5 Months After Our Last Hail Storm…
…..It is the middle of October. The rain and the cold-fronts are here, and the holidays are on the horizon…..oh yeah, and your roofer went back to his home state (or his REAL job) even though he promised that “we are local now and here to stay”. Sound familiar?
I frequently work as a consultant to law firms, corporations, and homeowners. I help resolve contract disputes, workmanship issues, and at times I appear in court as an expert witness. Last week I was asked to help a homeowner determine the quality of workmanship provided by the roofer he had contracted to replace his roof after the May 29th hailstorm in Edmond. To shorten this story I will jump straight to the part where I found out that the owner of this “roofing company” just recently owned a printing shop that went bankrupt, and had very little experience in the roofing industry. During my inspection of the new roof, I found several building code discrepancies, and the overall quality of work wasn’t poor, it was horrendous. It is actually going to cost the homeowner $2,300.00 to fix the “new roof”, and the irony is….the homeowner hired this particular company because they promised to wave his $1,400.00 insurance claim deductible (illegally).
The fact is that after a hail storm in Oklahoma, tons of people start up new roofing companies, and the out of state storm chasers flock to the Sooner State. Why? Because of the lax registration, the nonexistent licensing, and absence of enforcement. It’s the perfect feeding ground. An important point to remember is that roofing is a skilled trade, yet many people think they can just jump into the business to make a quick buck. Secondly, the major source of incompetent new roofers is local, rather than from out of state (at least the guys from out of state are actually roofers.)
If you look up the list of registered OK roofers, you will s
ee air conditioning repairmen, landscapers, and even plumbers and excavation companies (just as in the picture below), all registered as roofers and trying to make a quick paycheck at the homeowner’s expense.
Every company starts somewhere, and not all new roofing companies are incompetent or predatory. But unfortunately because of the lax registration, the nonexistent licensing, and absence of enforcement, most new companies are incompetent or predatory. If this article is offensive because you or a buddy of yours is one of these incompetent new roofers …tough. These people offend ME, and their antics give the entire roofing industry (my industry) a bad name.
If you would like to learn to protect yourself from becoming the prey, you can read the “Storm Damage Secrets: The Must Have Guide to Choosing a Roofer in Oklahoma”.
P.S. For those of you with friends and family in Texas, they are worse off than you because TX doesn’t even go through the registration motions like Oklahoma does. Tell them to get, “Storm Damage Secrets: The Must Have Guide to Choosing a Roofer in Texas”.