When looking for a local roofer to re-roof your house or make repairs to your existing roof you will want to check the estimate for the level of details. The more details listed in your roof repair quote, the fewer surprises and misunderstandings.
Things to look for;

• Clear, understandable language and terms
• The total cost of the project as well as breaking down labor and material cost
• Quantity of materials needed
• Amount of labor for each phase of the project
• Contingency allowance for unanticipated costs or changes
• What is the time schedule?
• Will there be any large equipment on the premises to be used on the job.

Contracts

When you choose a roof contractor based on references, business location (you generally want local) and acceptable bid, it is time to get a contract. Along with the correct address of both parties, the contract should also include;

• A copy of the estimate
• How any changes will be handled, such as new work order signed by both parties
• When and how payments will be made
• Any warranties on labor and materials
• Notice of homeowner’s right to cancel, (usually within 3 days)
• How disputes will be handled
• Spells out who will get required permits for the job
• The contractor’s insurance, license or bonding information
• Termination clauses, spells out reasons the homeowners or contractor can leave a job without a penalty

Getting everything in writing is the smart way to protect yourself and your investment. Most local roofers are honest, hardworking business people, unfortunately there are unscrupulous or unqualified people out there eager to take your money and disappear or do shoddy work.

Adding or repairing a roof is a big project in terms of time and money. The job requires skilled roofers to do the job correctly.

There are a few places to find roofers in your area. Yellow pages either online or the book that gets thrown on your porch once a year can be a good starting point. You can also ask your homeowner insurance agent for a list of qualified local roofers or simply ask friends and family.

Try to get at least 3 estimates. Make sure they thoroughly inspect your roof and not just make the estimate from ground level. Just because a bid is the lowest, does not necessarily make it the best choice. The roofing business has some pretty clever scammers who know the tricks to get your money.

Ask for references for similar type work they have completed and give those people a call. Ask if they were satisfied with the work and the crew that did the work.

Check Out Roofers Online

Better Business Bureau is a great resource to check out roofers and roofing companies. Going to BBB.com you can type in the name of the roofer or business name and helpful information will come up about problems that may be associated with these people.

You can also use search engines online to review the roofer. Type in the name, business name or even the phone number and reviews both good and bad should show up. Craigslist is a good place for people to post “rants” about work they have had done.

When reviewing the contract check to be sure everything is listed in clear language. If you don’t understand something, ask. The contract should include precisely what work is being done, schedule and time frame, payment schedule, clean up, warranties, and any other items you discussed during the inspection.

And last but not least, be sure you inspect the work and the tear off debris is all cleaned up before you sign off on the job and submit final payment.

The Roofing Industry and the home improvement field, like certain others involving consumer products and services has its share of con artists. Not many, but enough to make customer complaints fairly frequent.

The Better Business Bureau indicate that in spite of this relatively high amount of complaints, an large percent of them are settled without court actions.

The high percentage of home improvements complaints has led to the formation of a set of National Standards of Practice for the Home Improvement Industry. The standards are divided into three parts: advertising, selling the product or services, and taking care of the customer after the sale.

While investigating consumer complaints there are two notable conditions:

1. In many complaint cases the consumer arguments are not really factual and the businesses involved have acted legally and ethically;

2. The most common characteristic of the majority of the consumer complaints is a lack of communication that leads to a misunderstanding.

It is clear that most complaints arise from the procedures that home improvement businesses employ in obtaining the customer’s order, rather than from poor workmanship or use of inferior material.

Common Scams Used

According to citations by the Federal Trade Commission resulting from consumer complains on firms selling home improvement services, these are some of the types of misrepresentation:

• A sales gimmick that encourages you to sign a contract now
• A time limit for obtaining a special discount
• Price reduction offered for vague or light weight non-valid reasons
• Sales talk that is heavily anti-competitor in nature
• Loose use of verbal-guarantee type language
• Offers to finance cost through credit which involves the use of a non-recourse instrument.

The offer to give you a special deal because the contractor’s men are working on a couple other jobs in the neighborhood still arouses homeowner interest. Beware of the ‘convenience approach’ in which the contractor simply drops in on you, under no circumstances give any home improvement contractor, roofing contractor or specialist any money in advance or a deposit.

You can read more on the National Association of Remodeling Industry Standards of Practice at http://www.nari.org/about/standards/

When choosing a contractor, if your home has a relatively low sloped roof, the re-roofing job will not be too much of a problem. Steeper or more completed roofs will require more diligence when selecting a roofing contractor.

If you take more time choosing your contractor, asking a lot of questions, making a few phone calls, you will have a better chance of success with your roofing job.

While gathering roofing companies contact information, use a variety of sources. Plan on making 5 to 7 contacts by using the internet, yellow pages, friends or neighbors and your insurance company sometimes have list of roofers in your area
Choose roofers that specialize in residential re-roofing jobs.

