Avondale Roof Replacement

Your Roof May Need to be Replaced

Replacing your roof is one of the biggest, expensive projects you'll have regarding your home. Its your property’s first line of defense for your property against our extreme weather in Arizona and it's very important that you hire the best roof replacement company you can. There are a lot of roofers licensed here in the Phoenix area, so you should follow a few basic guides when finding, choosing, and hiring a professional, licensed roof replacement contractor.

Legitimate roofing companies should be more than willing to supply you the following information. Don’t think about hiring anyone who can’t or won’t.

• A permanent place of business, telephone number and tax ID number. If they give you a license number, go to the Registrar of Contractors website and check it.
• Liability and workers’ comp insurance certificates. Ask to have them produce them so you can see them personally. Check the coverage end dates so you’re sure the policies will be good throughout the entire duration of your project.
• Membership in the National Roofing Contractors Association or the BBB. While they aren’t required, reputable, honest and experienced roofing contractors will usually belong to at least one of these two organizations.
• Past customer references – get the names and phone numbers of past customers where the roofing company performed work at least a year in the past. You’ll check with these past customers at a later time, but at this stage of the process, you can eliminate companies from your list if they don’t have them.

13 Things to Ask a Roof Replacement Contractor

If your shingles are disappearing or look cracked and warped, or you’re losing tiles constantly off your roof, it’s probably time to replace your roof. We’ve put put together this list of 13 questions that every homeowner should ask a potential roof installation contractor before signing a contract, so you can ensure the company you hire is reputable and capable of getting the roof done right the first time around.

Are you licensed in Arizona?
Research the code requirements in your area. If contractors, including roofers, are required to be licensed in your state, only work with those who are so you have some recourse in case things go wrong. Be sure the license is up to date.

Do you carry workman’s comp insurance?
At one time employers with three or fewer employees didn’t have to offer workman’s compensation insurance; now they do by law. Still, some contractors and roofers will skimp out on this requirement. The reason? Insurance isn’t cheap, and some would rather take their chances. The problem, of course, is when the chance is taken on your property and an employee becomes injured. If you hire a company that doesn’t offer employees workman’s compensation and someone gets injured on your property, you might find yourself forking over thousands of dollars to pay for medical bills. This is a loss no homeowner wants to incur. To protect yourself, make sure the company you hire insures each worker that will be present on your property.

Do you have general liability insurance?
Workman’s compensation covers the employees on your property; general liability insurance covers your actual property. For example, if a contractor accidentally burns your house down in the process of welding something on your roof (it has happened!) and the company doesn’t carry liability insurance, you could be responsible for covering the debts incurred by this tragic accident. When it comes to insurance, though, don’t simply take the roofer’s word for it. Ask to see an insurance certificate. This certificate will list your name and address as an additional insured, so if something happens on the job, you –and all of your hard-earned property – are covered. If you still feel hesitant, call the insurance company and ask.

Will you remove and dispose of my old roof?
Some roofers will claim to save time and money by inspecting, with their eyes, the old roof, and then, if all looks well, shingling over it. However, unless the old shingles are pulled up you will never know if you have soft spots or rotten wood beneath the current shingles. If bad spots remain behind, you will have larger, costlier problems in the future. Don’t let a roofer place a new roof on your house until they have taken up the old roof.

Do you supply a container for removed materials?
Refuse from the old roof, such as shingles, will need to be placed somewhere as it comes down. The company you hire should bring a container to the job site to contain the refuse. You should not be required to supply this container, nor should you have to deal with the refuse once the job is completed.

Where will you place the container for the refuse?
Asphalt driveways can crack under extreme pressure. If the company places the container on your driveway, you may wind up with a lot more to fix when the job is over. For this reason, it’s important to ask where the container will be placed, and then question the answer. If in the driveway, what are the provisions in case the driveway cracks? If not in the driveway, then where will the container be placed?

What if there’s poor weather during the project?
Let’s face it: the weather guy is not always right. This isn’t too bad when you’re stuck in the office all day, but when someone is removing and replacing your roof it can be a major problem. If the prettiest of days turns into a rain storm, what will the roofing company do to protect the interior of your home? Make sure your roofer has a plan for this. Your roof should be covered in some type of plastic sheeting or tarpaulin to ensure it, and everything beneath it, remains dry. Also ask what the plan is if the rainy days extend for a while. Will the company come back to ensure the covering is keeping the home dry? If there is a storm with high winds, will someone be available to come out and secure the covering if it appears to not be holding?

Do you have a local number and permanent address?
Check your neighborhoods after a violent monsoon storm and it’s likely you’ll see a band of trucks roaming the streets, filled with contractors looking for work. While some of these may be on the up and up, what happens when the job gets done and then something goes wrong? Who do you call to fix what was not installed correctly or got damaged before the warranty expired? Will the person that did the work be available to come back out to fix what is wrong?  If you choose to deal with a company not local to your area, you may not be able to get the company back to fix any potential problems in the future.

What kind of warranty do I get with my new roof?
Today’s dimensional style shingles cost the same price as the older style shingles and also last longer. Homeowners should get at least a 25 year warranty with both product types though. Tile roofs can be warranted for 30 to 50 years depending on the materials used.

How much will plywood cost if you find the roof is rotted or there’s soft roof decking?
Unscrupulous roofers might skip over this information as you head into an agreement. Once the roof is up, it’s tough for you to dispute an overinflated cost for plywood sheeting to fix what was rotten underneath. For this reason, you need to ask how much it will cost per plywood sheeting should the roofer find rotten or soft pieces that need to be replaced. This will leave you with no surprises during the job, and it will allow you to compare one roofer’s estimate to another’s.

Will you keep my landscape safe during this job?
Too often, homeowners think about what’s going on top of the roof and forget about what surrounds the house. This includes the gutters, if you have them, and also the landscaping. If you spend hundreds – or thousands – of dollars planting trees, shrubs and flowers, you don’t want to come home to a new roof but a torn up lawn. Before you hire a company, ask specifically what they will do to protect your landscaping. Where will the ladders go? Where will the old shingles and potentially rotten plywood be dropped or tossed so that it doesn’t affect the bushes and flowers that surround your house? If an accident does occur and an employee from the company tromps through your rose garden, what will the company do to fix the damage?

Will someone be on site for communication?
While we always hope home renovation projects run smoothly, experience proves they don’t. If you return home after a long day at work to find your roof is as open and the company is ready to leave for the night, you want to know there is a project manager on site with whom you can communicate your concerns. While some companies will tell you during the sale that you’ll have someone on site managing the job, you might find when the crew shows up in the morning no one is sure who that project manager is. Find out before you leave for the day. If you still don’t know, call the company and ask. And if no one can answer, send the crew away until they can.  A reputable roofing company will have someone on site throughout the project to answer questions and address concerns.

Will my estimate be in writing?
Settling into a contract without a detailed estimate can cause problems in the long run. Be sure, before signing a contract, you have a detailed estimate for the job. Include the cost of removing the old roof, adding the new roof, and anything that could come up in the process, such as rotten plywood that needs to be replaced.

Make sure you’re hiring a truly experienced, licensed professional roofing company by giving Mikku and Sons Roofing a call at (623) 465-1068.