March 2026 · 4 min read

How to Handle a Commercial Roof Leak During Business Hours

It's 10am on a Tuesday. Your tenant calls and says water is dripping from the ceiling onto their office furniture. Here's exactly what to do, in order.

Step one: contain the interior damage. Move furniture and electronics away from the drip zone. Place buckets or trash cans to catch water. If the drip is near electrical panels or wiring, kill power to that area and call an electrician. Water and electricity are the combination you don't ignore.

Step two: call your roofer. Not tomorrow. Not after lunch. Right now. An active leak gets worse with every hour, and if rain is still falling, the damage is compounding. A good commercial roofer can have someone on your roof within hours to apply temporary weatherproofing and stop the active intrusion.

Step three: document everything. Take photos and video of the interior damage, the ceiling stain, any visible water path. Note the time you discovered the leak and the current weather conditions. This documentation matters for insurance claims and for your roofer to trace the leak source. Water travels laterally through roof insulation before it drips through, so the stain on the ceiling is rarely directly below the actual breach.

Step four: notify your insurance carrier. Most commercial property policies cover sudden water intrusion from roof failure. File the claim early even if the full scope isn't known yet. Your roofer should provide inspection photos and a written damage assessment that you can submit with the claim.

What not to do: don't send your maintenance guy up on a wet roof to "take a look." Wet commercial roofs are slip hazards, and an untrained person walking on a membrane can cause more damage. Don't ignore a small drip because it seems minor. Small drips become big problems, especially in Houston where the next rain event could be 4 inches in two hours.