When Roof Damage Occurs, Use a Certified Roof Installer

When a big storm comes through, especially if there is hail, all of a sudden, homeowners receive business cards and flyers on their door steps, mailers and post cards in their mailboxes, phone calls, text messages, emails – you name it.  Some of these contractors have names they recognize because they have seen them in the magazines or the big bulk envelope that contains coupons with tons of companies in it.  Or maybe, they saw them advertising on television, a bill board, or their trucks driving around town.

Others, they never heard of, but now their sales person is at their front door.  They may have received a permit from the local municipality and they have a badge hanging around their neck.  They look official, right?  Until their business card has a crossed off name and phone number and they are offering a large discount if you agree to sign their contract RIGHT NOW and even better, if you call your insurance company and place an insurance claim RIGHT NOW.  Sometimes, they even say you can get your entire roof replaced “for free” if you just…

While sometimes, it may be true that your roof can be replaced due to a weather-related incident, chances are that if it smells like a fish, chances are something fishy is happening.  This is a time that homeowners should take a moment to pause and start asking questions before agreeing to sign any contracts or making any rash decisions.

When making a decision about a roof repair or a roof replacement, homeowners should take a few important questions into consideration.  We will consider both Repairs and Replacement below, separately.

Roof Repairs

1.     Labor Warranty: 

·       Is a warranty offered on labor for repairs? 

·       If yes, for how long?     

·       Who is offering this warranty? 

·       Is it the roofer, or is it the manufacturer of the roofing shingle?

·       Will you receive a certificate of the warranty?

·       Will you receive directions on how to file a warranty claim?

2.     Material Warranty: 

·       Is a warranty offered on materials for repairs? 

·       If yes, for how long? 

·       Who is offering this warranty?

·       Is it the roofer, or is it the manufacturer of the roofing shingle? 

·       Will you receive a certificate of the warranty?

·       Will you receive directions on how to file a warranty claim?

3.     How is the roof inspection performed to determine what areas need to be repaired?

·       Does the roofer use high powered binoculars from the ground level to perform an inspection, without actually climbing the roof or going onto the roof, at all?

·       Does the roofer perform a visual inspection with the naked eye by climbing up on to the roof and looking around?

·       Does the roofer go inside your home to check for leaks, then compare to the roof above, tracing the leaks to the damage above?

·       Does the roofer perform a water test?

·       Does the roofer use a drone to inspect the roof, instead of climbing up on the roof to perform a visual inspection with the naked eye?

·       Does the roofer perform an infrared inspection instead of depending on a drone (without infrared) or the naked eye?

4.     Who is performing the roof inspection to check for leaks?

·       Is it a sales person, who has never performed a roof repair?

·       Is it a roofer who has performed roof repairs?

·       Is it a drone operator, who does NOT use infrared inspection capabilities?

·       Is it a drone operator, who DOES HAVE infrared inspection capabilities?

Roof Replacement

1.     Who develops the specifications for the roof replacement?

·       Is it a licensed engineer at the roofing company?

·       Is it an independent licensed engineer?

·       If yes, is this an additional cost to you, as the homeowner, for the creation of this specification?

·       Does the manufacturer of the shingle offer development of the specifications for your roof, for free, through your roofer?

2.     Labor Warranty: 

·       If a labor warranty call needs to be placed, what is the process for placing this call? 

·       What labor warranty is offered by the roofing manufacturer?

·       What labor warranty is offered by the contractor?

·       What warranty will the manufacturer provide to the homeowner, if the contractor goes out of business during this time frame?

·       Will you receive a certificate of the warranty from the contractor?

·       Will you receive a certificate of warranty from the manufacturer?

3.     Material Warranty: 

·       If a material warranty call needs to be placed, what is the process for placing this call? 

·       What material warranty is offered by the roofing manufacturer?

·       What material warranty is offered by the contractor?

·       What warranty will the manufacturer provide to the homeowner, if the contractor goes out of business during this time frame?

·       What does a 30, 40, or 50 year “lifetime” shingle warranty really mean?

·       Will you receive a certificate of the warranty from the contractor?

·       Will you receive a certificate of warranty from the manufacturer?

4.     During the course of roof replacement, who will inspect the roof to confirm that the contractor is installing the roof according to the manufacturer’s specifications?

·       Will the manufacturer inspect it?

·       Is there a cost for them to do so?

·       Will an independent licensed engineer perform this inspection?

·       Does the homeowner have to hire this engineer, independently?

