First off a roof is a very big investment not just monetarily but it protects your family or bushiness from the elements as well. There is over 5,000 roofing companies in the Houston, Texas area alone. The majority of them only specializing in shingle roofs. Why is this important to know well would you let a dentist work on your eyes I think. Any roofing company can sell you the majority of roof types on the market but do they have the skills knowledge and crew members to install them properly. From my experience in the industry most roofing contractors can install a shingle roof in a few days time and leave a smile on your face. When it’s comes to metal roofing, slate roofs, tile roofing, or low slope flat roofs their are very few contractors I would let touch my roof. The reasons are the detail time and your investment involved. Where a shingle roof can be installed in a day or two. Some other roof types may take weeks even months depending on size and detail of the project. Now I will go into detail about why you must choose very carefully your roofing contractor.
1: Are they certified by the manufacture of they roofing products they are installing?
Keep in mind not all manufactures have a certification program.
2: If they are certified do they score high on their completed projects by the manufactures score chart.
3:Ask them to let you see some of there completed work and speak with their customers. Pictures are nice but anyone can take a picture of a roof and claim they did the work
4: How did they represent their company. If they talk down on their competitors that’s not a good sign. They should be giving you the knowledge info and time you deserve. Your time is valuable and should not be wasted with nonsense.
5:Has your sales person actually installed roofs personally or does he just talk a good game.
6: When and if you choose to move forward with your project will their be a project manager on site or visiting your project frequently.
7:You should never have to pay to receive a estimate as long as you already own the property
8: And one of the most important factors do you know how to locate your contractor after the project is completed if you have issues. Why I bring this up is because alot of roofing contractors are known in the business as storm chasers. Which means they show up when storms hit then disappear. The best way to avoid hiring a storm chaser is make sure you contact them and they just don’t come knocking on your door.
9: Does your contractor have a large media or large presence on the Internet if so that’s good that means they are confident in their work and are probably not storm chasers. The reason is they don’t mind sharing info on them and have no worries about you having problems or being contacted if problems do arise in the future.
10:Make sure you go over the contract thourghlly and so there will be no frustrations during or after the project because y’all disagree about something not on or that is on the contract