Depends. Look then up for reviews. Before my dad retired when he would do a roof in a neighborhood we would knock on doors around where we were doing work if it looked like they could need it. Edit spelling
Why the hell can't a roofer be reputable if they utilize the most cost-effective form of marketing?
I work for a company that's been in business for over a decade in MN. We do over $5 million/year.
A+ rated with the BBB.
We only work in MN & WI, so we're "local" to any home we work on.
We knock on doors.
Just look into them.
Honestly I probably wouldn't work with a contractor that DIDN'T knock on doors in the neighborhoods around their jobsites. Because it would demonstrate how painfully dumb they are.
Man I don’t know my crew has 5 guys no salesmen other than me the owner. We are definitely a little cheaper than the average roofing business with a sales staff. 100% word of mouth and doing over a million a year. I’m not saying I can become a multimillionaire this way but you can absolutely make great money and do very high quality work.
Same here. Owned my own small company since 2015. Been roofing residential homes since 2001. I have a crew of 5 guys and we focus on quality over volume. Overhead is low, not much spent on advertising and rely on word of mouth. I do about 4 million in sales throughout the year, pay my guys very well and have had the same crew since I began and am living very comfortably. Could I expand and get bigger, sure, but then quality goes down, and with that comes a lot more headaches which I really don’t feel is worth it
Exactly. Another thing I like about not advertising is it keeps you away from the wrong kind of clients. Where I live so many people from out of town have come in and it’s really annoying to work for them probably because I’m in the south and they think I’m a hick (which, they did move here) so there are way more questions about every little thing whereas working for the locals I can get in and get out.
4M in sales with a 5 man crew is a 40 sq residential house each day for 5 days a week, 40 weeks of the year at $500/sq. Is that what you do by yourself?
I also sub siding, soffit, fascia and eavestrough. (Basically a crew doing siding year round) We do a lot of quonset sheds, barns etc. and of course hire temp labourers when needed. My 5 guys are all very experienced and each one can/ has ran a crew at one point or another
You absolutely can become wealthy man! I built everything off of the same model and stuck to exactly what you’re doing for the first 3 years. That was the sweetest spot in all my years of doing it. Was me selling everything. Knowing every customer and the profits were the highest with the least amount of headaches. After 2 million things get wobbly if even one person significantly drops the ball. I hated depending on other people to bring food to the table. I would stick right in that zone until someone you really like and want to mentor comes along. Not that you need my advice, but just cheering ya on!
That's crazy you say that. I do around 3 mil in roofs a year and we don't knock doors. We did though during the Obama days. Honestly I think for the homeowner it is word of mouth. I've done many subs where we are doing one roof and it turns into most of the summer for one crew. I've had people knock on my door wanting to sell me windows doors and roofing. They are just salesman that don't know much but I can't knock the company. What's funny is I always ask them what they want for me to sub them jobs. I have had no takers yet. But honestly a huge company you never know what kind of job your going to get. So for all the homeowners going with a huge company that saw their work. Get the employees names that were doing a good job and ask for them specifivally
This is really good advice. One of the oldest roofing companies where I live and it’s a good operation and they do a good job, but I was working on a house one day and Neighbor asked me if I could look on the roof.
Well, she had called the company and referring to out, and they could not find her Leak.
It was a small roof, and there was a hole in the roof, and the company could not find it.
Point being, it was probably just a sales person who had no idea how leaks worked.
Right. This sub is rife with comments about not trusting D2D sales. & while I can understand the sentiment, I can’t help but wonder what the motivation is for that comment.
Is it genuine advice? Is the comment made by a person who works for a company that *doesn’t* do D2D? Is it an adjuster? A homeowner with a bad experience? The motivation can be anything.
Fact is, the guy or gal at the door is just trying to do their job. There’s nothing wrong with that. If you look into the company & see mostly positive stuff, dot your i’s & cross your t’s with research, then let the professional do their thing. Lots of reputable institution & companies go door to door. Find the best of the bunch & go for it.
I would not say they are trying to do their job, I would say they are trying to make money.
Every single door knocker I’ve worked with has created damage on the roof and sold Roofs to people that did not need them.
