Oh, how the old saying “You get what you pay for” really plays out in the roofing industries.
Most roofing companies are opened by a guy who decided he didn’t want to work for another and wanted to do it his own way. Leaving us in the Tri County area with a Hodge podge of roofing company’s all doing it their own way. This then leaves the property owners with the daunting task of breaking down the proposal so they can understand it. And then to decide who is trying to take advantage of them or worse doing subpar work. How do you know?
I’m going to try and help you here by first understanding what you are buying and how to trust the right company. I’ve come to realize that there are three types of clients and 30 different types of roofers. Which is why I always ask how long do you plan on living in the home or owning the building and would you like me to come back help you sort through the other proposals? With that answer I can try to save you valuable time by eliminating points to ponder. You also may be able to remove another company from the mix due to them not being aligned with your key wants and needs which should simplify the decision-making process.
I’m not here to say all other roofing companies are bad, quite the opposite. But there are key differences with in their quality of work, materials used and the overhead that they operate under. I’m almost positive you haven’t considered two out the three and how would you know too? Thus, is the reason for their not wanting their proposal to offer the same as everyone else’s.
Moving on… Let’s start with a company’s insurances. The value of their policy directly effects the type of work they are qualified to do. This will also affect their pricing do to it being the biggest part of their overhead. This is also where the biggest lies come from. ‘Nope don’t use any sub-contractors’, but you can verify this by calling the policy writer and asking then how many people are insured under their workman comp. If they only say 5 employees and they have any office staff, you’ll know the math can’t be right and you could possibly have an uninsured sub on your property leaving you susceptible to a lawsuit. PS I’ve discovered more than one roofing company listed with workman’s comp as a gutter or carpenter. This will allow them to substantially under bid the work but again if an injury happens you could be held liable. Protect yourself.
Let’s Discuss name changes and why they do it. If you take the time to google the company license it should lead you to sunbiz.org. If it doesn’t you should go there anyway. The name under that license is the qualifier and the qualifier should be the owner of the company. But many times it is not and this could be that the person has retired and let a family member take over. Or it could be he just rents out the license. In either event that means someone is doing and overseeing of the work but is not actually certified by the state or county. Neither is an ideal situation and should be considered the same as unlicensed work. You should search the company name at Sunbiz.org and dig around a little. To me a name change is the biggest red flag of all times and consideration for any company being eliminated. Even when they go from Lloyd Roofing to Lloyd and Son or Lloyd LLC, this often means they don’t want you to know something about them. Could be a lawsuit or complaints issued against them. Seriously if you’re a legitimate business who spends time and money branding yourself with hopes of referrals and high reviews online why change the name? Now with a DBA this probably doesn’t apply. They may be offering a subsidiary service in which you would still be able to trace back to the actual qualifier and previous name.
Finally let’s discuss materials used. The one fact that may not be offered by all is you have choices to consider. I often say your decision will be based on budget, Length of life expectancy or hurricane concerns. The estimator should want to sit down with you to discuss these in detail to prevent you from saying why didn’t they tell me, I could have or should have. The estimates you receive really should state the name of a manufacture where applicable. Many times, I see proposals written saying just 30lb base sheet or base sheet, 2 plies of felt and Modified cap sheet. It should be noted that when its written that way you will most like have whatever product was on sale at the suppliers the day they work on your roof. A roofer that cares will have a trusted product that he’s confident will hold up for the warranty offered.
In closing I’d like to add that here at Southern Certified Inc we seek to Develop and Maintain Relationships with each client. We know we can only achieve this by being true to our word and true in our work. Since 1995 we know this has been key to our success.