Mario Williams is a partner at Lone Star Roofing, a third-generation family-owned and operated roofing company located in Texas. A graduate of the University of Texas, Williams is known throughout the state as an expert in commercial and industrial roofing techniques. Here, he explains how homeowners can research their contractors before signing any contracts.
Vetting your contractor is one of the most important steps you are going to take when deciding to put a new roof on your home or office building. Whether the project is big or small, putting on a new roof is a huge deal for people in both time and money. That’s why it is really important that you take the time to find the right roofing contractor for the job.
To make matters even more confusing, you have to deal with the plain and simple fact that the roofing contractor industry is a high-risk industry. A lot of construction companies or people out there just come and go. And these fly-by-night roofers are obviously not who you want handling your roofing job. Unfortunately, the roofing industry is famous for having that particular problem and for having certain contractors close up shop all suddenly.
That is specifically why it is so important that anyone thinking of putting a new roof on their home or commercial property should take the time, do the research, and make sure they are hiring a reputable roofing contractor for the job. You are going to have to be a little more careful when hiring a roofing contractor as opposed to hiring any other type of contractor, but that is just the name of the game at this point.
So when it comes down to it and you are vetting a contractor, you are looking for someone who has experience and someone who is going to be around long enough to be able to guarantee some type of workmanship warranty. For the obvious reasons, you don’t want to hire someone who could be closing up shop in a few months, since in those cases you will have no way to collect on a workmanship or labor warranty should something happen to the roof.
Everyone has their own techniques for vetting potential contractors, but the big three things I encourage everyone to do is to make sure that their roofing contractor has a physical address, that he is listed in good standing with the Better Business Bureau, and that he has some type of affiliation with a professional roofing organization. Some tips:
Visit the business’ physical address. There is no point in even getting a labor or workmanship warranty if the roofing company behind it disappears a few weeks later. That’s why you should make sure the company you are hiring has a physical address where they can be found should something go wrong. If a particular company has been in business at the same location for a number of years, then that is a good sign that they probably aren’t going to disappear in just a few weeks or months. So definitely, anyone who is thinking of hiring a roofing contractor should check out that contractor’s physical office address to make sure it exists.
Check with the Better Business Bureau. I would certainly encourage everyone to call up their local Better Business Bureau office to make sure the company they are hiring is listed and in good standing. Once you have gotten through, you can also check the company’s history and make sure there aren’t any outstanding complaints. Obviously, if a number of people who have had problems in the past with that company, then that is something you would want to stay away from. But in general, checking with the Better Business Bureau can give you a pretty good idea of how reputable the roofing contractor really is.
Ask about professional affiliations. It is a good idea to check with your roofing contractor to see what kind of professional affiliations he maintains, just to make sure he is a member of some type of professional organization or group. Because each state has its own individual roofing contractor associations, there isn’t just one group to ask about. But in general, the most important thing is just making sure they belong to some group that is reputable. Nationwide, there are a few big national roofing contractor associations that are reputable and established.
If a company says they are affiliated with a national organization, of course that is a good place to start. But at the same time, you still need to do your due diligence and make sure that the references they give you to those professional organizations are legitimate.
In general, those are the three biggest things an individual can do to vet his or her contractor: Check the physical address, check the Better Business Bureau, and make sure the contractor belongs to at least one roofing organization. If all of those check out, that that is a good sign that you are on the right track and you have probably got yourself a good roofing contractor.
