Roofing Horror Story #257
by StewartI just gave an estimate to a man who had a brand new roof with a 40 year architectural shingle installed on it. Unfortunately, like many cases I have seen before, he hired a poor installer, which made the quality of the shingles completely useless. The roofer was inexperienced and high-nailed everything. In recent high winds, a third of his roof just ripped right off.
This isn’t the first problem he has had with his roof, either. Earlier this year, he had a leak around the chimney. He called up the roofer, who simply told him that it wasn’t under warranty. This is an outrageous situation to be in for a roof that is less than a year old!He is hoping that insurance will cover the disaster, and we hope they do, too! But more likely than not, the insurance company will refer him back to the poor installation of the roofer, and the roofing contractor has shown he is unwilling to act. This man may have to pocket the money and pay for a new roof.It really is disappointing. There are a lot of roofers out there that will perform work that is less than desirable. It’s not the customers fault, they are simply trying to find the best deal on an expensive purchase. They see these bids from new contractors and they think “This is so cheap, it’s $2,000 less than any other bid!” And we truly do wish that those companies were reputable, it would save a lot of people frustration and wasted money.However, this man spent $4,000 on his roof to install it the first time. Now he will probably be spending around $7,000 to get the roof fixed and installed the right way.If you are already in this situation, I’m sorry to say, there is not a lot you can do. I have seen this happen too many times. In fact, some companies will go out of business because of situations like this, and then open a new company with a new name and a clean slate, only to repeat history on more unsuspecting customers.
We understand how frustrating installing a roof can be, especially when money is tight. If you are receiving bids and you find a contractor that seems too good to be true, step away do a little research about the company. Ask the contractor for some referrals for where he may have gotten his roofing experience and training.If you want a fail-safe way of choosing a roofing contractor, check out our Roofing Contractor Checklist below!
And check out these other roofing horror stories:
Texas Bill Targets Crooked Roofers
State Capitol Offices Damaged in Roofing Project