Your home’s foundation is what keeps your home locked in place. It’s your roof that protects every that is connected to the foundation from the elements. The simple truth is you cannot afford to ignore the condition of your roof.
On a regular basis, you should be taking a look at your roof from a distance. If you see tiles missing or something out of the ordinary, you would be well-advised to get a roofing inspection professional to take a look. Why? Minor roofing problems have a tendency of becoming major roofing problems much sooner than you might expect.
If roof problems do exist, the best thing you can do is go in search of the best possible roofing contractor you can find. Since searching for a top roofing contractor is not something you do often, here are five tips you can use to help find a really good roofing contractor.
1. Stay with local roofers who know the community
You can never be sure how things are going to turn out when you hire any kind of building contractor. For that reason, you should make your roofing contractor selection from the pool of contractors in your area. There are several reasons this should make perfect sense.
First, local roofing contractors are more likely to have good relationships with all of the best material suppliers. Second, you won’t be subject to costs related to your contractor traveling from other areas. Third, it will be easier to deal with them and confront them if there are roof issues in the future. Finally, local roofing contractors will have a better understanding related to the permitting process and installation regulations in your area.
2. Ask about licenses, bonding, and insurance
Any time you are dealing with contractors, you want to be sure you have certain legal protections in place should there be any residual issues related to the work your contractor does.
The three main protectors you want to look for are as follows:
1. Proper licensing – Licensing establishes that a prospective roofing contractor has met specific standards as put forth by your state’s government. Since roofing requires a major infrastructure investment, you want to seek a contractor with a “general contractors” license.
2. Bonding – A contractors bond is a form of insurance. It is designed to ensure that should your chosen roofing contractor go out of business or fail to finish the job, the bond company would step up and guarantee the job gets done by another reputable roofing contractor. The presence of proper bonding should serve to indicate the bond company has faith in the contractor’s reputation and workmanship.
3. Insurance – A responsible roofing contractor will carry two forms of insurance at a minimum. That would be general liability insurance and Workman’s Compensation insurance for their employees. The general liability insurance would cover any collateral damage that the work crew might cause to your property.
3. Verify the roofing contractors credentials
If you are looking at major roof repairs or a complete roof installation, it would be a mistake to go cheap and hire an inexperienced roofer or roofing company. The risk would be they won’t know how to deal with any unintended consequences that might occur while they are providing roofing services.
What you want is a roofing contractor with lots of experience handling the exact services you need. You also want a roofer that has been in the area for quite a while because it indicates they will probably be around for a while longer. You never know when you will need a familiar face to resolve an issue, especially if they might have created it.
4. Require warranties and workmanship guarantees
Most roof installations are going to require a significant financial investment. How significant? There is evidence that shows the average cost for a new residential roof is approximately $10,000.
If you are going to make that kind of an investment, you’ll want to know that the investment is protected. Roofing contractors can protect your investment by guaranteeing their workmanship and offering an adequate warranty that covers both materials and labor. DO NOT contract with a roofing contractor who isn’t willing to stand behind their work.
5. References and Reviews
At the end of the day, the best information you can get about a prospective roofing contractor will come from customers who have used them.
While customer reviews can be insightful, scrutiny is warranted, especially with online reviews. There really is no way you can confirm the validity of an online review or testimonial. That’s why requesting references should be your primary objective. If a roofing contractor is willing to put you in direct contact with a happy former customer, that indicated the contractor is confident in their ability to do go work. If by chance they can give you multiple references, that should give you confidence the roofing contractor does good work.
Other Considerations
Before you settle on a roofing contractor, there are several other things you should do to protect yourself.
For instance, you’ll want to get multiple estimates or quotes. This bidding process helps ensure that your leading candidate is offering a fair and competitive price. Caution: Settling on the lowest price is not always the best thing to do. Before you go that route, try to find out why the lowest bid is so low. If it has anything to do with the contractor cutting corners or using inferior materials, you should steer clear.
It goes without saying that everything needs to be memorialized in a contract. When discussing the terms, they is one thing to remember because it usually gets forgotten. You’ll want to make sure that the cleanup responsibilities after the job is completed are expressly outlined. By making sure that’s in the contract, you won’t have to pay until the cleanup work is done.
We hope this information will serve you well. As a professional and reputable roofing contractor, we feel obligated to make sure customers don’t get victimized by rogue roofing contractors.
For more information about our roofing repairs and installation, we recommend you contact us when you are ready to do something about your roof.