Before May's hail: a checklist for siding and gutter crews

Last week the NOAA Storm Prediction Center updated its downloadable hail file with the 2025 reports, so we counted the last ten years again. From 2016 through 2025 the file logs 87,891 hail reports, and the pattern is plain: the next ten weeks carry the heaviest stretch of the hail year, and with it a large share of the siding work in hail country.

This is the checklist we would work through this week, and the reasoning behind each item.

What ten years of hail reports say about May

Counted by month, here is each month’s share of the 87,891 reports, computed from NOAA SPC data for 2016 to 2025:

• January 0.7%, February 1.6%. Almost nothing.
• March 8.7%. The season opens.
• April 15.3%. Climbing fast.
• May 25.8%. The biggest month of the year by a wide margin.
• June 18.6%, July 13.3%. Still heavy.
• August 8.7%, September 4.5%. Tapering.
• October 1.6%, November 0.7%, December 0.5%. Quiet.

April through July together hold 73% of the reports. If your crews are booked by storms, the bulk of the year is about to arrive, and anything you meant to fix over the winter has a few weeks left.

The Storm Prediction Center counts a thunderstorm as severe when it produces hail at least one inch across, and the money behind those storms is large. State Farm said in an analysis published this month that it paid out more than $5.6 billion in hail claims in 2025.

Where the reports land

The same count by state puts the Plains at the top. Over the ten years, Texas logged 12,919 hail reports, Kansas 7,407, Oklahoma 5,415, Nebraska 5,365, Colorado 4,491, South Dakota 4,277, Missouri 3,963 and Minnesota 3,844.

Two things follow for a siding and gutter company. First, a single national plan is the wrong plan: a Texas company and a South Dakota company are working different weeks. Second, a few of those states come with rules that change what your storm marketing is allowed to say, and Minnesota is the clearest example.

Before the first big storm: be findable, and look local

When hail goes through a neighborhood, homeowners search, compare and call within days, and they are comparing you with crews who arrived the same week. These are the pieces that need to be in place before that happens.

Siding services ads. Google has a Local Services Ads category for siding, and approved advertisers carry the Google Verified badge. Screening covers general and professional liability insurance, state licenses where the law requires them and a verified Business Profile, and Google puts the average at three to four weeks after documents go in. If you have not filed, file today; a late approval still covers June and July. Remember that the category does not cover gutters. Gutter repairs after hail need search ads and your profile to carry them.

A profile that answers the storm-chaser question. The FTC tells homeowners to consider only licensed and insured contractors, to get a written estimate that includes the contractor’s name, address, phone number and license number, and not to pay the full amount up front. It also warns them about people who knock “in the area.” Put your license number, your local address, proof of insurance and your payment terms where a homeowner sees them first, on the profile and on a storm page.

Recent reviews. In BrightLocal’s 2026 Local Consumer Review Survey, a review posted in the last month was among the factors consumers ranked most important, chosen by 44%, and 74% said they only care about reviews from the last three months. Reviews collected in April are the ones a homeowner reads in May. Send a request to every customer from the winter and spring.

Phones that get answered. CallRail’s 2025 report found home services businesses miss 14% of calls. A storm week can swamp a two-person office. Decide now who covers lunch, evenings and the Saturday after a storm.

The rules that follow a storm

Storm work brings insurance money, in-home sales and older houses together, and each has a rule that reaches into your marketing.

• Insurance offers in Minnesota. State law prohibits contractors from offering to pay a homeowner’s insurance deductible or offering anything of value to encourage a contract for damage covered by an insurance claim. Fines run up to $10,000 per violation, and contracts for insurance work must include written notice of the law. Free gutter guards, a gift card or a discount promised to whoever signs a claim job are all out.
• In-home sales anywhere. Under the FTC Cooling-Off Rule, a buyer has until midnight of the third business day to cancel a sale of $25 or more made at home, even when the homeowner invited you in, and you must leave two copies of a cancellation form. A contract signed at the kitchen table the day after a storm is not final until that window closes, so schedule material orders with it in mind.
• Older houses. EPA’s lead paint rule requires certification for any firm paid to disturb painted surfaces in a home built before 1978. The rule has an emergency provision that exempts firms from certain requirements, which is narrower than it sounds: it does not lift the rule. On an older street, check certification before the storm ad promises next-day tear-offs.

Gutters, and the coasts, come next

Hail does not only crack siding. It dents and loosens gutters, and those calls are easier to win quickly because the ticket is smaller. A gutter repair page and a short search campaign on gutter repair terms, ready before May, catch homeowners whose siding survived.

Gulf and Atlantic coast companies have a second season stacked on top. Atlantic hurricane season, as the National Hurricane Center dates it, runs from June 1 to November 30. Everything on this list carries straight into that one, so building it now covers both.

What to do this month

• File or finish your Siding services application today, and set up gutter search ads alongside it.
• Put your license number, insurance and payment terms on your Business Profile and a storm page.
• Send a review request to every customer since January, with the direct link.
• Assign overflow call coverage for storm weeks and test it with a real call.
• Read every storm ad, flyer and door hanger for deductible offers or free add-ons tied to a claim.
• Confirm your lead-safe certification is current if you work on houses built before 1978.

The companies that come out of May ahead are rarely the ones with the biggest budget; they are the ones whose profile, reviews and phones were ready in April. Our page for siding and gutter companies shows how we time that work by region, and our Business Profile work and review requests cover the parts homeowners check first.