Got two roof estimates.....

[Rodan]

Worked one summer for a roofer.
Sweep ware house - clean trucks - load trucks - carry shingles
and Drag a THREE FOOT WIDE MAGNET around job sites.

Ask potential roofer about his magnet.

Bekeart

I have both a magnet wand and a rolling two foot wide magnet. After the shop roof was on, I made it clear to the roofer that I didn't want to end up with a nail in any of my $600 RV tires (it's parked next to the shop). He had a guy spend about 2 hours going over the gravel around the shop and after he was done I think I only found 2 nails.

 

[Rudi]

I did a lot of roofing years ago. The industry is in poor shape now. Get a couple more bids. Check all references. If they can do it in "one day", run away.

 

[CalifEd]

Every time there is a disaster, earthquake, flood or fire, there are gypsy 'contractors' that swoop into the area.
The State has inspectors posing as homeowners that will accept bids from some of these guys.
They will check out their licenses, insurance and bonding info and verify this information back to the licensee too. Some of the fly-by-night outfits have been known to copy a legitimate Contractors info so they can appear legitimate.
If you aren't an officially licensed and insured Contractor (or a scam artist), no ticket for you. You are escorted to a waiting Black and White taxi for the trip to the local GrayBar bed and breakfast. Also, you get a participation award, called a felony charge, for your attempt.
Unfortunately, there have been too many of these disasters throughout the State in recent years and the State has only been able catch a few of these Gypsy/fly-by-nighters.

 

[swsig]

Sometimes, living in a small town can facilitate your contractor choice. For our last roof replacement about 18 years ago, we used the roofing company that was owned by a high school friend of our oldest daughter. Needless to say, they did a fine job, which included pushing a large magnetic roller around our yard to pick up all the metallic debris. We had chosen a top-of-the-line GAF roof with a 50-year warranty. About five years later, our roofer contacted us saying that GAF had notified them that they'd had a bad run of roofing material that may have been installed on our roof. Our roofer came out, took a small sample of the material, and sent it to GAF. A couple of weeks later, we received a check from GAF for over $12,000 to cover the cost of a new roof. GAF said that the current roof would be good for a while, but would likely need replacement in 15-20 years, not 50. It's now in need of replacement, and we know who is going to get the job and what brand of tiles we'll choose.

 

[alwslate]

When my roofing job was done a few years ago the contractor was not there when the crew did the job. Couple of comical, almost, things happened. Watching TV while all of the banging was going on I suddenly lost my picture. Looking out the front door I saw the crew had stacked up a high pile of new shingles right in front of my DIRECTV dish bolted to the front wall of the house. Bit of a culture gap I guess. Fortunately the crew chief spoke English and I got them moved. They were doing a complete tear off and replacement and had a big truck outside to throw all trash in. One evening after they left I decided to go grocery shopping and went out and raised my garage door. Woops, the truck was left backed up right in front of the door. No way to get out. I got ahold of the contractor on his cell phone and he called the crew chief and got the truck moved. Great bunch of hard working guys that left the area pretty clean after they were done.

 

[LoboGunLeather]

I know that I've had at least 20 'roofers' come by wanting to 'take a look'.

I had horrible time when Hurricane Hugo dropped a tree on our house. I got a local guy to do it but he hired crummy people to do the job. Had to get the roof replaced.

All of these stories of woe point to the fact that when it comes to roofing, paving, etc. you can COUNT on getting ripped-off even if you are careful.

Only about 95% of all contractors give the rest a bad reputation.

 

[Ματθιας]

I've found that anything that's not a complete roofing job, it seems that most roofing companies don't want to do repairs, like blown off shingles as it's too small of a job.

 

[GaryS]

We've done three roof replacements in the 44 years I've owned houses.

Our old house in MA was built in 1963, we bought it in 1980. Sometime between 5-10 years after we bought it, we replaced the original. At the time the rule in MA was that you could do one re roof without taking the old roof off. No problems with that roof at all.

In 2017, it was time for a new roof. I used a general contractor that had done some work for me and a lot more for a friend. He gave me good pric and I had faith in him. Like everyone else, he subbed it out to two guys who did roof work for him. They showed up on time and worked for two days to do the job. Stripped the old roof, repaired any of the plywood that looked "soft," put in a new ice shield that went all the way up to the peak, replaced the old passive vents with peak vents, took the gutters off and replaced a couple or rotted fascia boards, put the gutters back, and cleaned up.

Last November we moved to central Texas and bought a house that was 20 years old. We knew from the home inspector that the roof needed replacement due to some hail damage that had been repaired, but wasn't all that great. Plus, our insurance company told us that they'd insure the house, but we had a year to get the roof replaced.

