When you get estimates for a new transmission on your car, do you ever wonder if the mechanic is quoting you the same quality product as the guy across town? Or when you sign up for a new phone plan, do you wonder if you are getting the same coverage and the same abilities with it that the other guy offered?

Unless you spent days brushing up on your mechanical knowledge or have a tech savvy nephew to help you, I’m sure the thought crossed your mind. But what is a consumer to do? Especially when looking to spend thousands of dollars on a new roof. How do you know that the ice and water shield is of the same quality across the board (if you even know what ice and water shield is). How do you know the ridge vent you choose is right. Or the installation method they are using is recommended or warrantied.

The good news is you can know. You just have to ask. But more than that, a good roofing company will have a representative that can help you look for what best fits your needs by helping you with what questions to ask. He will want to know the history of the roof, an idea of what budget your working with, the style you like, and what worries you might have going into a project. His quote also should be very detailed about the work they will be doing.

If you find the salesman is dodging your questions, or saying, “It’s not that big of deal”, probe a little further. If one company is offering a little better grade of product, ask the others my it’s different.

More often than not the customer doesn’t know what products are good or bad. So be sure to get the roofer to explain what he selling you and why.

Sometimes I get asked why our price is so much higher than another contractor or why we are doing the project a different way than another guy. The answer is always the same: “We are not that other guy.”

We have standards in our company that cannot be ignored or stepped around. That’s how we can be sure that we have a less than 2% call back rate. We use standards and methods that are proven and stick to them.

A good example is when a customer calls and wants us to quote a metal roof. Almost every time, our competition will quote it with the metal being installed over the shingles. No tear off. However, we always recommend tear off down to the wood on a home. We want to see the condition of the wood deck. The underlayments such as ice and water shield and synthetic felts are designed to be applied to the roof deck. And we are concerned on how the degradation of the shingles under the steel will affect the metal over time.

If I’m going to stand behind the systems we install for years to come, I have to be confident in the application methods we are using. And that means letting some jobs go to the competition because the customer doesn’t want to do it the right way.

Definition: Truck and ladder guy- AKA, Chuck in a truck. These are the guys that own a truck, ladder, and a couple of tools and run around the neighborhood installing roofs without a legitimate business or company in place. 

I’ve had my fair share of job revisits lately. Roof projects that I quoted 2 or 3 years ago that for one reason or another the customer went with another company. Losing a job has never really bothered me. I can’t win them all.

But when I go back to meet with a customer that hired the wrong guy, and they know they hired the wrong guy, I feel a bit guilty. I feel guilty that I might not have explained my product good enough. Our presented my company or staff in the right way. Or maybe I didn’t promise the customer the world, as some salesmen are in the habit of doing. I rub shoulders with a lot of straight out salesmen that will do just about anything to sell a job. Making promises that they may intend to keep, but don’t have the ability or connections to keep.

CASE IN POINT: I met with a couple the other day that received quotes from me and a big box store that hires the work to sub contractors. I never asked the deciding factor, but they did struggle with who to choose, eventually choosing the big box store. Now this house needed a new standing seam metal roof. That in itself requires a skilled craftsman that has been trained in metal bending, and panel installation. But the garage was detached from the house, and they wanted it attached by building a foyer between the two, matching the roof planes, and installing the metal roof.

Now this requires a skilled framer that can establish a common plane between the 2 buildings. But the roof planes were at different heights. Only 2-3 inches, but enough that when joining the building it left a considerable wave in the roof. Athletically this left a curved and wavy look to a bright red metal roof that sticks out like a sore thumb.

After inspection of the roof we found that though this was a concealed fastener system (screws are underneath the system,not exposed) the installer had put in screws in all the ridge caps and up all the valleys. Clearly incorrect. Any many more errs too numerous to list here.

All this to say, please do your homework.  Not all contractors that work for the big box stores are bad, nor are the that don’t work for them are good.  But it has always seemed to me that if the contractor has enough work on his own reputation, then he wouldn’t need to get work from those stores, nor have the time to do them.  Call those references, go for a ride and look at those houses. It just might save you a lot of head ache, and probably thousands of $$.