I think the mentality of a good portion of all homeowners feel that as long as the roof keeps them dry why not use the contractor that has the cheapest price, roofing is roofing right? It is kind of funny to know that when that same person goes shopping for a car that the same mentality they use to purchase a roof does not apply. They will look for how safe a care will keep them, how well the car handles, how nice it looks and how well it performs overall. The average homeowner will pay more for their car then they will for their roof. Here is the funny part, the car will depreciate over time whereas the roof will help protect your home so it can appreciate in value. So why should your new roof be any different from an automobile?
We were recently contacted by a homeowner that had his new roof installed a couple of years ago. He was beginning to experience troubles with his newer roof. He told us that he had the roofer who installed the roof come out to address the troubles. The roofer told him he didn’t see any problems with the roof. The homeowner was still having problems and the roofer refused to come out to address any problems saying that the workmanship warranty had expired. The homeowner decided to quit dealing with that roofer and contact others to help. I inspected the roof to find it was installed incorrectly and told him he would have to replace it to fix all the problems he was experiencing. I asked the homeowner if he had others bid the roof when he replaced the roof last. He told me that he had about five other roofers give him bids and the roofer who installed his roof had the cheapest price. I provided him with our price to replace his new roof and his response to me was my bid was too high. As it turned out we were amongst five other bidders and our price was in the middle of the pack. Yes you guessed it, he was going with cheap once again. We run into this situation quite a bit.
Do you know of a roofer who works for a contractor but is willing to install the roof on your home for what you believe is a better deal then having a licensed roofing contractor do the work? Think again before you allow this to happen. In the industry this practice is called a “side job”. On average the roofer who installs the roof wants to make more then he makes at his normal job to make the extra time worth his while. Think of it like getting paid nothing less then time and a half tax free. You, the homeowner, goes and purchases the materials and the roofer you hired installs the roof and you pay him cash. First of all the licensed contractor does get a break in material pricing whereas the homeowner has to pay retail price. Second the labor you are paying to have that roof installed is over inflated so that the roofer doing the work makes his overtime pay. This all may seam like you have saved money but in fact it may have cost you more. The most important thing that most don’t realize here is that if anything were to happen to your home and any person working on your home you would bear all the liabilities. So for instance if your house burns down while the roofer was installing your roof you would have no recourse to re cooperate your losses. Another instance would be if that roofer fell off your home while installing your roof and got injured that roofer could come back and sue you for time loss and medical. All this still sound like a good deal? I would think again. The licensed legitimate contractor has insurance to assume all the liabilities while working on your home.
So when you want to hire a roofing contractor you shouldn’t be thinking in terms of the cheapest to do the job but rather who is going to provide you with the piece of mind knowing your investment and lively hood is well protected. Always check the labor and industries website to make sure you are hiring a legitimate licensed roofing contractor.