At what point should I bail?

:frowning: Hurricane Wilma did great things for roofers in South Florida. As a consumer, it’s frustrating when your roofer has stories for why your permit wasn’t issued but others were. After waiting 2 months for a permit to be issued, I sent a letter to cxl the contract. Somehow that got my permit issued right away. My roofer started my roof while I was out of town at a funeral. I got the sad message from my neighbor - I have really bad news for you. I guess it rained when they were working on the roof. One bedroom had over 50% of the ceiling down and the dining room had a large open hole to the rafters. Part of a wall in the bedroom is falling down. There are water spots in the living room that weren’t there before.

The flat roof they replaced leaks terribly. The front of my house looks like the ocean - evidently the house has settled but according to my roofer he didn’t need to replace the decking. So I agreed to pay to replace the decking on the entire front of the house - a month ago. It’s continuing to rain so I’ve been waiting for sunny days so they could continue with the job. Two sunny days later and no roofers and I’m beginning to be concerned. The tin cap passed but with issues. The inprogress failed since they nailed improperly. I’ve given no money yet to this roofer.

Is this just part of the business or do you who are in this business think that I should be concerned?

I would be concerned.

I have two roofs mostly finished right now, but both of those are watertight.

hey jazzears,
i take it maybe you play.
sorry to hear bout your situation.
if you got the money i would bail.
hire another company.
maybe one of your neighbors has gotten a good roof recently and you can use the same one.
all of us roofers here in florida know the rules.
" you dont let peoples roofs leak".
when it does happen , you better be there, better be gettin it fixed, better be answerin your phone, and better be fixin peoples ceilin.
if you cannot find someone i am here in st pete.
i fix roofs all over the state.
good luck.

gweedo.

I don’t know if I would bail quite yet. I would seriously be thinking about making a claim, however, against the roofing contractor’s insurance company. If you tell him you are going to make a claim, he may be willing to work with you with regard to making repairs to the inside of your house. If he isn’t cooperative, you may have to sue him for damages, attorney’s fees, etc. I trust you have a contract, and that the roofing company is licensed and insured.

I would be concerned. Companies like that give roofers a bad name in general. Sorry to hear on what is going on. Make a claim against his insurance and hope it is paid up. If it is not then your insurance will have to be used. With what you said it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Thanks for your input. The roofer --says-- he will pay for all repairs in the house. The company is licensed so if I have to complain as a last resort I will. I do have another roofer who could do the job but when I tried to cancel the contract before the permit was pulled this roofer said he would charge me the 20% in the contract to cancel. In hindsite, I should have jumped ship then. I do foresee a court case happening here.

gweedo - I just listen - my husband plays.

At this point, you will have to give the original contractor an opportunity to make things right. Make sure you correspond with him in writing so there is a paper-trail. If he does not respond to your letters, start sending him letters via certified mail. If he doesn’t make good in a timely manner, you will have to set realistic deadlines for him, i.e., give him 30 days to complete the job to your satisfaction or else you will hire another contractor and back-charge him for anything above and beyond the balance on the contract. At some point, you will probably want to enlist the services of a good attorney. Just remember, in a court case a paper trail is very important, you should have dates, time, etc., marked on your correspondance or records of phone calls. In general, the one with the better records and most paper wins many of these type of suits.

I agree with Cerberus on this. Yea what he said

that would explain jazzears.
your ears listen to his playin.
so are you leaking at this time.?
if so, that means every afternoon, and you dont have to wait while everything you own gets wet.
if that company isnt out there yesterday makin you watertight then by all means get someone to atleast tarp it.
you do have to give the company a chance to finish the roof,
but you dont have to keep gettin wet in the process.

good luck.
gweedo.

The inside of the house is dry for now. The flat roof covering the porch leaks but that’s outside. I spoke to the GM of the company today and he said they would come out Thursday to replace the decking (38 days after they started the job) Thanks for the idea to document everything in writing - I had just been keeping phone notes but now I’ll document and send in writing.

Thanks so much for your input.

If he said they would be out on Thursday, respond to him in writing stating that per your telephone conversation on such-and-such date at whatever time, it is your understanding that XYZ contractors will be on site to do deck replacement, roofing, etc…

one thing at a time.
get your roof done and wait a few good rains before you let anybody start fixin your insides, if you have any ceilin or wall damage.
get the roof done and get the roofers on down the road.
once your roofs done and workin properly then move on to the inside.
im kinda concerned about ya.
if ya have anybody in the family or a freind in the construction feild.
it would hurt to have them around. it will atleast keep the roofers on there toes.
its good to here your getting your calls answered, and returned.
thats half the battle.

good luck and let us know how things go.

gweedo.

