A roofing project usually requires long preparation and a large budget. You wouldn’t want to pour your hard-earned cash down the drain by hiring an inexperienced, or worse underhanded, contractor. Here are some tips on how to pick the best roofer who can help secure your investment.
Ask about Insurance
Statistics show that around 40 percent of all fatalities in the construction industry were from falls. In the roofing business, “fall” is considered the number one enemy. It can happen to any roofer regardless of how long they have been in the business. This is why roofing contractors are required to secure workers’ compensation and liability insurance.
Rather than risking to be charged for accidents that might occur in your property while the roofing project is taking place, ask the contractor directly about their insurance before you hire them. If possible, don’t take their word for it, and ask them to provide proof that their workers are indeed covered. That should be first of your hiring a roofing contractor checklist.
Don’t Get Easily Dazzled by the Low Price
Everyone wants to save on their purchase, but when it comes to roofing services, huge savings could be tantamount to poor work, and poor work means huge repair and maintenance expenses in the long run. Don’t be surprised if you have to spend just as much for a replacement roof halfway through your roof’s promised lifespan.
As much as possible, when choosing a roofing company, don’t base your decision on price alone. With competition getting tighter, many new and inexperienced contractors are using all possible means to lure in clients, and one of their favorite bait is unreasonably low price.
Seek the Opinion of Previous Clients
What better way to assess a roofing contractor’s performance than to ask people who had firsthand experience working with them. Request contact details of their previous clients so that you can call them yourself. Reputable roofing contractors wouldn’t mind giving away this information because they are confident that their previous clients were satisfied with their services.
Online reviews are a good source of information on what to look for in a roofer, too, particularly feedback about your prospective roofing contractors. Just make sure that those reviews are from independent review sites and not from websites that are sponsored by the roofing contractor in question.
Get Everything in Writing
When you’ve made your choice and you are ready to make a deal, make sure to have everything in writing from the estimate to the payment instruction. See to it that the contract has all the necessary provisions, including the detailed process of the project, restrictions, and other important information that might affect the success of the project.
Sometimes, though, basic information such as how long the roofing contractor has been in business and their accomplishments over the years may already serve as clue to their reliability. Roofing contractors like Muller Exteriors, for instance, boasts of not only their decades of experience in handling all types of roofing in Chicago but also their vast connection with the country’s top manufacturers and suppliers.
