Hail damage to your business: the first 24 hours, the first week, and how to keep trading

Hail does its damage in a few minutes, but you deal with it for weeks. A ten-minute storm can crack skylights, hole a metal roof, flood a storeroom, ruin stock and dent every vehicle in the yard. Then one emergency turns into three or four insurance claims, a landlord conversation and a queue for roofers that might be hundreds of jobs long.

This is the order to work in. Keep it open on your phone.

How bad is “bad” hail?

The Bureau of Meteorology classes a thunderstorm as severe when it produces hail of 2 cm or larger, about the size of a $2 coin. When hail of 5 cm or more is expected, warnings add the words “giant hail”. At that size damage climbs sharply, mostly because roof tiles start to break. The Bureau says severe storm season peaks from September to March, so the next few months are the high-risk stretch for the east coast.

Recent storms show how big it can get. On 25 November 2025 the Insurance Council of Australia declared an insurance catastrophe for the South East Queensland storms of 23–24 November. Insurers already had more than 16,000 claims from over 140 postcodes, and the declaration was later widened to cover Queensland and NSW. In events like that, everyone is calling the same roofers, glaziers and panel beaters on the same morning.

What do I do in the first 24 hours?

Safety first, evidence second, repairs third.

1. Keep everyone out of danger zones. Stay away from broken skylights, sagging or wet ceilings (they can drop without warning), and water near power points, switchboards or lights. If water has reached the electrics, turn off power at the main switch only if it’s safe to reach. Otherwise wait for an electrician.
2. Call Triple Zero (000) if anyone is hurt or the structure looks unsafe. For an emergency tarp, a collapsed ceiling or water pouring in, call your own roofer or the SES on 132 500. Don’t go up on the roof yourself. Wet, dented metal and cracked tiles cause falls.
3. Photograph and film before you move anything. Start outside: the roof (from the ground or a drone), gutters, skylights, signage, awnings, solar panels, air-conditioning units and every vehicle. Then walk each room on video. Our guide to documenting damage for insurance has the full method.
4. Stop further damage. Move stock off the floor and away from leaks, put out buckets and plastic sheeting, and get vehicles under cover if there’s more weather coming. Insurers generally expect reasonable steps to limit loss. Keep every receipt.
5. Lodge your claims. The Insurance Council’s advice is to lodge as soon as you can, even if you don’t know the full extent yet. Online portals are usually the fastest way to get a claim number.
6. Tell your landlord in writing if you lease. A short email with photos and the time of the storm is enough for now.

The site’s emergency action checklist turns these steps into a printable list for your staff.

Why does hail damage turn into several claims at once?

Hail hits everything, and each thing is usually insured separately. Split them up early so one slow claim doesn’t hold up the others.

Claim	Usually covers	Who usually claims	What to have ready
Building	Roof, skylights, gutters, ceilings, structure	Owner of the building (often the landlord)	Roof photos, roofer’s make-safe report
Contents and stock	Fit-out, equipment, stock, signage you own	The business	Loss list with quantities and values
Business interruption	Lost gross profit, extra cost of working	The business, if you hold the cover	Sales history, records of closed days
Motor (each vehicle)	Hail dents, smashed windscreens	Whoever owns or finances the vehicle	Rego, photos of every panel, odometer

A few things to check in each schedule:

• Excess per claim. Three claims can mean three excesses. Some policies apply a special excess to storm events.
• Sub-limits. Stock, signage, glass and goods in the open often have their own caps.
• Vehicle cover type. Comprehensive motor cover usually includes hail. Third-party-only cover won’t pay for dents. If a vehicle is financed, the financier may need to be told about the claim.
• Waiting periods on business interruption, often counted in hours or days before cover starts.

If you think the total payout won’t cover the rebuild, our page on the underinsurance gap walks through how owners close it.

Hail damage roof leaking: who fixes what at a leased premises?

This is where many tenants lose time. The usual split, though your lease decides:

• Landlord: roof, skylights, structure and building insurance. They lodge the building claim and organise roof repairs.
• Tenant: fit-out, stock, equipment, contents insurance and business interruption.

Things to do now:

1. Email the landlord or agent the same day with photos, and ask when a roofer will attend.
2. Read the repair and “damage or destruction” clauses in your lease. Some allow a rent reduction or abatement while part of the premises can’t be used.
3. Keep protecting your own stock. If water keeps coming in because the roof isn’t tarped, record each extra leak with dates and photos.
4. Tell your own insurer about the landlord’s claim, so the assessors aren’t working against each other.

