Wind, hail and tornado damage documented to the standards a jury can follow — manufacturer specifications, adopted code, National Weather Service damage indicators and the NOAA weather record — by a 27-year Illinois restoration contractor who has testified as a construction expert in Illinois courts. Serving counsel in Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan.
Request a conflict check 2026 rates & agreement (PDF)Four things, each of which produces something you can file, mark as an exhibit, or put on the stand. Every engagement is retained through the attorney, performed at counsel's direction, and priced on the published schedule below.
The flagship. A site inspection that produces a report a jury can follow: what the storm did, what it didn't, and how we know — with the standard cited for every conclusion. This is the answer to the carrier's Haag or Rimkus report.
Residential from $4,250 · Commercial from $6,500
When the carrier's estimate and the contractor's estimate are $40,000 apart, someone has to explain the difference line by line — repair versus replacement, matching, code upgrades, overhead and profit — against the manufacturer's specifications and the adopted code. Desk review or with site visit.
Desk review from $2,250
Cases are lost when the roof is replaced before anyone photographed it properly. Engage us before the tarp goes on and an inspector documents the damage — every slope, every soft-metal component, test squares where warranted — before mitigation alters the evidence.
$5,500 · on site within 48 hours
Consulting expert behind the scenes, or disclosed and testifying at deposition, hearing and trial. Causation, scope and cost, and the industry standard of care for storm repair.
Testimony $550–$625/hr · trial retainer $5,000
The same rigor that built The Hail Files — a public archive of 69 court documents in which every page is OCR'd, every quotation is verified against the source and nothing is summarized that can be shown — goes into every report. A report is only useful if opposing counsel cannot take it apart, so each one contains:
Drone survey is included where airspace permits; Matterport three-dimensional documentation is available for interiors and complex roofs.
An engineer can tell you whether a structure is sound. A restoration contractor who has repaired several thousand storm-damaged roofs can tell you what the storm actually did to this one, what it costs to put right to the manufacturer's specification, and why the carrier's scope omits what it omits — and can say it in plain language a jury follows. Insurers bring both to trial. Policyholders often bring neither.
When a matter needs a sealed structural opinion or a meteorological causation opinion, we coordinate licensed professional engineers and certified consulting meteorologists we have worked with, billed at their rates, so counsel has one point of contact and one integrated report.
Curt Testa is the owner of Allied Emergency Services, Inc., an Illinois-licensed storm damage restoration contractor serving Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan, with 27 years in storm restoration. He inspects and documents wind, hail and tornado damage to the standards insurers and courts recognize and has testified as a construction expert in Illinois courts. He writes the technical guides on this site — including the Tornado Damage Repair guide and the storm damage insurance claim process — and in 2026 built The Hail Files, the free public archive of the State Farm wind-and-hail litigation, obtained from the Oklahoma State Courts Network and published so homeowners, attorneys and reporters can read the primary sources for themselves.
A current CV and testimony list are provided with every conflict check.
Allied accepts engagements from policyholder and defense counsel. Fees are never contingent on findings or outcome. Opinions rest on published standards and would be the same whichever side retained us. Allied publishes The Hail Files as a public-records archive and has reported on those records; we disclose that to counsel in any matter involving State Farm before accepting a testifying engagement, and we offer consulting (non-testifying) roles in those matters where that serves the client better.
Allied is a licensed restoration contractor, not a law firm, insurance adjuster or public adjuster. It does not adjust, negotiate or settle insurance claims and does not act as an appraiser or umpire. Nothing on this page is legal advice.
Published, because attorneys should not have to call to find out. Full terms are in the 2026 Consulting and Expert Agreement. Billed by the quarter hour; effective September 2026.
| Service | 2026 rate |
|---|---|
| Residential property consulting — documentation, scope and estimate analysis, records review | $325 / hour |
| Commercial and large-loss consulting; principal (Curt Testa) when personally retained | $450 / hour |
| Testimony — deposition, hearing, arbitration, trial and all preparation once disclosed (residential / commercial) | $550 / $625 per hour |
| Residential forensic inspection and documentation report (travel within 100 miles included) | $4,250 |
| Commercial forensic inspection and report | $6,500 |
| Rapid evidence-preservation inspection — on site within 48 hours | $5,500 |
| Desk review / estimate and scope analysis | $2,250 |
| Initial advance fee (consulting engagements, billed against) | $5,000 |
| Trial retainer, due when subpoena served or date reserved | $5,000 |
| Deposition minimum, due seven days prior | 3 hours at testimony rate |
| Matterport / 3-D documentation | $850 first two hours |
| Travel beyond 50 miles (consulting) · mileage · lodging · meals | $150 / hour · IRS rate · actual · $100 / day |
| Licensed engineering and meteorology, coordinated by Allied | Partner's rate + 15% |
Send the parties, the carrier, the jurisdiction and your deadline through the form below. We confirm no conflict and send the agreement and a current CV.
Signed agreement and the advance fee. We are retained by the law firm, not the policyholder, from the first hour.
Scheduled within the week for standard matters; within 48 hours for evidence preservation. Counsel and opposing experts are welcome to attend.
Delivered to counsel as work product, typically within ten business days of inspection, with the complete photo log and the weather record as appendices.
Once disclosed, all further work is at the testimony rate. Dates are held on receipt of the deposition or trial retainer.
First-party property disputes over wind, hail and tornado damage — coverage, causation, scope and cost; bad-faith matters where the handling of the roof is at issue; construction-defect claims involving roofing and exterior envelope; and homeowner-association and multi-family losses. Site work throughout Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan, including Cook, DuPage, Will, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Sangamon counties and the Northern District of Illinois. Desk reviews, estimate analysis and litigation-records research — including locating documents in The Hail Files — are available to counsel anywhere.
Inspects and documents the property to published standards, determines what the event did and did not cause, analyzes the competing scopes and estimates line by line, and explains those findings in a report, at deposition and at trial. Allied provides all four, retained through counsel, never on a contingent fee.
Allied publishes its 2026 rates: residential consulting $325 per hour, commercial $450, testimony $550 to $625 per hour, a residential forensic inspection and report from $4,250, a desk review from $2,250, and a $5,000 trial retainer.
No. Allied is an Illinois-licensed restoration contractor. It does not adjust, negotiate or settle insurance claims and does not act as an appraiser or umpire. Its litigation-support work is performed for and at the direction of counsel.
Yes — that is what the 48-hour evidence-preservation inspection is for. A replaced roof cannot be examined at trial.
Both. Opinions rest on manufacturer specifications, the IRC and IBC as adopted, NWS damage indicators and NOAA/SPC records, and do not change with the retaining party.
A method statement, a complete photo log by elevation and slope, damage mapped to a named standard, manufacturer and code citations by number, the NOAA/SPC weather record for the date of loss, a line-item repair scope, and the inspector's qualifications.
Site work throughout Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan; desk review, estimate analysis and records research nationwide.
For attorneys and their staff. We reply within one business day with a conflict clearance, the agreement and a current CV. This form does not enter any marketing list.