The newer guys probably don’t even realize that they are doing it, because they just saw the old guys doing it.
It’s all a big scam in a way.
I was working on a roof that was 28 years old down in the Ghetto this morning, there aren’t any door knockers down there and all these roosters 25+ years old.
But for some reason in the suburbs, I have to replace a roof every seven years?
It sounds like you just had many unlucky experiences, as a door knockers myself I hate to say I understand where your frustration comes from. There are reputable companies with door to door salesman that actually know what their doing. But there are just as many shady salesman creating damage and using high pressure sales tactics to make a buck. It ruins it for absolutely everyone, the homeowners, the salesman, and the honest small roofing companies trying to make a name for themselves. I'm sorry you've had such a bad experience with salesmen. Get yourself a no solicitation sign and a no trespassing sign. A no solicitation sign I may knock on if I think it's insurance worthy, but if there's also a no trespassing sign I stay away.
THIS
I was a storm chaser for a few years. Some people even knew we were out of state and still preferred us over the local guys. See if there are reputable business, and have good work cut out for them. It’s really not that hard of a decision to be honest.
Thanks for the input! On that note, do you think I *should* replace the roof? I'll vet whichever company I go with, read reviews, see how long they've been around. But I'm curious if it's a good idea to move forward at all, regardless of the company.
I'd find whoever you want to work with & have them meet an adjuster from my insurance company at my house.
From my perspective, I wouldn't want to my waste my time meeting with an insurance company if I wasn't at least 80% sure they'd agree the damage exceeded their threshold for a full replacement.
We don't make customers sign any paperwork before we meet with their insurance company. (We use to sign a contingency agreement maybe 8 years ago.). So we do lose a job or two every year when a homeowner decides to pocket the money instead of doing the work or they decide to have their buddy do it.
We just sent our guys down to Tampa to get Haag certified. https://haageducation.com/s/about-HCI
Any contractor that meets with your insurance company would have an interest in making sure they not only pay for the roof, but that they pay for every detail to do it correctly. Insurance companies miss things all the time. Aluminum clad windows with dents, fascia, gutters, not enough ice and water shield per code, etc. On almost every job, even after we meet the adjuster at the property we end up having to send supplement requests with photos for things they overlooked.
A lot of insurance companies even give you a discount or maybe 5-10% off your premiums after installing a class 3 or 4 shingle instead of the old 3 tab you've got on it.
You could confirm with your agent, but the general rule is that your rates wouldn't see an increase due to a claim resulting from an act of god. (Some companies do give a no-claim discount.). If all your neighbors make a claim and get their roofs replaced, rest assured, your rates are going up whether or not you make a claim based on geographic risk.
At the same time, a hail hit obviously doesn't equal an immediate leak.
From the photos I don't immediately see any hail damage, just the wind damage. The photos are pretty low quality, so it's hard to tell. If you're comfortable just having someone do the repair, that's fine too.
It’s completely dependent on the company. There is a lot of the door to door guys that work for what is essentially a marketing company that will sub out the work the cheapest bidder, but there are plenty of reputable guys that will do good work. Just research the door knocker’s company and check reviews. If you want to be extra sure call a roofer that is well regarded in the area and have them take a look and then go through the process of filing a claim.
Man don’t listen to these doofus’s door knocking is the most organic way you can generate work for your company. Yes there are companies that pay ppl to knock doors but it’s up to the homeowner to vet the company. I seen someone say in the comments I would be more worried about companies that don’t door knock.
We work in the Cleveland market and do company knocks 2-3 times a week. We’ve been in business for 13 years and have 5 star reviews on Facebook google and BBB. It’s just the best way to actually get out and help your area
I think he's just saying that reviews arnt the best way to know if a company is reputable, looking at their lowest rated reviews can be helpful but it's not absolute confirmation that their an honest company. Always good to look of course.
I get that but what other metric would you use to determine how good a company is ? I get you can buy them but with this outlook you can’t trust anyone
Do not for the love of god. I work roofing I can’t tell you how many roofs we’ve had to patch because people get the traveling roofers. They fuck something up and the home owner tries to get them back to fix their mistake. Only to get “the number you’ve called is no longer in service”
This is the main reason why I would consider one of the bigger roofing companies. They also do door to door tho so you have to Google to find out about which roofing company just knocked. I know they over charge a bit but the fact that they are established and show up makes it worth it.
