On 8 May 2015, 1.75-inch hail did $300 million of damage here — to a neighbourhood where, the record says, every home needed a new roof.
The single largest weather-damage entry in the federal record for this whole corner of the Panhandle belongs to Plainview, and the number is startling for the size of the hail that caused it.
On 8 May 2015, NCEI records $300,000,000 in property damage in Hale County from hail of just 1.75 inches. The narrative explains why: the storm sat over newly built luxury homes on the southwest side of the city, “where every home would require new roofing.” It is sixty times larger than any other damage event across the four Panhandle counties we serve. The lesson in it is not that Plainview gets enormous hail — it does not, particularly. It is that a moderate hailstorm over the wrong few streets is a catastrophe, and that concentration, not magnitude, is what empties a neighbourhood’s roofs at once.
Which leads to the thing most people get wrong about this city. Plainview is a wind market, not a hail market. Between 2015 and 2025 Hale County logged fifty-two thunderstorm wind days against thirty-four hail days, and it produced the fewest hail reports of the four counties — forty-six, against Randall County’s 209. If you want a picture of what wind does here, the record has one: on 17 September 2017 a downburst lifted a convenience-store roof off whole and dropped it on a neighbouring mobile home.
On top of thunderstorm wind sits the hazard nobody markets against — plain High Wind. Across these four counties the federal record carries 227 non-thunderstorm high-wind reports over 176 days, peaking February through April, out of phase with hail season entirely, with sustained 50 to 55 mph running six hours and more. That is the wind that works a rake apart over a decade rather than an afternoon, and it is the reason edge metal and starter-course fastening get more attention from us here than they would in Dallas.
Plainview requires a $20,000 surety bond from contractors, following the pattern Lubbock set and that Pampa and Canyon share. Hereford, in the same region, requires nothing. What Plainview does not publish is a design wind speed, an ice-barrier answer, or any design criteria table at all — so there is no local figure for us to cite and we will not invent one. We build to current IRC practice for this exposure and say so in writing.
The housing here is the largest stock of the four cities at 8,533 units, with a median build year of 1970. But the tenure picture is unusual and it shapes the work: owner-occupancy is just 52.6 percent — the lowest of the four — so nearly half the occupied homes in Plainview are rentals. A great deal of roofing here is a conversation with a landlord or a small property owner about what performs for fifteen years at a number that pencils, rather than with a homeowner about kerb appeal. We are comfortable in both conversations and we do not pretend they are the same one.
Wayland Baptist University sits in town, which is why College Hill is a neighbourhood name, and the housing around the campus and the older core — Edgemere Heights, Austin Heights, Carver Heights, Central Park, Hillcrest — carries the oldest roofs in the city.
Repairs, replacements, installations, and inspections for homeowners. Class 4 impact-resistant shingles, metal, tile, slate.
View Residential Roofing →TPO, EPDM, modified bitumen, and metal systems for businesses and property managers. Maintenance plans available.
View Commercial Roofing →Emergency and scheduled repairs. Hail damage, leaks, flashing, and storm response with 1-year workmanship warranty.
View Roof Repair →Full tear-off and replacement with manufacturer warranties up to 50 years. Flexible financing available.
View Roof Replacement →Honest, no-pressure assessments for storm damage, pre-sale, and annual maintenance — written report included.
View Free Roof Inspection →Residential maintenance plans from $24.99/month. Annual inspection, priority scheduling, 10% repair discount.
View Roof Maintenance →$300 million of damage from 1.75-inch hail, because the cell parked over a few streets of new homes on the southwest side where, in the record’s own words, every home would require new roofing. Moderate hail over the wrong neighbourhood is worse than large hail spread thin. When a street gets hit here, we work it as a street — same inspection standard, same documentation, so the claims stand up together.
Fifty-two thunderstorm wind days against thirty-four hail days, the fewest hail reports of the four counties, and a downburst in the record that lofted a convenience-store roof onto a neighbouring mobile home. On top of that, 227 non-thunderstorm high-wind reports across the region peaking in late winter. Edge metal, starter fastening and rake detail get the attention here that valley work gets elsewhere.
Plainview publishes no design criteria table — no wind speed, no ice-barrier answer, nothing. We are not going to print a number with nothing behind it. What we do instead is state on the estimate exactly what fastening pattern, underlayment and edge treatment we are installing to, so you are holding a specification rather than a promise.
Don't see your question? Call us at (469) 936-7663 — we're happy to talk it through.
On 8 May 2015 the federal record logs $300,000,000 in property damage in Hale County from 1.75-inch hail, with the narrative describing newly built homes on the southwest side of Plainview where every home would require new roofing. It is sixty times larger than any other damage event in this part of the Panhandle, and it happened because the storm concentrated over a small area rather than because the hail was unusually large.
Less than you would guess. Hale County logged thirty-four hail days between 2015 and 2025 and produced the fewest hail reports of the four Panhandle counties we cover — forty-six, against 209 in Randall County. What Plainview does get is wind: fifty-two thunderstorm wind days over the same period.
Two different things. Thunderstorm downbursts do sudden, spectacular damage — on 17 September 2017 one lifted a convenience-store roof whole and dropped it on a neighbouring mobile home. Then there is plain high wind: 227 non-thunderstorm reports across the region over 176 days, peaking February to April, sustained 50 to 55 mph for six hours or more. That one works edges and fasteners loose slowly.
None is published. The city puts out no design criteria table at all — no wind speed, no ice-barrier answer, no climatic values. We will not quote a figure that has nothing behind it. Instead we specify the fastening pattern, underlayment and edge detail we are installing to, in writing on your estimate.
Yes. Plainview requires a $20,000 surety bond from contractors, the same pattern Lubbock set and that Pampa and Canyon also follow. Hereford, in the same region, requires nothing at all — so the bar genuinely differs by town, and it is worth asking to see the bond.
Yes, and a legitimate one. Owner-occupancy in Plainview is 52.6 percent, the lowest of the four Panhandle cities, so nearly half the occupied housing is rental. The question becomes what performs for fifteen years at a number that works, and sometimes the honest answer is a mid-grade architectural shingle rather than the premium line. We will tell you when the upgrade is not worth it on a rental.
Median year of construction is 1970 across 8,533 housing units — the largest stock of the four cities. A 1970 house is on its third roof, and that usually means plank or early sheathing decking, undersized attic ventilation, and old flashing details that are worth correcting while the roof is off.
We check the layer count first. The code bars a re-cover where two or more applications already exist, and on a house of Plainview’s typical age two layers is common. Where there is genuinely one sound layer we will say so; where there are two, a tear-off is the only lawful route and the better one anyway.
Yes, and Plainview has a real commercial base for a city this size — the business park, industrial park north, the academy and the campus properties. We work low-slope, TPO, modified bitumen and metal alongside residential steep-slope.
Quickly, and we would rather look and find nothing than have you wait. After a concentrated event like 2015, the streets that were hit need documenting together and early, because claims filed months later on a neighbourhood-wide storm get harder to support, not easier.
Call us at (469) 936-7663, or request your free estimate online — most inspections are scheduled within 24–48 hours.
(469) 936-7663