What is at stake when you hire a professional roofing contractor
A reroof puts four to six workers on your house for several days and opens your building envelope to the weather while the work is underway. If it goes badly, the damage lands inside your home, and your homeowners policy may not cover the part a contractor caused. Choosing a professional roofing contractor is the step that controls most of that risk.
Six things tell you who you are dealing with. Ask for all six before you sign anything.
1. Legal name and address
You need the legal name of the business that will be responsible for your roof, and the address on file for it. That name is what you use to verify a license, and it is the name that belongs on the contract and on every payment.
Check that the name matches across the proposal, the letterhead, the insurance certificate and the state’s records. A mismatch is worth a question now rather than a lawyer later.
2. Insurance
A professional roofing contractor hands you insurance documentation with the proposal, usually a standard ACORD certificate, without being asked. Two coverages matter: general liability and workers compensation. If either is missing, claims tied to your address can land on you.
Having to chase the certificate after the proposal arrives tells you something about how the company runs. Take the answer seriously.
3. Licenses and credentials
Most states require a license to perform construction work, and many require a roofing specialty license on top of it. Expect two documents.
- A construction or roofing license. Often issued to an individual. State license boards publish a searchable database that ties the person to the company.
- A business license. Issued by the Secretary of State in most places, by a local commissioner of the revenue in others. It should match the legal name above.
Credentials sit above licensing and show how seriously a company takes its trade:
- Manufacturer approvals, which are what allow a contractor to issue the manufacturer’s material warranty
- OSHA 10 hour training and fall protection cards
- Trade program or degree work in construction or engineering
- Association membership, including NRCIA membership
There is no federal license for roof inspectors, so credentials carry real weight here. NRCIA sets the standard its members are accredited against, trains them, and maintains the directory where you can confirm a member is current.
4. Referrals
Testimonials on a website are marketing copy. Ask for referrals you can contact. Stronger companies will give you an email address or a phone number for past customers and expect you to use it. Ask what went wrong on the job and how the contractor handled it. Every job has something.
5. Warranty
Two warranties usually come with a completed roof.
The manufacturer’s warranty covers the materials, commonly for five years in full and on limited terms after that. It generally depends on the contractor holding the manufacturer’s approval and installing to the published instructions.
The workmanship warranty covers the labor on a callback. Two years is common, and five years shows up with higher grade material packages. Storms are typically carved out, often defined as winds above 80 mph or hail above a stated stone size. Read the exclusions rather than the headline number.
Strong contractors also schedule follow up. A call at 30 days asks you to walk the interior looking for stains. A site visit at one year walks the property for anything that has moved.
6. The resolution process
Ask how disputes get handled, and get the answer in the contract.
A workable process gives the contractor access to investigate what you report, a defined window to cure a defect, commonly something like seven days, and a path for the cases where the two of you disagree. Many contracts fund an independent assessment at the contractor’s expense. If that assessor finds the contractor at fault, the contractor covers the correction. If the assessor points to weather or deferred maintenance, you get a repair proposal instead.
Homeowners who disagree with that result can hire their own inspector, at their own cost, for a second read. Writing all of this down ahead of time keeps both sides predictable on the worst day of the project.
Verify the finished roof independently
Contractor vetting handles the front end. An independent look at the finished roof handles the back end. NRCIA members perform a LeakFREE® Check, a five zone inspection covering the interior, attic, exterior, perimeter and rooftop, and issue a LeakFREE® Roof Inspection Report. Where the roof meets the published criteria, the accredited member who performed the inspection can issue a LeakFREE® Roof Certification through InspectionPLUS®. LeakFREE® is our federally registered trademark. Only NRCIA members can issue a LeakFREE® certification.
Find an accredited NRCIA inspector near you in the NRCIA member directory.
LeakFREE®, Forensic ROOF®, Mr. RoofCheck®, InspectionPLUS®, Today’s Inspection… Tomorrow’s Protection®, and Got Leaks?® are registered trademarks of Field Gate FLP, used by permission. RoofGUARD™, ForensicGUARD™, DisasterGUARD™, E3GUARD™, and Think Like a Raindrop™ are trademarks of Field Gate FLP.
