Help! Roofer put wrong color shingles on our house

Again, (3rd time) we were given a folder from which to chose our color, not one of the CT brochures. And the roofing rep did not show us actual samples. What is the roofing contractor for if not to help the HO through this process? It seems like some of these answers are objective, but most are just roofers who think the roofer is always right despite the facts! I’m glad my roofer is a nice guy.

you are absolutely right.

be glad he is a nice guy, and working with you.

how was the install? how was the clean up process? do you have any leaks? did he do everything as he said? show up on time? all the flashing look good?

you have far more worries than a color. like i said, its not like he put a green roof on, when you ordered a red one. or black when you wanted white.

if it were me, i’d pay the man the agreed amount in full, and thank him for offering the discount. but i cant imagine that it looks terrible or anything from the way you are talking.

again… can you post some pics? i think that would clarify if you are due a discount, or if you are just being a pain in the ass to save yourself money, and take $$ out of the roofers pocket just before christmas.

Jason, I appreciate your sincerity! I really need to take pictures, i will try to in the morning.

Besides the color, the roof really does look great. They did a good job installing and cleaned up fairly well.

We really don’t want to screw this guy. But he should have let us know that what we were ordering might not be what we get on the house. If he had, of course we would have verified the color before it was installed. He was at fault for that. And I am not saying that we should not pay him. I just wonder what is fair. He is offering us $1000discount, but half of that is from the manufacturer (are they acknowledging some fault here?). So, that is only $500 for him. The total bill is $8200 (+$700 for wood). I wonder what profit he would clear on a job like this?

$500 might not seem like alot,but it definitely is eating into any profits…

one more question…

is it REALLY about the color? or is it more about the money?

Then a $500 discount, which is being payed for by the manufacturer should be sufficient, IMO.

[quote=“willifac”]

We really don’t want to screw this guy.[/quote]

by accepting any more than the $500 off, i would consider it a screwing… unless i see the pics, and change my mind. but this has happened to me 4 times in the last few months, and all 4 people saw full size shingle samples AND pictures online/on paper.

all of them SWEAR that the color was different. One guy wanted the same roof I put on his neighbors roof, and when i put it on his (his being a 10:12 - steep roof) and his neighbors being very low pitch, he is pissed at me because it looks different.

i even have a testimonial on my website from Mr. Sams… both him and his wife looked at several color samples, brochures, online, and on houses in their neighborhood… and once the roof was actually on, they freaked out on me. asked me if i could tear it off and put on a different color. eventually, i talked them into leaving it, and Mr Sams is now my best friend. lol

Either way, i’ll just wait to further comment until i see the pics.

as everyone has said its not the roofers fault But he should have been more clear on the color variations on said color unless it was completely different color.Im looking at my solaris swatchboard and there is 4 color choices dusky clay and sunset shake look almost the same ,aged cedar and crystal gray almost look the same each is a little darker/lighter than the other.what color was put on?

If this is true, then you don’t owe them anything for materials IMO.
If I asked my autobody shop to paint my truck blue and it came back red, I wouldn’t pay them. And I would LMFAO if they offered me a discount on the price.

Did you look a the packaging? How did you pick the solaris shingle? Do you know the size in squares of your roof? I ask because the solaris shingle has a color very similar to the regular shingle’s, but the price in the material is double the cost…

So the roofer installed the wrong color. When really he installed the wrong type of shingle?

To bring up our standard car analogy – You ordered a hybrid and you got the Grand Am.

To respond to recent questions: I did not look at the packaging. I ordered by telling the roofer what I wanted from a Solaris folder (not their brochure that carries the disclaimer about colors not looking like their picture). The shingles on the roof are those that vary in size. I’m estimating the smaller ones are about 2 inches wide and the biggest ones 5-6 inches. They are not rectangular, but trapazoids. Sorry about my lack of of “roofer-language” I don’t think this man would put a Grand Am on the house, not that kind of guy at all, a good company. Besides, the CT rep came by the house to look and he certainly would have said something had they been the cheaper, er less expensive shingles.