Generally, the better contractors will take their time, walking the length and width of the house and asking you questions about what you wanted. The better ones will already know what options will suit your home better and will discuss these with you.

Find out when the work will begin

Ask each contractor when they plan on starting the job and how long they anticipate it will take. Contractors usually like to keep the times a little loose to cover their existing work schedule.

After you have spoken to the contractors and taken notes on your impression of them next you will wait for the written proposals. Some contractors will now show up or fail to send you a proposal. Some bids will be unusually high and some will be too good to be true. Read each proposal carefully to insure all the work you wanted done is included.

Once you have narrowed down your choices, call customer references and check with the Better Business Bureau for any information regarding the contractor.

Before signing a contract be sure all the work you wanted done is included. Make sure the payment information is clearly spelled out and verify the contractors insurance and compensation liability forms are current.

A roofing job is a major expense and the more diligent you are, the less surprises can occur.

You hear the words licensed, bonded and insured when looking for a roofing company but do you really know what they mean? A contractor who is not licensed, bonded and insured might have the same competence as any other roofer but may be more risk to the homeowner.

Your state may not require that your contractor be licensed. If a contractor has a license it does not have a lot of meaning for a homeowner getting a new roof. Licensing is basically a part of the political process. Different areas have different methods of issuing a license; it could be as simple as paying a fee or taking courses and proving hours of experience.

Bonding is an ssurance the job will be completed

There are several types of bonds, which are basically a type of insurance. Bonds can cover payments and bonds can cover performance. A bonded contractor pays the bonding company a fee similar to an insurance payment, and then if a contractor is unable to pay material suppliers or subcontractors the bonding company makes the payments. In case the contractor is unable to complete the labor part of the job, the bonding company will take over and make arrangements for another roofing company to come in and complete the job.

Insurance in contractor work usually relates to accidents. Roofing can be a dangerous job with the use of power tools, and slips and falls. Most of the time workers compensation laws provide for employer insurance covering such injures and the owner of the property does not have to get involved. If however the contractor does not carry insurance and a roofer is injured on the job, the owner of the property is ultimately responsible. Your homeowner insurance may not cover workers engaged in repair or remodel work on your home. It is a good idea to ask to see proof that your roof contractor has insurance for his workers.

Waxahachie City Council in Waxahachie Texas has approved a contract with Exterior consulting Innovations for roof repair for the civic center on Civic Center Lane. ECI contract is for $66,955 to prepare bid documents and select a contractor to recommend to the council. The roofing project will be to fix the failed repairs, shoddy workmanship, cracks and nearly 50 different leaks found.

City manager Paul Stevens said “The issues at the civic center are much more extensive than originally thought. The roof problems appear to be a result of both poor initial design and installation. While the work in 2007 may have addressed some of these issues it by no means went far enough. The estimate for the roof repairs is about $1,675,122. This would include re-roofing and also placing a recovery roof on the main barrel roof and all other metal roofs. Additionally, all gutters and flashings would either be replaced or re-worked.”

Recovery Roof System

The recovery roof is a system of metal panels with insulation in between the panels. The current roof would not need to be removed and the additional weight would not cause any structural issues. Other options besides the recovery roof was to use a coating system applied to the roof to make it water tight. This option was not recommended due to the maintenance involved and life of the roof.

Board President John Sanders said “As a board we were obviously shocked as well when the first report came in and we saw the severity of the issues. Clearly we knew that there were many, many leaks that they were getting worse and were impacting events. All the initial discussions centered around repairs and none of us had an idea that the budget would be to this extent. We have capital dollars set aside from the last election to use for these repairs. We had several other projects in mind that the board was considering, but we also knew we had to fix the roof first.”

In Plain Township – Stark County, Ohio, an apartment complex owner was surprised last week by roofers removing the shingles from his building. Ordinarily it would be a good thing to see them men on the job, the problem was, that he didn’t order a new roof.

A crew from Anthony Roofing assumed the job was at 6661 Amsel after arriving on the job and seeing that shingles and a dumpster were already there. The job was supposed to be at 6636 Amsel Ave., across the street.

Snowball of Errors

The start of this issue apparently was when the dumpster for job waste and old shingles was delivered to the wrong address. When the driver with the shingles arrived and saw the dumpster they unloaded the shingles at that address. The roofing crew arrived before the boss and started work at the address that the dumpster and shingles were.

Dale Rieger, owner of the six-unit building received a phone call from Tony Garman, owner of Anthony Roofing explaining they had removed the shingles and roofing paper from half of his building’s roof before the error was discovered.

Garman offered to replace the entire roof with only the cost of the shingles to Rieger. When Rieger insisted he did not have the funds for the roof at this time, Garman said he would replace the shingles and roofing paper his crew removed with better shingles at no cost.