Being in a situation where you need a new roof or roof repairs can be uncomfortable. How do you know how to choose the right roofing contractor? How do you know the service they provide aren’t going to cause more expensive issues down the road? If you search “roofing contractor near me” online, there are tons of listings that come up. But if you are in an emergency situation where you need to choose someone quickly, how do you filter out listings that aren’t going to provide the right services for you? We are going to explore what to look for and how to eliminate contractors that might be sketchy.
What Makes A Roofing Contractor?
A roofing contractor is a professional that has the knowledge and training in repairing, replacing, or installing new roofs. This isn’t the same as someone who might be a general contractor or a renovation contractor, who might know something about roofing in order to get a job done. A true professional roofing contractor can handle any roofing size, type, or material such as shingles, underlayment, ventilation, and other roofing system components.
What to Look for When Choosing a Roofer
There are many things you can look at in order to separate a reliable roofing contractor, from someone who might not provide the best service to you.
Online Reviews
A great and easy place to start is looking at any reviews online. Check not only their Google Reviews, but places like Yelp, BBB, Facebook, Bing, or Yahoo will help give you a broad scope of how their customers feel about their job performance at a quick glance.
Physical Address vs Service Area
A roofing company might have a local office, or have a service area they work in. What you need to be wary of is a roofer who is a “storm chaser”. You need to know that the roofer you hire is going to be in your area throughout the year for many different reasons. The most important being, that if an issue arises from their work, they will be around to fix it. A roofer that is a “storm chaser” will hop from area to area or state to state in order to rack up jobs based on areas hit by bad weather. You want someone that is dedicated to your area, and not someone trying to obtain as many jobs as possible before they move to the next area. This can often be checked on their website, or through reviews as well.
Insurance
Making sure the roofing contractor has the proper insurance is one of the most reliable ways to verify their authenticity over someone who is a scammer. Ask them how not only your property is covered in case of an accident, but how their workers are covered as well. Roofing is a dangerous job and having the correct coverages and policies in place like Workers Comp and General Liability shows you, their customer, that they are invested in their workers and want to provide the best services to those that work for them and not scam you into a legal situation.
References
A roofer that has worked in your area for a while will be able to provide a list of previous customers and should be willing to let you contact them. This shows you that they have confidence in their work and that they haven’t left a trail of unhappy homeowners with their work.
Credentials
Licensing and permits will vary by state or city, so you want to verify that a company you are looking to hire knows what they need for your area. You want to ask them if they are going to comply with the building codes in your area. If they act skeptical, or like this is an odd question, it should be a red flag for you.
You can also ask if they are affiliated with any roofing-specific organizations. Owens Corning has their “Owens Corning Roofing Platinum Preferred Contractors” which is a network of vetted roofing contractors for their products. These contractors are also qualified to offer Owens Platinum Protection Limited Warranty. GAF is another provider of roofing materials that certifies roofers using their products. With GAF you can take the contractor’s phone number and ID and cross-reference them on the GAF site to confirm certification through them. Both of these companies also offer sections on their sites to look up qualified roofers in your area.
Ask Your Contractor Questions
By this point, you should be talking to a roofing contractor you are looking to hire. While not all these questions are vital, any contractor should be able to answer these questions with confidence and an understanding of what you’re asking them.
- Will you explain my warranty? A reliable roofing contractor should be able to clearly and thoroughly explain to you what is covered and who should be called if a problem arises. Check if defective shingles will be replaced under warranty or if the cost of replacement and labor will be additional.
- Which roofing materials will you use for my roof? Make sure the materials your roofer is going to use on your home are a name you can trust since not all roofing products are built the same.
- Will you provide me with a written estimate? Having a written estimate allows you to view the breakdown of an estimate and allows you to ask questions about their plans and process.
- Will you perform a thorough inspection? Mistakes can happen even in the clearest-cut projects. You want to make sure an inspection is done after your new roofing system is installed. This should include the entire roof including the deck, attic, flashing, chimney, and any other roof penetrations.
- Will you check for adequate ventilation? The attic ventilation is an important part of how a roofing system works to help keep your home installed. Your contractor should be able to explain the importance of this ventilation in addition to inspection to ensure it is working properly. Improper ventilation can damage your shingles and violate warranties.
Each of these questions demonstrates their understanding of not only roofing as a whole but your specific project and the service they can provide for you.