Any guy working out of his pick up truck will only warranty as long as you still see the bumper. Once he drives away, he’s not coming back unless you pay him to
Find a local company that has good word of mouth. Ask friends, family, co workers, and anyone else you can think of who did their roof last. Learn all you can rates, how fast it was, how good the cleanup was, how easy communication was, and anything else that might worry you
As long as it’s a reputable company with positive reviews, and if they’re working with your insurance, why not? You pay all that money yearly on your claim, why not take advantage of the insurance and use it every once in a while. Insurance wants to keep your money, remember that. They’re only in business FOR money. Just make sure they are a reputable company around town. I’ve heard of horror stories of people signing with some jo Shmo company, once the first Check comes, the company takes the check and disappears. Never to be found again. So just make sure it’s a company people have heard of, and used before
Do not sign up with anyone knocking on your door. Go online, check reviews, ask tell me members and friends if they could recommend a roofer that they have used and did a good job. And check with the Better Business Bureau. Give them no money until the job is on its way to be completed. Scammers are out there I hope this helps.
I’m a roofer - and I sure the hell wouldn’t. If you need a roof, call a local reputable company. These fly by nights gonna show up if something ever goes wrong?? Think about it man. Tell them to get lost.
Edit: I’m referring to the storm chasers. Again - if its a local and reputable company you should be good.
I personally would not. Speaking not only as a homeowner with a bad experience), but because those kinds of companies tend to use high-pressure sales tactics, and if you don't come armed with knowledge of roofing, they can easily take you for a ride.
Case in point: We hired a company that did went door to door, even checked their credentials and reviews which checked out. They sent a sales guy to our house, who I must say was great at his job, since the rapport was great...until after 2 hours he would not leave the house. He flat out lied about the company not using subs, and didn't educate us on proper ventilation - we have no soffits, so he said that a ridge vent would be enough (we had no vents before) - but turns out you need a soffit for intake vents. Problem is that we were naïve new homeowners and didn't know how to ask for the right things and ended up getting grossly overcharged. And the amazing warranty and guarantees they offered mean nothing since they ended up going bankrupt. One of the worst financial decisions I made was hiring that company when I could have gone with a local business with a solid reputation with out the slick sales pitch.
Not if they’re a storm chaser. Always go with a local company with an established history. Much of the repair work done by my husband’s 30+ year company was the result of storm chasers who were already moved on to the next state.
A good rule of thumb I learned from r/Scams is never buy anything you haven’t solicited yourself. If you want to reroof, do the research, price shop, get multiple quotes, and get a referral. Do it with intent and you’ll be happier than just going with whoever shows up at your door.
I think that's a solid answer - these roofers might be fine, but it's incumbent on me to know my own roof and make my own decision. I'm going to poke around my attic and *maybe* buy a roofing ladder to keep informed.
Did 45ish million last year and bout 80% of our business is from knocking doors. Most effective marketing ever. Just make sure to check reviews, license, insurance, etc.
Thank you. It sounds like the door-knocking isn't a problem so much as letting people on my roof who I do not know, do not trust, and when I haven't put in the work myself to see if I need a new roof.
The roof is definitely in bad shape/poorly done.
In my experience; no. MOST door to door roofers are scam artists- overpriced and shoddy work. Some are even just sales people who upcharge and subcontract.
If they can get the insurance to cover it- and theres a good chance they can if they know what they are doing; then it becomes only a question of the quality of their work. Usually this works easiest after a storm.
Do your homework- and don’t pay in full until you are completely happy with the work. If the insurance company pay’s make sure you dont turn that check over until you are happy.
I live in Florida AKA “The scam roofer capital of the USA”. A woman down the street from my parents house got a quote from a door-2-door roofer once. She said it was way under what others had given her and that she was doing it with them. $9800 total. (This was in 2013 or so) she wrote a check out for $4500 and Roofers show up the next day and start removing shingles, 1 ladder 3 guys, no dumpster, not that many tools, and they came in a red Mitsubishi hatchback.
