What to Look for If You Have Your Roof Done by Someone Else
In first looking for a roofing subcontractor, the first thing you definately need to look for. EXPERIENCE! Alot of conglamorates have lots of employees, (roofers and shinglers alike), that probably got the job within the year. Roofing is hard work, so most that work for hourly or weekly pay for a major roofing company usually don’t stay very long. It takes a roofing company years to find a great team of roofers that not only been through the rough cycle of roofing, but has plenty of experience. No amount of schooling will teach a new roofer how to roof that valley next to a chiminey, or better yet, how to stand up on a roof, steep or otherwise. Secondly, word of mouth is a great way to find a roofing company. Yes, the yellow pages is chicked full of them, but working for a roofing company that has been in business for 48+ years, my “people” have NEVER put in an ad, ANYWHERE. Ask your neighbors, co-workers, etc… This should put you in a good spot for a good roofing company.
APPEARANCE CAN BE DECEIVING
One of the first things you should avoid when the roofing contractor pulls up to the roof. His vehicle. One of the biggest misconceptions of contractors as well as clients that need a roof on their own house is that they judge a company by the vehicles they use. You have to understand one thing about this myth. This vehicle gets used frequently for roofing jobs. This means the truck usually gets hit by shingles, gets loaded and unloaded all the time, ends up with flats almost on a daily basis running over nails from job sites, and almost always traveled a little far to ge to the job. Any time i see a roofing company, i never measure up their experience with the make. model, or year of their truck. actually, the newer trucks are the ones I’m usually weary of. Someone paid for that truck. think about it.
When the roofers first show up, you might have a couple that either don’t speak english, have long hair, look like they haven’t took a bath in days, or currently on crack. Now, take a closer look. The long haired one probably has been roofing for years. There is no grooming procedures for being a roofer. The clothes they are wearing is wore out because they will probably be no good anyway after the job is done. Remember, they are working with tar and rock. Most roofers shop second hand for their working clothes, because they never last long, usually going through 2 sets of pants and at least three shirts by the end of the week. Do yourself a favor, talk to the roofers for about five minutes, overall, you”ll find out that they are hard working guys that are just trying to make a living.
TIPS
When the roofers start, make sure they are using options to put that ladder on your gutters. Although a simple 2×4 inside your gutter keeps it from bending, a better option is having a ladder that has a pull out to hold the ladder away from your gutters. This contraption is simplybedded against the side of the house, rather than on your gutters. If the roofer doesn’t have one of these, make sure he can at least find a soft towel to cover the outside gutter to keep it from scratching the paint. Personally, working with a pull-out is a little more dangerous, but if the superviser does this properly, everone should be fine.
Did he bring tarpulins?(Tarps, for short).
One of the biggest mistakes a homeowner could do is to hire a roofing service that does not bring tarps on site. the weather, no matter how good you prepare for the day, is never guaranteed. Also, whether this is a tear-off or not, ask to see if they brought a magnet to pick up nails. the last thing you want is to have a roof completed, and then find out days later that you ran over a roofing nail. Worse case scenario: your child ends up with a nail in their foot playing in the back yard. This wasn’t made up, i’ve seen it happen.
Agree on the best time to start. I have shown up on roofing jobs at 5:30 to get started. Ten minutes later, the owner is yelling at us about how early it is. make sure you and the roofing company both agree on the best time EVERYDAY to start work. Hint: Roofers generally like to work VERY early due to the sun. Some even split their days, leaving a 2:00 p.m and coming back at 5:00 p.m. Also, there is such a thing as it being too hot to work. Roofers will destroy your brand new shingles if they are stepping on them in 89-110 degree weather. (Shingles are made out of a tar mixture, it does get soft).
So to wrap this up. give that small roofing company a break. they might not be good-looking enough to make it on the cover of G.Q., but they are hard working folks, and if you go by what few hints and guidelines i left here, you shouldn’t have a problem.
Last but not least, no matter how small a roofing company is, make sure they are insured. Roofing is a dangerous job, and 99% of the time, everything goes smooth, but there is no guarantee in that either. As soon as you ask for insurance, call up the insurer to make sure the company is frequent. one of the tricks of the trade is to buy insurance, pay the first month, stop paying for it, but keep the paperwork. this is an old trick, but still gets used and is quite common in this fiield of work.
