4 dates), April 5 (3), May 4 (3), and July and August one apiece.

The wind record is deeper: 69 rows on 40 dates, June 23, 2016 through June 11, 2026, 63 of them estimated gusts (EG) and 6 measured (MG), and not one below 50 knots. Counting rows/dates for each year gives 2016 3/2, 2017 8/4, 2018 4/2, 2019 7/3, 2020 7/4, 2021 8/5, 2022 5/4, 2023 5/4, 2024 4/3, 2025 12/6, 2026 6/3. By month, July is heaviest at 15 rows on 9 dates, followed by May (12/5), March (10/7) and June (10/7); November has 3 rows on a single date and December 2. April 2, 2025 shows the strongest values: a measured 76 knots at Lapel ("An 87 mph thunderstorm wind gust was measured at this location."), plus a measured 70 at Woodlawn Heights, where "Numerous trees downed with the largest falling on Highland Court", and a measured 69 at Florida. The strongest estimate is 72 knots at Frankton on May 16, 2025: "An 83 mph thunderstorm wind gust was estimated at this location." August 10, 2020 and April 2, 2025 tie as the busiest dates, with four rows each. On April 21, 2021 "A brief microburst brought significant damage to a small section of downtown Anderson," and a nearby warehouse roof came off. More recent roof language: Alexandria, March 15, 2026, shingles blown from a roof by thunderstorm wind gusts; Pendleton, March 11, 2026, "Structural damage to roofs of houses was also reported."

Eight tornado rows are spread over five dates. April 2, 2025 is the heaviest with four: an EF2 at Lapel (2.15 miles), an EF1 at Fishersburg (11.57), an EF0 at Anderson Jessup Airport (4.92) and an EF2 at Moonsville (15.15). The Moonsville narrative says "the northern half of roof was thrown well to the north-northeast" on a large barn. On May 27, 2019 an EF2 cut 5.89 miles from west of Pendleton, through the town's north side, toward Huntsville, with "roofs blown off two homes" northeast of Huntsville and a maximum wind estimated at 130 mph. On July 29, 2024 an EF2 at Perkinsville struck the Frankton Lapel Administration Building, where "The roof of a small gymnasium at this building was lifted and thrown approximately 150 yards" to the north-northeast. The remaining rows are an EF1 at Moonsville on July 20, 2018 and an EF0 at Summitville on June 8, 2022, where a poorly secured roof at the wastewater treatment plant was partially lifted.

NOAA hangs 31 distinct place labels on the 118 rows. Anderson and Summitville each carry 11, Elwood, Lapel and Edgewood 8 each, Woodlawn Heights 7, Huntsville 6 and the Anderson airport label 5. Elwood and Summitville each supply 6 of the 41 hail rows, while Anderson tops the wind list with 8. In the source column NOAA credits emergency managers for 45 of the 118 rows, the public for 32, trained spotters for 14, amateur radio for 10, NWS storm surveys for 7 and the 911 call center for 3.

The Madison file's time stamps, labels and exclusions

Latitude and longitude are present for all 118 rows. The Census Bureau geocoder returns Madison County for 117; the odd one out is the Perkinsville tornado row, whose starting point sits just over the line in Hamilton County, and its narrative says the tornado "began in far eastern Hamilton County" before crossing into Madison. It stays in the counts because NOAA files it under Madison. NOAA's format guide calls its times "usually in LST" (local standard time); Madison rows say EST, so add an hour in daylight time, which covers 111 of the 118 rows. Two rows cross midnight once converted: Edgewood wind at 23:20 EST on July 21, 2017 (00:20 EDT July 22) and Alexandria Airport wind at 23:40 EST on August 29, 2021 (00:40 EDT August 30). Excluded from every count: 42 rows typed as forecast zones that carry the name Madison (Drought 10, Heavy Snow 9, High Wind 8, Winter Storm 4, Extreme Cold/Wind Chill 4, and six smaller types) and 5 county rows for flood and flash flood. NOAA's README says it updates the current year's file monthly, so 2026 counts may still move.

Zone INC095 and the state roof table

Madison County is zone INC095 in National Weather Service records, handled by the Indianapolis forecast office (IND). On the state-amended Table R301.2(1), which an Indiana Department of Homeland Security guidance sheet reprints, the Madison County line shows a 115 mph wind speed, 20 psf of ground snow, a 30-inch minimum foundation depth, and "No" in the Ice Shield Underlayment Required column.