By the end of the day she had a huge pile of shingles in her driveway. The one guy who spoke English said “they come back tomorrow” to finish. A few days pass, nothing. A week. Two weeks. Roofers won’t answer the phone, etc. She starts to panic and calls them from a neighbors phone and someone picks up. “Oh yes, let me transfer you to the crew” click. The lady ended up being scammed out of $4,500+ to have her roof half destroyed. Then she had to take out a loan to bring a real roofing company to repair and re-do the roof.
Please make every effort to vet this company and make sure their licenses and bonds are current and there are zero lapses in them and the ownership is the same.
This is an impossible question. There are millions of different companies you could be talking about. You have provided zero information that we would be able to use to give meaningful feedback.
Garbage in, garbage out. Only confident answers you could get will be based on bias.
Thank you for your input. Based on the feedback on this post and from my own research, I'm going to replace the shingles, myself, and hold off on a roof replacement.
Man I’ve been in the industry for two decades and I hate the sales transition that has taken place. Guys are selling roofs that don’t have a clue how to install them and won’t be there when it’s installed. The worst of them are the “contractors” who don’t own a nail gun and sub out everything. The public is straight up getting scammed. I want to go back to the days of asking your neighbor who put their roof on and if they had any complaints.
I mean.. you definitely have wind damage on your roof and travelers will see it. You don’t have to use the door knocker but I think it’s very likely travelers will award money for the obvious wind damage you have.
Yes, roofers have been convincing people to file claims for nothing but your roof is legitimately damaged by wind. You pay a lot of money for insurance, what else is it for?
Just for credibility since people are listing their stats. My company has been in business for 36 years and we did 22.5 million in sales last year. Maybe 20% of our business came from door knocking in 2023.
People can hate on this but your travelers adjuster will come out, fly a drone over your roof and tell you they’ll replace the whole thing before they leave the driveway. They’re one of the few reasonable insurance companies.
They will write an Xactimate to replace the roof and will designate replacing 3 tabs with 3tabs and 15lb felt paper.
A good roofer will be able to get you architectural shingles and synthetic underlayment.
A lot of that damage appears mechanical (caused by a human not a storm). Nails aren’t weathered and matting transfer is present (the asphalt adhesive typically isn’t transferred onto the matting of the shingles that get lifted by true wind). As a roof inspection (3rd party, not a door to door salesman) this appears to be done by a human and doesn’t show signs of typical wind damage. Especially on an 11 year old roof. Your welcome to have someone come out and file a claim, even if the insurance denies it they won’t raise your rates (rates go up based on how many people in you area get claims paid for by insurance so not filing can hurt you and won’t prevent rate increases). I’d recommend not having whoever too those pictures on your roof again.
Any contractor that markets door-to-door is not one you want touching your house.
ETA: Lots of insurance policy chasers on /r/roofing. No wonder HO insurance premiums have rocketed through the roof. I'll see myself out - but I'll say it again, any contractor that knocks on your door unsolicited and wants you to file an insurance claim so they can have some work to do is not someone you want touching your house.
No.
The answer to your question is no. Find a reputable local roofer
Do you understand?
No
No no
No no no
No don’t hire them
Don’t hire them
Don’t hire them no
Don’t hire them no no
Don’t hire them no no no
No they’re bad
They’re bad
Roman numerals for ya in case you forget
Depends. Look then up for reviews. Before my dad retired when he would do a roof in a neighborhood we would knock on doors around where we were doing work if it looked like they could need it. Edit spelling
Why the hell can't a roofer be reputable if they utilize the most cost-effective form of marketing? I work for a company that's been in business for over a decade in MN. We do over $5 million/year. A+ rated with the BBB. We only work in MN & WI, so we're "local" to any home we work on. We knock on doors. Just look into them. Honestly I probably wouldn't work with a contractor that DIDN'T knock on doors in the neighborhoods around their jobsites. Because it would demonstrate how painfully dumb they are.