So they finally came out yesterday and started replacing the wood on the top of the house. When I came home at 5:15 there was nobody there, a box truck was in the middle of my yard and the soffit side of my house was lower than my gutter. Later the crew boss came by and I pointed out the soffit side of my house. He said they would fix it. My neighbor called me today and said the repair they were making was just cosmetic. They needed to replace the 2x6 in the soffit. They said sure, we’ll do it for $1300 then they said $1350. I’m concerned that when they get to the back flat patio roof that has black mold from the rain pouring in for a month that they’ll expect me to pay for that wood as well. So my roof price is going up right now from the initial price (and what the insurance paid) by $3600. I’ve asked for them to give me in writing that they will pay for the damage they caused. I’m not sure where to go from here. If I don’t replace the soffit, it will look terrible and will be structural damage to my home. If I agree to pay for it, who knows what will be the thousand dollar item tomorrow. Any ideas?

Beware, many roofers make a lot of their money via change-order/extras. I’ve dealt with a few roofers in the past that will low-ball their bids knowing they will make it up in the end on extras.

Now, I don’t know the condition of the fascia and soffit before they started, so I can’t really give you any good advice other than to be careful. The only other thing I might suggest is hiring a consultant, but that too can end up being very expensive. Photos would help (pre-roofing as well as post), as would a copy of the contract.

i still think you mite want to distance yourself from theese folks.
they should have been able to see all theese problems in the beginin.
i dont have extra wood bills, cause i pretty much know what i need to replace by lookin at it in the beginin.
then ill set my price accordingly.
like i said, id just get the roof done and find someone else to take over
on sophit.

gweedo.

I’ve bailed. Thanks for your advise. My atty notified them last week that they are no longer in my employ. Less than an hour after they were notified, my mailbox was knocked to the ground. :shock: Oh well, it was tired and I needed a new one anyway.

Now I just have to get a new roofer to finish the job. We’re starting the inside work next week. The straw that broke the contract was when they told me that they would do all the repairs inside - I wasn’t allowed to choose who repaired the damage they caused. That and the additional estimate that they gave my insurance company that was outrageous.

Thanks for all of your advise! - Jazz :mrgreen:

Gald we could help and good luck with the work!

I was wondering if you could tell me if the roofer is pursuing trying to sue you for the 20% and how you are handling that? I am in the process of trying to cancel a roof contract for my 80 year old Mother-in-Law. She signed an “insurance authorization form” back in April. After my Mother-in-Law received an initial check from her insurance company, this roofer came out and said to her that they would submit an additional estimate to her insurance company and she wouldn’t have to pay anything. We didn’t know she signed anything and after months of not hearing from her insurance company we decided to have the roof done by a family member who does roofing because she did not have the money to hire another roofer. We pulled the permits ourselves. We started the roof. By this time her insurance had gone under and the claim was handed over to Florida Preferred. Well LO and BEHOLD we received the 2nd check and now this roofer is knocking on the door saying she signed a contract and we are sue 25% for cancelling. Apparently what she signed gives them the right to do the roof of and when the insurance approves the claim. There is no termination date on this “contract”, they left no copies of the paperwork with my Mother in Law and I only found out about it because when they contacted her I asked my brother who is doing the roof to call this roofer and explain to them that because the roof was in very bad shape and leaking we had to go ahead with what money we had. That is when he started with the CONTRACT and the 25% provision and he faxed everything over. I did some research on this company and they are storm chasers and they basically follow the hurricanes and set up shop. One of there old adjusters contacted me and stated that they have a habit of taking advantage of people. I also looked at her Notice of Commencement and they notarized it at their office and not in my Mother in Law’s presence.

OH and they want 3,500 to cancel the contract, they have already filed their Materialmen’s lien

WELL thanks for listening to the ling winded story, I am just a bit frustrated. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!

Those type of storm-chasers are not uncommon; they are essentially the used-car salesmen on the roofing industry. There is one here in Houston that charges 40% of the contract if you cancel on them. My best advice would be to talk to a lawyer.