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How to Avoid Choosing a Bad Roofing Contractor InspectAPedia®  -     An anecdote describing a bad roofing contractor and how this snafu occurred Roof shingle manufacturer certification programs for roofing contractors How to get the best roofing job on your home

This website discusses how to get the best roofing job. Here we give an example of a "bad" roofing contractor, discuss roofing contractor certification programs, and we give some simple tips on how to get a good roofing job. The photograph above shows a laminate-type roof shingle installed improperly on an irregular dome-shaped roof.

This amateur roofing job shown in the photo and the improper roof installation described at this page were not done by a GAF Master Elite^TM nor any by any other certified roofing contractor.

The roofer who put these shingles in place probably lacked proper training - something which some roof contractor certification programs are trying to address. But don't assume that every "certified" roofer is one you want to do business with.

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An Anecdote Describing a "Bad" Roofing Contractor

Paying a high price for a new roof does not guarantee a good job. In this case the roof was a wood shingle job but it could have been any roofing material.

One of my clients called me, breathless on the telephone, very worried about her new roof. Here's how it went.

• Client: "I need you to come down right away to inspect my new roof," she practically shouted. We had inspected the home months before, and among my findings was the need to replace a worn and leaky wood shingle roof over one of the sections of this large home.
• DF: "What's wrong"?
• Client: "I think the roofers have screwed up my new roof - they're just finishing it up today."
• DF: "Why do you think there's a problem?"
• Client: "Well first of all the contractor could not keep a crew on the job. This is the third group of workers to work on my roof, and none of them speaks English, and no one has been supervising them."
• DF: "Sounds iffy, but someone might be trained and still not speak good English, what else?"
• Client: "Well it was what the supervisor was shouting at them this morning when he came back to the job!"
• DF: "What was he shouting?"
• Client: "You IDIOTS! You COMPLETE IDIOTS! Not like THAT!!"
• DF: "I'd better come take a look."

I drove to the site. The wood shingle roof was beautiful. Every shingle looked perfect, except for one thing: all of the shingle side joints were lined-up perfectly, straight up the roof. There was no shingle side offset. This roof would leak at the first rainstorm." I met with the roofing contractor at the job, without the client present, hoping to for some candor between us. The conversation with the roofing contractor went like this:

• DF: "Gee, this roof is not installed properly at all - your crew lined up all of the side joints rather than providing 1 1/2 to 2" of offset of these joints between shingle courses. This roof is going to leak. Or did you install ice and water shield under all of the shingles?"
• ROOFER: "This roof is installed EXACTLY according to industry specifications. There is NOTHING wrong with it."
• DF: "What about the side lap offset"
• ROOFER: "Side lap offset is NOT REQUIRED. That's bullshit" (Things were heating up.)
• DF: "So you've read the manufacturer's specifications and the wood shingle specs from the industry's Red Cedar and Hand Split Shake Bureau?"
• ROOFER: "Absolutely. These shingles are installed EXACTLY as the manufacturer says to put 'em on."

I walked over to a pile of wood shingle scraps and debris which the crew had swept up in the center of the client's courtyard. The crew were standing off in the shade watching with interest. Every bundle of wood shingles comes with a little piece of paper, usually identifying the manufacturer, the shingle source, and including a drawing of just how to put the shingles on the roof, including showing the required side-offset between shingle courses. We leaned down to the pile and pulled out one of these little pieces of paper that had the drawing intact and holding it we walked back to the roofing contractor.

• DF: "What about this drawing? It was packaged with every bundle of shingles. See the sketch and the lines marking the required side-lap offset?"
• ROOFER: "I'm outta here you jerk."

The high-paid roofing contractor and the crew got into their truck and left. This was a $60,000. roofing job that actually had a NEGATIVE value since now, to put on a proper roof, the new roofer would first have to REMOVE all of the shingles that had just been applied, increasing the labor cost of the job.

How had my client chosen this particular contractor? She did not call the better business bureau; she did not ask for references; she did not care about the price; she chose the roofing contractor who was immediately available so that she could "get it done and be finished with it".

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CERTIFICATIONS for ROOFING CONTRACTORS
  Questions and Answers about GAF Master Elite
  Anecdote of a "Bad" Roofing Contractor
  The GAF Master Elite^TM roofing program
  How to Get the Best Roofing Job

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