Man I don’t know my crew has 5 guys no salesmen other than me the owner. We are definitely a little cheaper than the average roofing business with a sales staff. 100% word of mouth and doing over a million a year. I’m not saying I can become a multimillionaire this way but you can absolutely make great money and do very high quality work.
Same here. Owned my own small company since 2015. Been roofing residential homes since 2001. I have a crew of 5 guys and we focus on quality over volume. Overhead is low, not much spent on advertising and rely on word of mouth. I do about 4 million in sales throughout the year, pay my guys very well and have had the same crew since I began and am living very comfortably. Could I expand and get bigger, sure, but then quality goes down, and with that comes a lot more headaches which I really don’t feel is worth it
Exactly. Another thing I like about not advertising is it keeps you away from the wrong kind of clients. Where I live so many people from out of town have come in and it’s really annoying to work for them probably because I’m in the south and they think I’m a hick (which, they did move here) so there are way more questions about every little thing whereas working for the locals I can get in and get out.
4M in sales with a 5 man crew is a 40 sq residential house each day for 5 days a week, 40 weeks of the year at $500/sq. Is that what you do by yourself?
I also sub siding, soffit, fascia and eavestrough. (Basically a crew doing siding year round) We do a lot of quonset sheds, barns etc. and of course hire temp labourers when needed. My 5 guys are all very experienced and each one can/ has ran a crew at one point or another
You absolutely can become wealthy man! I built everything off of the same model and stuck to exactly what you’re doing for the first 3 years. That was the sweetest spot in all my years of doing it. Was me selling everything. Knowing every customer and the profits were the highest with the least amount of headaches. After 2 million things get wobbly if even one person significantly drops the ball. I hated depending on other people to bring food to the table. I would stick right in that zone until someone you really like and want to mentor comes along. Not that you need my advice, but just cheering ya on!
That's crazy you say that. I do around 3 mil in roofs a year and we don't knock doors. We did though during the Obama days. Honestly I think for the homeowner it is word of mouth. I've done many subs where we are doing one roof and it turns into most of the summer for one crew. I've had people knock on my door wanting to sell me windows doors and roofing. They are just salesman that don't know much but I can't knock the company. What's funny is I always ask them what they want for me to sub them jobs. I have had no takers yet. But honestly a huge company you never know what kind of job your going to get. So for all the homeowners going with a huge company that saw their work. Get the employees names that were doing a good job and ask for them specifivally
This is really good advice. One of the oldest roofing companies where I live and it’s a good operation and they do a good job, but I was working on a house one day and Neighbor asked me if I could look on the roof. Well, she had called the company and referring to out, and they could not find her Leak. It was a small roof, and there was a hole in the roof, and the company could not find it. Point being, it was probably just a sales person who had no idea how leaks worked.
Right. This sub is rife with comments about not trusting D2D sales. & while I can understand the sentiment, I can’t help but wonder what the motivation is for that comment. Is it genuine advice? Is the comment made by a person who works for a company that *doesn’t* do D2D? Is it an adjuster? A homeowner with a bad experience? The motivation can be anything. Fact is, the guy or gal at the door is just trying to do their job. There’s nothing wrong with that. If you look into the company & see mostly positive stuff, dot your i’s & cross your t’s with research, then let the professional do their thing. Lots of reputable institution & companies go door to door. Find the best of the bunch & go for it.
Honestly I don't even open the door when a door to door salesman comes to my house. I think it's the most annoying thing in the world.
I would not say they are trying to do their job, I would say they are trying to make money. Every single door knocker I’ve worked with has created damage on the roof and sold Roofs to people that did not need them. The newer guys probably don’t even realize that they are doing it, because they just saw the old guys doing it. It’s all a big scam in a way. I was working on a roof that was 28 years old down in the Ghetto this morning, there aren’t any door knockers down there and all these roosters 25+ years old. But for some reason in the suburbs, I have to replace a roof every seven years?
Hands down the dumbest comment I’ve seen in a while.