Hail-damaged work vehicles: how do I keep the business moving?

For tradies, couriers, mobile services and sales teams, damaged vehicles can stop trading faster than a leaking roof.

• Check whether each vehicle is safe to drive. A cracked windscreen that blocks the driver’s view, or a damaged light, can make it unroadworthy.
• Lodge one motor claim per vehicle and ask whether the insurer runs a hail assessment centre. After big storms, insurers often set up drive-through sites so they can assess many cars quickly.
• Ask about hire car cover. Many business motor policies don’t include it, or cap it.
• Prioritise. Repair the vehicles that earn the most first, and ask whether paintless dent repair is an option, as it can be quicker.

Which tradespeople should I trust after a hailstorm?

Expect knocks on the door. The Insurance Council warns that “disaster chasers” may claim to have spotted damage or to represent your insurer. Queensland’s building regulator, the QBCC, lists the warning signs: money up front, pressure to sign on the spot, unproven claims to be from your insurer, and “free inspections” that find damage you can’t see.

• Check with your insurer before agreeing to any work beyond an emergency make-safe.
• Check licences on your state regulator’s register (QBCC in Queensland, NSW Fair Trading, the VBA in Victoria, and so on).
• Ask any “assessor” for ID and confirm with the insurer that they’ve been appointed to your claim.

What should I do in the first week?

1. Build the loss list. For each item: quantity, value and a photo reference. Export stock figures from your POS where you can.
2. Start a claim diary. Record every call and visit: date, who you spoke to and what was promised.
3. Ask the insurer what can be repaired now. Get written approval before any permanent repairs.
4. Call the ATO before any due date if the storm has disrupted your records or cash. The ATO disaster support page covers deferrals and the Emergency Support Infoline, 1800 806 218.
5. Check DisasterAssist and business.gov.au for any grants or concessional loans activated for your area. Hail usually doesn’t trigger government recovery funding unless it’s part of a wider declared event, but it’s worth five minutes to check.
6. Forecast your cash. Write down what’s due out each week and when insurance money is realistically likely to arrive.

If the numbers show a shortfall while the claims run, check your options here. It’s a short enquiry, and it doesn’t touch your credit file.

How long will the claim take, and what if it stalls?

The General Insurance Code of Practice sets the timeframes subscribing insurers generally work to: they tell you what information they need within 10 business days, update you at least every 20 business days, and decide most claims within four months. After a catastrophe declaration, claims are triaged and the worst-hit properties go first. The Insurance Council is clear that a declaration “does not remove your obligation to pay your excess.”

If the claim stalls, read our page on delayed insurance claims. If you make a formal complaint and the insurer’s internal response doesn’t resolve it, small businesses can take it to AFCA (1800 931 678) for free. AFCA often runs a dedicated response after major hailstorms.

An illustrative example

Illustrative only. A café and catering business in a leased strip-shop is hit by large hail on a Saturday afternoon. Two skylights break, water reaches the cool room and the catering van is dented all over.

• Saturday: staff are moved out of the kitchen, power to the wet circuit is switched off and the SES tarps the skylights. The owner films everything before mopping up.
• Sunday: three claims are lodged (landlord’s building claim, the café’s contents and stock, and the van). The landlord is emailed photos.
• Week one: spoiled stock is listed and photographed and the disposal receipts are kept. The van goes through the insurer’s hail assessment site. The café reopens with a reduced menu once an electrician signs off.
• The gap: the café’s stock claim excess, the van excess, a hire van for catering jobs and restocking before the insurer pays. That’s the amount the owner funds, not the whole loss.

Ready to cover what insurance won’t, yet?

After hail, the hardest part often isn’t the damage. It’s that the bills come weeks before the money. Owners in your position commonly need help with excesses, restocking, a hire vehicle or a temporary fix. Unsecured options are typically $5,000 to $500,000, sized on turnover and bank statements, and same-day funding is possible for smaller amounts. Larger needs can be secured against property, from $20,000 to $5,000,000.

Checking where you stand takes about a minute, and asking won’t leave a mark on your credit file. A credit check only comes into it if you decide to go ahead. Your enquiry isn’t farmed out to a long list of lenders, so you won’t be fielding calls from strangers while you’re dealing with the damage. One person reads what happened to your business and calls you to talk it through.

Please fill in the form accurately: what hail hit, what’s insured, the amount you need and when. It helps us find the right option the first time.

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