·       Is there an additional cost to the homeowner to hire this engineer, above the cost of the roof installation?

General Questions Homeowners Should ask for Both Roof Repairs and Roof Replacement, include:

1.     Is the contractor certified and insured to perform roofing work?

·       Is the contractor a roofing contractor?

·       Do they have professional references with roofs they have replaced in the past where the work was performed above satisfactory level?

·       Does their certificate of insurance indicate that they are insured to perform roofing work?

·       NOTE:  Just because they are a general contractor or have a home improvement license does not mean that they are insured to climb on roofs or to perform roofing work!  Please check to ensure that they are insured to perform roofing work!!!

2.     Does the Contractor have proper insurance for the work being performed?

·       Does the contractor have General Liability insurance (no less than $1,000,000)?

·       Does the contractor have an Umbrella Policy?

·       Does the contractor have Automobile Coverage with Hired and Non-Hired Automobiles?

·       Does the contractor have Workers’ Compensation Insurance?

   NOTE:  Many contractors try to avoid having employees and utilize sub-contractors so that they do not have to pay Workers’ Compensation insurance.  In this instance, homeowners have two options:

·       Collect certificates of insurance from all sub-contractors to ensure that the homeowner has coverage of all contractors working on their property.

·       Request that the contractor working on their property carry Workers’ Compensation insurance.

3.     Certificates of Insurance for all contractors should list the Homeowner as Additional Insured and Certificate holders.

·       Additional Insured:  This means that if something goes wrong with the project, the homeowner should FIRST work with the contractor to resolve the issue, but if this does not work, then the homeowner has the ability to contact the insurance company of the contractor directly.  This is the best protection for the homeowner and ensures that both the homeowner and contractor work together fairly for smooth operation throughout the project.

·       Certificate Holder:  Being a certificate holder indicates that as a homeowner, you will receive notification if anything changes on the policy. This is important because if the contractor fails to pay his or her premium, or if the policy is canceled or changed, then the homeowner is notified.  This is a safe guard to allow the homeowner to be notified of a change in the policy.  HOWEVER, it does NOT provide any safeguard in allowing the homeowner to file a claim against the contractor if a problem were to occur with the job or job performance of the contractor.  Therefore, the homeowner wants to ensure that they are list as BOTH certificate holder AND additional insured on the certificate of insurance (also called a COI) before the work is started at their home. 

NOTE:  In MOST cases, an insurance carrier WILL NOT charge any additional funds to list a homeowner as additional insured or certificate holder on a policy of a contractor.  If a contractor states that they are being charged for this service, it is because:

·       They did not pay very much for their insurance premium and having additional insureds added to their policy was an EXCLUSION from their insurance agent or insurance carrier to help lower their initial cost.  They were likely explained this when they purchased their insurance policy, so this should not be new information being learned by your contractor.

·       This may be red flag or sign that this is not a contractor you want to hire.  It is very common for contractors to have to contact their insurance agent and receive certificates of insurance and have homeowners, homeowner associations, condominiums, management companies, and other clients listed as certificate holders and additional insureds on a regular basis.  Some insurance agents even assign a person or a group of people to handle receiving and issuing COI’s as their full time job because they receive so many requests from people all day long.  It is a simple addition that usually takes a phone call or email in order to request this update and it is typically provided on the same day or next day that it is requested.  So if your contractor is providing you a hard time with listing you as an additional insured and certificate holder, this is a big red flag and caution sign that this may not be the right contractor for you to hire.

Choosing a Roofing Contractor.

When you choose your roofing contractor, taking recommendations from friends, family, and neighbors is helpful. You can also rely on your trusted vendors and contractors you have worked with for referrals.  My Water Damage Hero has an excellent source of vendor and contractor relationships that we have used throughout the years in order to provide recommendations to you. 

Another place that you can easily check with, is the manufacturers of the shingles.  For example, GAF is a popular manufacturer who has different contractor ratings. Their ratings enable contractors to offer better and longer warranties for their customers.  The Master Elite is the highest level of certification, with the President’s Award being issued to the best of the best of the Master Elite contractors in GAF’s program.

On GAF’s website at www.gaf.com, you can click on “find a contractor” to find a certified roofing contractor near you.  When you click on Residential, and type in your address, a short quiz will follow.  Three top contractors will appear and you can expand the search to see all contractors in your area who you can contact to receive an estimate from for your roofing project.