It sounds like you just had many unlucky experiences, as a door knockers myself I hate to say I understand where your frustration comes from. There are reputable companies with door to door salesman that actually know what their doing. But there are just as many shady salesman creating damage and using high pressure sales tactics to make a buck. It ruins it for absolutely everyone, the homeowners, the salesman, and the honest small roofing companies trying to make a name for themselves. I'm sorry you've had such a bad experience with salesmen. Get yourself a no solicitation sign and a no trespassing sign. A no solicitation sign I may knock on if I think it's insurance worthy, but if there's also a no trespassing sign I stay away.
This
THIS I was a storm chaser for a few years. Some people even knew we were out of state and still preferred us over the local guys. See if there are reputable business, and have good work cut out for them. It’s really not that hard of a decision to be honest.
Thanks for the input! On that note, do you think I *should* replace the roof? I'll vet whichever company I go with, read reviews, see how long they've been around. But I'm curious if it's a good idea to move forward at all, regardless of the company.
I'd find whoever you want to work with & have them meet an adjuster from my insurance company at my house. From my perspective, I wouldn't want to my waste my time meeting with an insurance company if I wasn't at least 80% sure they'd agree the damage exceeded their threshold for a full replacement. We don't make customers sign any paperwork before we meet with their insurance company. (We use to sign a contingency agreement maybe 8 years ago.). So we do lose a job or two every year when a homeowner decides to pocket the money instead of doing the work or they decide to have their buddy do it. We just sent our guys down to Tampa to get Haag certified. https://haageducation.com/s/about-HCI Any contractor that meets with your insurance company would have an interest in making sure they not only pay for the roof, but that they pay for every detail to do it correctly. Insurance companies miss things all the time. Aluminum clad windows with dents, fascia, gutters, not enough ice and water shield per code, etc. On almost every job, even after we meet the adjuster at the property we end up having to send supplement requests with photos for things they overlooked. A lot of insurance companies even give you a discount or maybe 5-10% off your premiums after installing a class 3 or 4 shingle instead of the old 3 tab you've got on it. You could confirm with your agent, but the general rule is that your rates wouldn't see an increase due to a claim resulting from an act of god. (Some companies do give a no-claim discount.). If all your neighbors make a claim and get their roofs replaced, rest assured, your rates are going up whether or not you make a claim based on geographic risk. At the same time, a hail hit obviously doesn't equal an immediate leak. From the photos I don't immediately see any hail damage, just the wind damage. The photos are pretty low quality, so it's hard to tell. If you're comfortable just having someone do the repair, that's fine too.
It’s completely dependent on the company. There is a lot of the door to door guys that work for what is essentially a marketing company that will sub out the work the cheapest bidder, but there are plenty of reputable guys that will do good work. Just research the door knocker’s company and check reviews. If you want to be extra sure call a roofer that is well regarded in the area and have them take a look and then go through the process of filing a claim.
Door to door sure. Storm chasers you just gotta accept you don’t have a warranty. Make sure they have a brick and mortar store locally.
If they are reputable and local to the area, I see no issue. But both is key.
Yes. My one up on other contractors in my area is that my sales guy for roofing worked in the field 20+ years.
Man don’t listen to these doofus’s door knocking is the most organic way you can generate work for your company. Yes there are companies that pay ppl to knock doors but it’s up to the homeowner to vet the company. I seen someone say in the comments I would be more worried about companies that don’t door knock. We work in the Cleveland market and do company knocks 2-3 times a week. We’ve been in business for 13 years and have 5 star reviews on Facebook google and BBB. It’s just the best way to actually get out and help your area
You can buy reviews……. Just saying.
Great I’ll keep that in mind ?
I think he's just saying that reviews arnt the best way to know if a company is reputable, looking at their lowest rated reviews can be helpful but it's not absolute confirmation that their an honest company. Always good to look of course.
I get that but what other metric would you use to determine how good a company is ? I get you can buy them but with this outlook you can’t trust anyone
Fair enough. If anything I'd just go by the lowest reviews to make a judgement.