I have been trying to upload pics for an hour, will try again. . .

I appreciate everyone’s input (well, not the worthless comments) and we are taking all this to heart. If nothing else we have learned a valuable lesson and the roofer has too!!!

http://www.roofing.com/images/topics/8791/img_1260238551.jpg
http://www.roofing.com/images/topics/8791/img_1260238582.jpg

This is the best I could do. The top picture is what we asked for and the one below it is what we got. As you can see it is quite different and on a big roof, the difference makes a big impact.

The CT rep tried to tell us that they were the same. I was not present to ask him if he thought we were idiots.

What was the color you picked and ordered?

What color was delivered and installed?

Were they the same?

This is all that really matters.

That looks more like a 8x10 picture that the roofer printed out, not CT literature.

now… where are the pics of the roof?

what would make you happy NOW? a $500 discount? or would a $2,500 discount make you happy with the color that is on the roof? i see that it is a different color, but its not black/white or red/green.

Chances are that your roofer has absolutely no experience with the Solaris line.
That don’t mean much most of us don’t…

It is not his fault that he didn’t foresee a slight variation from the display model to the installed roof.

It is a new shingle designed to feed off of the current green fad.
You pay an excruciating premium to test these shingles for Certainteed.

Welcome to the world of the early adopter, you were offered a discount for it.
I don’t believe you deserve or are entitled to this discount, but the squeaky wheel gets the grease…

[quote=“RooferR”]Did you look a the packaging? How did you pick the solaris shingle? Do you know the size in squares of your roof? I ask because the solaris shingle has a color very similar to the regular shingle’s, but the price in the material is double the cost…

So the roofer installed the wrong color. When really he installed the wrong type of shingle?

To bring up our standard car analogy – You ordered a hybrid and you got the Grand Am.[/quote]

A Grand Am is better than a hybrid isn’t it?

MUCH better…

I think the salesman should take the heat for selling from a picture without shingle color/style names. Not circling/initials/signature on the folder/picture.

If the roof is well installed, and we can’t tell without being there or seeing pictures, it would be well to leave as is, with a discount, and get used to the color. It will dull and fade with age.

-10%

Jason: These pics were definatly from the CT’s glossy folder, just my bad pics!

I’ts was dark when I got home from work so I don’t have actual photos of the roof on the house, but trust me, it looks like the picture. Even Mr. Friendly Roofer does not dispute that.

Thing is, even a $5000 would not make me happy because it really is not about the money. I just want the right roof. I think we have decided to take the $1000 discount, that makes us feel like we weren’t totally screwed over.

To address other questions/comments:

We did not pick a “name of a color” we just picked the color and the roofer ordered it for us. apparently the color we chose does not even exist in that shingle.

This was our roofer’s first experience with this type of (“green”) shingle made by CT. Maybe in his past experience the shingles have always looked like the pictures. So its been a learning experience for all.

I’d take the hybrid; that tells you where I’m coming from

Tell them you want the shingle color you picked out.Its not your fault they put on the wrong color.I’ve made the mistake of ordering the wrong color and luckily the homeowner didn’t mind the color change.But if they would not have liked the color I would have replaced at my loss.

If it’s not about money why are you taking a $1k discount when everything was done right?

What color where you expecting?

What color is on your roof?

If you don’t know what color you chose how do you know it is the wrong color?

He could not get what is pictured in Certainteed’s folder, really. I CT rep even came to our house, but he was a joker. Apparently, it just doesn’t exist!!! So WTF is it in their literature???

Our guy offered to remove these and replace with a different type of shingle, but they were so ugly, I didn’t want them. (had I wanted that standard look, that is what I would have ordered in the first place). And he offered another type that was a little nicer, but much more expensive and it was outside our budget.