Madison County homes by year built

The Census Bureau's 2020 through 2024 American Community Survey housing profile (DP04) counts 59,301 housing units in Madison County: 53,429 occupied and 5,872 vacant (9.9 percent). Owners hold 37,488 occupied units (70.2 percent) and renters 15,941 (29.8 percent). One-unit detached houses number 45,988 (77.6 percent) and mobile homes 3,191 (5.4 percent). Table B25035 puts the median year built at 1965, margin of error 1. Older construction dominates: 41,755 units (70.4 percent) predate 1980, another 10,125 (17.1 percent) were built between 1980 and 1999, and only 7,421 (12.5 percent) are from 2000 on. The single largest band is 1939 or earlier at 12,220 units (20.6 percent), ahead of the 1960s, which account for 8,974 units (15.1 percent). A roof is replaced on its own schedule, so ask for the date, not the house's age.

Anderson, Pendleton and the county

The City of Anderson's Permit Center is a division of the Department of Municipal Development (the city site's contact block gives 120 E. Eighth St., though the Permit Center's own page gives no street address), with a department line of (765) 648-6055; it issues permits and takes applications "from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Monday through Friday." Roofing sits in its list of permit types. A building permit fee sheet marked "Updated 3-5-2013" lists a "Reroofs" line for single and duplex homes and another for multi-unit buildings; the sheet is old, so confirm the current fee with the Permit Center. The one- and two-family application has a Roofing box under the nature of the work and a "Registered Contractor" line with Yes and No boxes and a number blank. The city's trade licenses, per the same page, go to electrical, HVAC and plumbing contractors; roofing is not named. No registration rules page was found beyond that application line.

The Town of Pendleton's Planning and Building Department, 100 W State Street, (765) 778-8370, issues building permits and certificates of occupancy. Its permit guide, a flow chart, lists "Roof/shingle replacement (full)" among work that needs a permit, while work on "replacing damaged or missing shingles" does "not typically require a permit". The Madison County Planning Commission, Madison County Government Center, 16 East 9th Street, Anderson, (765) 641-9540, has jurisdiction over "all unincorporated areas of Madison County" and acts as the building commission for Orestes; its page states no roofing rule, and its permit portal and fee schedule links were not opened. No page for Elwood's building office could be read, since several candidate sites returned access denied or an expired-domain page, so ask the city directly. The offices in Alexandria, Lapel, Frankton and Summitville were not read.

Roofing licenses in Indiana

The Indiana Professional Licensing Agency publishes a profession list that takes in plumbing, real estate and home inspectors; roofing is absent. Indiana's Attorney General, in a leaflet on storm chasers, puts it as "Licensing requirements vary from community to community" and directs readers to their city or county building department. In Madison County the local test is Anderson's registered-contractor line on the permit form, plus whatever Pendleton, Elwood and the county ask.

Setting up your Madison County bids

- Pin down which office handles the address: Anderson, Pendleton, Elwood, Orestes, another town or the county.

- Ask whether the job is a full replacement or a repair of damaged or missing shingles, because Pendleton's guide treats the two differently.

- Ask each bidder for the contractor's registration number if the city's form asks for one, and who pulls the permit.

- Find out whether the shingle brand being bid requires ice and water shield in its installation instructions.

- Any written estimate from your insurer, so every bidder works from the same document.

How Otter Quotes works here

Here is how Otter Quotes works for a Madison County project. You submit your project details once.

We create a scope of work and send it to local contractors.

You can then compare any written bids you receive side by side, on scope, price, and terms. The platform is informational, and the decision stays entirely yours.

Frequently asked questions

Who decides whether my policy applies to roof damage in Madison County?

Your insurer decides coverage under the terms of your policy. Read your policy, ask your adjuster what is included, and document the damage with dated photos. Our guide on filing a property damage claim walks through the process step by step.

Is one roofing bid enough?

Comparing bids can surface scope differences and give you a way to check pricing, particularly during post-storm demand spikes.

Sources

Homeowner guides

Ready to start your Madison County project?

Start Your Project with Otter Quotes

Otter Quotes is an independent, informational platform that connects homeowners with contractors for property damage repair and exterior improvement projects. Otter Quotes does not independently verify, endorse, or warrant the quality of any contractor's work, and does not guarantee the availability of any particular contractor. Insurance coverage decisions are made solely by your insurer under the terms of your policy. Page generated 2026-10-28.