I got three bids for that job, all from local companies. The low bid was pretty vague about materials, which was disappointing. We pretty much discarded that one.

The second company was really local, in that the owner lived in the neighborhood next to ours. He spent a lot of time explaining what he thought needed to be done and what materials he recommended. A few grand more than the low bid, but he was in the running.

The third guy came out. He was the estimator for the company and lives not far from us. He spent over an hour explaining the entire process. One thing he told us was that when these houses were built most of them were built on "spec" and the builders cut corners whenever possible. He said that it really wasn't up to code and recommended getting rid of the ridge vent and all of the other vents as well. He specified two solar powered vents at the back of the house where they'd get maximum sunlight. He also recommended Level 4 impact resistant shingles. Hail damage is very common here and he said that insurance companies will offer a discount that will mostly offset the extra cost of the shingles.

Like everyone else, the company subs out the actual construction, but they use the same crews all the time. I think all together the difference was about $1,000 more than the other bid.

That's who we picked and it was worth it.

The crew showed up at 6:30 as promised and went right to work stripping the roof down to the plywood. They removed everything patched the holes, put down the moisture barrier, and did the rest. As it turned out, he sent out a crew of eight because they had a last minute cancellation.

They also replaced the roof on the 10x12 shed even though that wasn't in the original bid.

When they were done, all of the old stuff was gone, the nails were cleaned up, and all was well. I think I found three nails on the lawn.

BTW, the two top bidders told me that Texas doesn't license roofing companies and a lot of the companies are shady as hell. Which is why I picked a company that has a legitimate web page, answers their phones, and gives detailed receipts. There was one minor problem and he sent a guy out to fix it within 24 hours of me calling him and sending a picture.

Not cheap, but I confident that the job was done right.

As the saying goes, "If you don't have the money to do it right, how are you going to be able to pay to have it done twice?"

 

[Narragansett]

I had a roof done 3 years ago. I got 3 prices and went with the low one. Local guy, lots of references, and a GAF master rated installer for a 50 year roof.

I wrote a spec sheet for workmanship, cleanup etc. I also got copies of their insurance certificates naming me as additional insured, and copies of their workman's comp certs. You cannot work on my house as a contractor without insurance

 

[GaryS]

Absolutely need proof of insurance, both liability and workers comp. Don't want to get sued by some "subcontractor" who fell off my roof and has not insurance of his own.

I had a roof done 3 years ago. I got 3
prices and went with the low one. Local guy, lots of references, and a GAF master rated installer for a 50 year roof.

I wrote a spec sheet for workmanship, cleanup etc. I also got copies of their insurance certificates naming me as additional insured, and copies of their workman's comp certs. You cannot work on my house as a contractor without insurance

 

[LoboGunLeather]

I had a roof done 3 years ago. I got 3 prices and went with the low one. Local guy, lots of references, and a GAF master rated installer for a 50 year roof.

I wrote a spec sheet for workmanship, cleanup etc. I also got copies of their insurance certificates naming me as additional insured, and copies of their workman's comp certs. You cannot work on my house as a contractor without insurance

Insurance is a major consideration. Contractor liability is important, but workers compensation coverage is absolutely vital. For the roofing trade workers comp is also very expensive.

The primary reason why most roofing crews are subcontractors is that subcontractors are not employees, thus generally outside the requirements for workers comp, unemployment insurance, social security/medicare (state laws will vary on this). Your roofing contractor is not providing workers comp for the sub crew; the subcontractor is responsible for his own.

Generally speaking, when an unlicensed contractor is working on your property that person may be considered as a temporary employee UNLESS YOU HAVE A WRITTEN WAIVER (and your state law allows such waivers). In the event of an injury YOU MAY FIND YOURSELF RESPONSIBLE for all hospital, doctors, rehabilitation, wage losses, potential disability expenses AND YOUR STATE MAY HAVE LEGAL AUTHORITY TO PLACE A LIEN ON YOUR PROPERTY TO COLLECT.

Your homeowners insurance policy conveys no such insurance coverage (unless you have added specific additional coverage at additional premium costs), and even then such coverage is likely to exempt such contract workers.

But, but, but my state law requires licensing! (People lie).
But, but, but my state law requires insurance! (People lie, and insurance certificates can be forged pretty easily).
But, but, but that's just not fair! (Neither is life in modern America, so hand over your keys and deed).

 

[SMSgt]

If you're having the roof redone, mow the grass around the roof edge down to near-scalped level. Makes it so easy to clean up regardless of who does the cleaning. A couple of weeks and it all grows back.