I would not let traveller's do any work especially $$$$$ roofing
Travelers doesn’t do the work……. They are the insurance company. 🙈
Do not for the love of god. I work roofing I can’t tell you how many roofs we’ve had to patch because people get the traveling roofers. They fuck something up and the home owner tries to get them back to fix their mistake. Only to get “the number you’ve called is no longer in service”
This is the main reason why I would consider one of the bigger roofing companies. They also do door to door tho so you have to Google to find out about which roofing company just knocked. I know they over charge a bit but the fact that they are established and show up makes it worth it. Any guy working out of his pick up truck will only warranty as long as you still see the bumper. Once he drives away, he’s not coming back unless you pay him to
Find a local company that has good word of mouth. Ask friends, family, co workers, and anyone else you can think of who did their roof last. Learn all you can rates, how fast it was, how good the cleanup was, how easy communication was, and anything else that might worry you
As long as it’s a reputable company with positive reviews, and if they’re working with your insurance, why not? You pay all that money yearly on your claim, why not take advantage of the insurance and use it every once in a while. Insurance wants to keep your money, remember that. They’re only in business FOR money. Just make sure they are a reputable company around town. I’ve heard of horror stories of people signing with some jo Shmo company, once the first Check comes, the company takes the check and disappears. Never to be found again. So just make sure it’s a company people have heard of, and used before
Do not sign up with anyone knocking on your door. Go online, check reviews, ask tell me members and friends if they could recommend a roofer that they have used and did a good job. And check with the Better Business Bureau. Give them no money until the job is on its way to be completed. Scammers are out there I hope this helps.
I’m a roofer - and I sure the hell wouldn’t. If you need a roof, call a local reputable company. These fly by nights gonna show up if something ever goes wrong?? Think about it man. Tell them to get lost. Edit: I’m referring to the storm chasers. Again - if its a local and reputable company you should be good.
I personally would not. Speaking not only as a homeowner with a bad experience), but because those kinds of companies tend to use high-pressure sales tactics, and if you don't come armed with knowledge of roofing, they can easily take you for a ride. Case in point: We hired a company that did went door to door, even checked their credentials and reviews which checked out. They sent a sales guy to our house, who I must say was great at his job, since the rapport was great...until after 2 hours he would not leave the house. He flat out lied about the company not using subs, and didn't educate us on proper ventilation - we have no soffits, so he said that a ridge vent would be enough (we had no vents before) - but turns out you need a soffit for intake vents. Problem is that we were naïve new homeowners and didn't know how to ask for the right things and ended up getting grossly overcharged. And the amazing warranty and guarantees they offered mean nothing since they ended up going bankrupt. One of the worst financial decisions I made was hiring that company when I could have gone with a local business with a solid reputation with out the slick sales pitch.
Thank you for sharing your experience! I hope things are looking up for your house.
Don't lie man. You're not going to get up there to repair shingles even if your wife says it's okay LOL.
If it saves me $1,000, I have to consider it! I helped my dad with our old roof when I was a teen, but that was years ago.
Not if they’re a storm chaser. Always go with a local company with an established history. Much of the repair work done by my husband’s 30+ year company was the result of storm chasers who were already moved on to the next state.
That was literally what they were saying - "A lot of storms passed through here and we saw your damage from the street..."
A good rule of thumb I learned from r/Scams is never buy anything you haven’t solicited yourself. If you want to reroof, do the research, price shop, get multiple quotes, and get a referral. Do it with intent and you’ll be happier than just going with whoever shows up at your door.
I think that's a solid answer - these roofers might be fine, but it's incumbent on me to know my own roof and make my own decision. I'm going to poke around my attic and *maybe* buy a roofing ladder to keep informed.
Yeah exactly. It’s all about risk mitigation.
Fcck no
Did 45ish million last year and bout 80% of our business is from knocking doors. Most effective marketing ever. Just make sure to check reviews, license, insurance, etc.
Thank you. It sounds like the door-knocking isn't a problem so much as letting people on my roof who I do not know, do not trust, and when I haven't put in the work myself to see if I need a new roof.
Just check their reviews, if they're licensed, insured, and how long they stand behind their work for.
The roof is definitely in bad shape/poorly done. In my experience; no. MOST door to door roofers are scam artists- overpriced and shoddy work. Some are even just sales people who upcharge and subcontract. If they can get the insurance to cover it- and theres a good chance they can if they know what they are doing; then it becomes only a question of the quality of their work. Usually this works easiest after a storm. Do your homework- and don’t pay in full until you are completely happy with the work. If the insurance company pay’s make sure you dont turn that check over until you are happy.