Certainteed is another popular roofing (and siding) manufacturer and they offer a similar process on their website.  They certify roofing vendors through Shingle Master and Storm Master certifications.  Visit their website at:  https://www.certainteed.com/roofing-education-credentials.

You can also confirm with the manufacturers what their process is for warranty repairs or replacements for labor and materials when hiring a preferred and/or certified contractor from their list of vendors.

If you have found a contractor, or have been referred a contractor --- are they recommended by the manufacturer that they are trying to install on your home?  Check out the manufacturer’s website to see if they are certified by the manufacturer to install their product.  If they are not, please pause and reconsider your contractor selection.

My Water Damage Hero:  We are Here for You in your time of need.

Remember that as you are in the process of solving your roofing repair or roofing replacement needs, we are here for you here at My Water Damage Hero. 

We offer storm damage help by tarping any area that may be exposed or that is allowing water into your home  We will  keep your home as water tight and secure as possible until the roofers are able to safely climb your roof to make repairs or replacements!

We can also set up any necessary containers on the inside of your home to help stop as much water damage as possible. 

Our team can help move any of your personal items out of the way to avoid damage to furniture, pictures, paintings, wall hangings, or the likes.  If there is standing water on the inside of your home that is able to be removed, we can extract that water.  Drying typically cannot start, however, until all water sources have stopped creating water damage.

Once we have tarped areas on the outside and contained water on the inside, we can discuss with you if you want to place an insurance claim. 

If you want to place an insurance claim for water damage and storm damage, we can walk you through the insurance claim process. We have decades of experience with insurance claim management and can even be with you while you place the call, or join a three-way call. 

We are happy to meet on site with any insurance adjusters, talk with them on the phone, and work directly with them to ensure that you receive the most coverage possible out of your insurance policy.  We can also send all estimates, pictures, and documentation directly to the insurance adjuster – making insurance claim management easy for you.

We can continue with water removal once the roofers have made repairs to make your home water-tight once more.  Drying efforts can also begin to bring your home back to industry level standards. 

If any area needs to be restored after drying occurs, we will provide you with an estimate for restoration, too! 

This reconstruction estimate is typically a part of the insurance claim and will be approved by your insurance adjuster.  It will be up to you if you want to pay for the work to start or if you want to wait until you receive the insurance check to make payment to us at My Water Damage Hero for the reconstruction. 

Once we receive 50% down we can schedule the reconstruction work! 40% is due at 90% completion and 10% is due at 100% completion.  For your convenience, we do accept payment by cash, check, credit card, electronic payment (venmo, zelle, cash app, pay pal), and offer on-the-spot financing. 

Summary:  Vetting a roofing contractor to make repairs or roofing replacement to your home is extremely important.  When a company appears to be too eager or pushy, proceed with caution.  We can all appreciate the need for work or business, and the desire to want to do a good job.  But when a deal sounds too good to be true, chances are, it is.  Companies who take the time to be recommended and certified by the manufacturer are often a better choice.  They will have great warranties and if they go out of business, the manufacturer will step in and provide additional resources and alternatives for you as a homeowner.

My Water Damage Hero works with a few well-vetted roofers in the tri-state area and we are happy to make referrals to these firms.  We work with these roofers to ensure that we can quickly be contacted by them (and them by us!) so that when our customers call during a storm damage, we can quickly dispatch to tarp and area, start water extraction, and get on the scheduling of our roofing referred partner.  Once the roof is safe to climb, our roofing referred partner will dispatch to the roof to determine if repair or replacement is needed and work through next steps with the homeowner while the My Water Damage Hero team works with the homeowner on the insurance claim process (which may include the roof repairs and replacement, too) and interior damage clean up and replacement.

Contact us today, at My Water Damage Hero for all of your disaster recovery needs.  In your time of crisis, we are here to provide hope, restore and rebuild your home, assist you’re your insurance claim process, and provide you peace of mind in the process.  Call us at:     610-228-7440 or visit our website at: www.mywaterdamagehero.com.

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My Water Damage Hero is a local, minority-owned, family-owned business that has served the five-county region for over ten (10) years.  With more than 3,100 satisfied customers, we’ve recently rebranded to better reflect the warmth, faith, and hometown values that define who we are.  Our mission goes far beyond restoration – we bring a personal touch to every emergency, standing by our neighbors when they need us most.  Contact us today for your water, fire, and smoke damage repair needs or mold remediation.  Contact us at:  610-228-7440 or visit our website at:  www.mywaterdamagehero.com.