How to pick a roofer for a re-roof - Yelp, Angie's List, BBB, etc

Roofing/Construction Questions
#1

After checking their license, insurance, years of experience, BBB rating, then it comes to

Referrals - If a roofer won’t give you referrals is that a bad sign?
They say just look on Yelp or the Diamond Certified rating.

Then there is Yelp, Diamond Certified, Angie’s List or similar.

Yelp - How do you know if there aren’t a lot of fake reviews?
it seems that most have some complaints.
If the complaints are mostly no-shows and not leaks, is that OK?

In my area there is a rating service called Diamond Certified.
In comparing it to yelp, I see that they leave of negative reiviews.

#2

Many of those rating sites are BS. Yelp for roofing? LMAO If they won’t or can’t provide referrals, move on to the next one. That’s ridiculous.

2 Likes
#3

Agreed! Please ask for and contact my referrals!

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#4

Exactly!!! If the guy is either too busy or too arrogant to provide references, cross them off the list.

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#5

All the sales social media and are b/s and I am small business owner. Try just searching goggle business for your area. Where the business themselves can post pictures of past work etc. As long as to don’t pick the cheapest you should expect quality work and CLEAN UP!

Good Luck,
Tim
Superior Inspections
ATL, GA

#6

OK, so you would throw out all the bids that don’t give a reference?

Out of about 10 bids only 3 gave a reference. So pick from those.

The cheapest of the 3 is a bid with a reference is about 1k less than the next one.

It is a new company that has been in business for 6 months?
Won’t they be trying harder to establish their new business?

What about asking for a referral from the owners previous roofing job, that they had before they became a roof contractor?

#7

You got 10 bids? Thank you for not calling my office. If someone called and said they were getting more than 5 bids I thank them and say not interested.

#8

Or the “I’m taking the lowest bid” statement. Ladder goes back on the truck…

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#9

Sounds to me like he actually got 3 bids, only 3 provided a reference. I closed a deal in less than 4 hours last week when I was shadowing some new Sales Reps. We were the 9th Contractor but most hadn’t even provided a quote or quoted what the guy was wanting. And it was relatively simple. After going through my question list, taking photos and making notes, I went back to the office and put together a quote to send the guy. We are rarely if ever the low bidder, usually one of the highest. The guy called back in less than a half hour and asked us to come by the next day to sign the deal and take a deposit.

#10

I do a google search on Buildzoom companyname
I hadn’t yet got references from the roofing company I was considering using, so was looking for my own. A link on that search led me to the site where I could see a list of permits the company had filed, and basic idea of what they had done. It also lists the address of the work, so I picked 10 or 12 in my area and did a driveby to see them. I didn’t actually contact the people - not sure about the legality of that. I guess if I was more curious/persistent I could have walked my dog by when they were out and casually mention the roof and ask if they were happy with the roofer :-). But seeing those roofs gave me the comfort level I needed that the work seemed good, looked professional, etc… at least from outward appearances on them.

#11

Why the dog walk and worries about legality? That’s kind of weird worrying about the legality of finding a good contractor.

#12

Ask for references. The roofer asks the customer if it’s OK in advance. There are alot of sell and sub to the cheapest contractor operations. Contact the referred customer, look at the job if you can. Remember that the sales dude in fancy clothes and vehicle is getting paid, too. That money comes out of the job also.

#13

Of the 3 that I am considering only 2 are on Buildzoom with high ratings and many permits.
Should I really consider a new company that is not on Buildzoom
and has been in business for less than a year?
What is the likelihood that they will be around in 10 years to honor their 10 year guarantee?

#14

I’ve got 40 some years in. I was a 1 month wonder a long time ago… Just looked at “buildzoom”. It’s free! Meaning the con-tractor/man pays for leads and wonderful reviews… cui bono?

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#15

Methinks OP might just be here to promote buildzoom. I smell a pork based canned meat product.

2 Likes
#16

Your right, it does…

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#17

A roof is probably a 20 year investment. So it would take more than price to get me going with a business that has only been in business a year. They’d have to have something pretty special, besides price, to get me going with them. Free upgrade to a better shingle might do it, and gets them a job on their portfolio to help them grow as a company. That might help by having a better mfr warranty on the shingle. But the installer is a big piece of things, and I’m sure mfr won’t cover workmanship problems if the job was done badly.
The problems from a bad install can cost much more long term than a discounted price initially would cover.

#18

Go drive around areas you notice a lot of roofing signs or work going on, then pay attention to before and after, and maybe during the work is done, pick a company you can expect to be reputable and if you have doubts don’t be afraid to ask or even point around, the customer is always right, if you don’t like you’re not entitled to pay but that’s on you. So be wise and hope all goes or went well

#19

A good way to tell if a roofer or tradesman is any good, based on their website, is if they post educational content. A good tradesman takes education seriously because he’s probably seen the detrimental effects of being undereducated.

For example, they may take the time to write an article on how to do something or why it is done. You can get a sense of their knowledge on the subject.

Another way to tell if they are skilled, is if they post articles about opposing techniques. For example, they may explain why they do something a certain way while other roofers do something another way.

One thing to watch out for is when they just copy and paste stuff - regurgitation of crap. You can usually tell through bad grammar and composition.

And as I mentioned before in other post, the roof consist of several key steps and systems that makes it water proof. Miss just one step, its no longer water proof. So its important for you to do your due diligence and take your time when finding a roofer. Because it has to be done right from the start.

Granted, many roofers don’t have a good website and are more traditional but may still be skilled. That is when you personally as the consumer, need to know about the roof itself. There’ a good source to learn about this - books. Homedepot sells books on home repair that are excellent to get a feel for the roof components and what needs to be done in order to have a proper water runoff.

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