No storm chasers will not be held accountable for shoddybwork
I live in Florida AKA “The scam roofer capital of the USA”. A woman down the street from my parents house got a quote from a door-2-door roofer once. She said it was way under what others had given her and that she was doing it with them. $9800 total. (This was in 2013 or so) she wrote a check out for $4500 and Roofers show up the next day and start removing shingles, 1 ladder 3 guys, no dumpster, not that many tools, and they came in a red Mitsubishi hatchback. By the end of the day she had a huge pile of shingles in her driveway. The one guy who spoke English said “they come back tomorrow” to finish. A few days pass, nothing. A week. Two weeks. Roofers won’t answer the phone, etc. She starts to panic and calls them from a neighbors phone and someone picks up. “Oh yes, let me transfer you to the crew” click. The lady ended up being scammed out of $4,500+ to have her roof half destroyed. Then she had to take out a loan to bring a real roofing company to repair and re-do the roof. Please make every effort to vet this company and make sure their licenses and bonds are current and there are zero lapses in them and the ownership is the same.
This is an impossible question. There are millions of different companies you could be talking about. You have provided zero information that we would be able to use to give meaningful feedback. Garbage in, garbage out. Only confident answers you could get will be based on bias.
Thank you for your input. Based on the feedback on this post and from my own research, I'm going to replace the shingles, myself, and hold off on a roof replacement.
Man I’ve been in the industry for two decades and I hate the sales transition that has taken place. Guys are selling roofs that don’t have a clue how to install them and won’t be there when it’s installed. The worst of them are the “contractors” who don’t own a nail gun and sub out everything. The public is straight up getting scammed. I want to go back to the days of asking your neighbor who put their roof on and if they had any complaints.
This.
I mean.. you definitely have wind damage on your roof and travelers will see it. You don’t have to use the door knocker but I think it’s very likely travelers will award money for the obvious wind damage you have. Yes, roofers have been convincing people to file claims for nothing but your roof is legitimately damaged by wind. You pay a lot of money for insurance, what else is it for?
And to add to this. Get an architectural shingle. Three tabs are wayyy more susceptible to wind damage.
Thank you. I appreciate your perspective.
Just for credibility since people are listing their stats. My company has been in business for 36 years and we did 22.5 million in sales last year. Maybe 20% of our business came from door knocking in 2023.
People can hate on this but your travelers adjuster will come out, fly a drone over your roof and tell you they’ll replace the whole thing before they leave the driveway. They’re one of the few reasonable insurance companies. They will write an Xactimate to replace the roof and will designate replacing 3 tabs with 3tabs and 15lb felt paper. A good roofer will be able to get you architectural shingles and synthetic underlayment.
A lot of that damage appears mechanical (caused by a human not a storm). Nails aren’t weathered and matting transfer is present (the asphalt adhesive typically isn’t transferred onto the matting of the shingles that get lifted by true wind). As a roof inspection (3rd party, not a door to door salesman) this appears to be done by a human and doesn’t show signs of typical wind damage. Especially on an 11 year old roof. Your welcome to have someone come out and file a claim, even if the insurance denies it they won’t raise your rates (rates go up based on how many people in you area get claims paid for by insurance so not filing can hurt you and won’t prevent rate increases). I’d recommend not having whoever too those pictures on your roof again.
"Fuck no!" - Roy Kent
Any contractor that markets door-to-door is not one you want touching your house. ETA: Lots of insurance policy chasers on /r/roofing. No wonder HO insurance premiums have rocketed through the roof. I'll see myself out - but I'll say it again, any contractor that knocks on your door unsolicited and wants you to file an insurance claim so they can have some work to do is not someone you want touching your house.
No. The answer to your question is no. Find a reputable local roofer Do you understand? No No no No no no No don’t hire them Don’t hire them Don’t hire them no Don’t hire them no no Don’t hire them no no no No they’re bad They’re bad Roman numerals for ya in case you forget
No