As a home owner you probably know that your roof will not stay forever and will require to be changed sometime sooner or later. It is therefore important for you to know the simple procedure of choosing the professional who will replace your roof when it is time to do so. You must learn to find a good contractor who will do this work at your budget apart from advising you on the best products to use as well as the leading procedures.
While it is important for you to choose the right roofing contractor, you also need to know the right questions to ask so as to determine the expertise, reputation and reliability of a contractor so that you are satisfied they will do the right job. Just like people take utmost care to choose other professionals, the roofing contractor you choose needs to know the job and be able to give you a good return on investment.
Choosing a roofing contractor may not be as easy as looking at a few quotes; it takes some serious work and we are going to give you a simple guide to follow. It will take you close to an hour going through estimates from different companies and discussing available options.
Full address: Ensure that you get a company’s full address in order for you to easily investigate the amount of time they have been in business. It is always good to deal with a company that offices at a place where you can actually attend a meeting physically if need be.
Insurance: The Company you hire needs to have a certificate of insurance such as workers’ compensation and general liability just in case there is an accident. You should actually ask the insurer to send you proof before you finally award the contract since there are contractors who can lie to you. You should especially be vigilant about workers’ compensation because you will be covered should a worker get injured while working at your home.
License: It is important to ask to see the contactor’s license because it it’s an indication that such a contractor has actually been certified by the relevant authorities to do the work. Once you see a license, diligence requires that you take a moment to check with the licensing authority so that you are sure.
Company’s workmanship policy: Majority of companies provide a workmanship warranty of at least 12 months after they have completed their job. You should always look for a longer warranty and make sure the company will stand behind its guarantee. You should be able to locate some of their previous customers and ask if the contractor finishes projects on time, how they react to any changes or further information, whether they address their customers’ interest and if they would describe the contractor as a diligent roofing company.
Referrals: Ask for names of previous customers and their phone numbers over the past one year and where possible, get before and after photographs of the jobs they finished recently. Make it a point to call some of those customers and visit any one of them who will be comfortable to let you.