How to Hire a Qualified Roofer
Trying to hire a roofer, is a lot more tricky than it would seem. Replacing roofs is not something homeowners do as often as watering the lawn, it’s meant to be a one time investment to last you at least decades. As a local roofing company, replacing roofs is in fact something we do everyday. We see & know a thing or two about how to hire a qualified roofer.
There’s quite a few factors that play into “qualifications” of a good roofer. As a roofer, we try to put ourselves in the Consumers point of view, to release what questions are highly important when considering signing on the dotted line for that new roof.
The first thing you should always ask about is Active Insurance policies. Do they have General Liability Insurance? How about Work mans Comp? General liability protects homeowners in the circumstances that Mother Nature further damages your home while its “open” or being worked on. Work mans comp is especially important because if the company does not have that & an employee gets hurt on a roof, they have rights to sue the homeowner! Work mans Comp policies clear the homeowner & holds the company liable.
Its equally important to ask about the process of the replacement. Will it be subbed out, or will it be in house? “Subbing” work out is the process of a sales company selling to the homeowner, then selling the job to other contractors. Usually the cheapest & fastest contractor, who will most likely provide subpar workmanship & quality. If the sales company is honest about subbing their work out, its imperative to receive insurance from the company themselves. This covers the homeowner completely.
The next question to ask would be how long the whole process from start to finish would be. Sometimes materials are being waited on, but the longest a project should take would estimate about 3 months for the Treasure Valley, even that would warrant for an extreme reason. Keep in mind, the quality & time it takes to make sure everything is perfect cannot happen in 1 day. Major red flags when they quote shorter than a week. This means the crew is rushing to get things done in the timeline, they are not taking the time to make sure each penetration is sealed & each shingle course is installed correctly.
At the end of the day it is the homeowners who decide who replace the roof, we want to make sure to educate homeowners in what red flags to watch for, & which questions to ask to reveal those red flags. Be a smart consumer, do the research, it will pay off in the end!
