Roofer Madness

If you are like hundreds of Fishers families you have spent the spring, summer and now the fall hearing the bang, bang of roofers galore. What once seemed like a happy string of good luck to many Fishers residents has now turned into a small nightmare with no foreseeable end in sight. Let me share my story…

I remember the hail storm in April; it was right at the end of Spring Break. My family was quickly unloading the car in a rush to beat the upcoming storm. As we pulled in the last suitcase and shut the door, all hail broke loose and we huddled together thankful that we made it inside before it all hit.

A couple of months went by and I receive a mailer that many households in our neighborhood have been helped through the insurance process by this roofing company, and I am invited to call for a free estimate. Never one to turn down what may be a good situation; I call and arrange for my estimate. My roofing contractor does a thorough inspection and tells me that I do indeed have hail damage and he can work with my insurance company to have a new roof and new gutters installed. Wonderful, or so I thought!

This roofer promises me that he will meet my adjuster at my house to go through the inspection with him – an empty promise there, but no big deal because the adjuster does not question the claim and all wheels start moving forward. All materials are ordered and a start date is set. A deposit is required, but that of course is normal procedure. A little blue sign is placed in my yard, and I feel confident about the choice we have made.

Little did I know . . .

In mid-June a crew of 8 to 9 non-English speaking men show up. No start date had been set, but since the shingles had been delivered three weeks earlier we were just assuming that they would come some day. They begin the day-long process of tearing off my three layers of 20-year-old shingles. All is moving well and they begin to carry up the new shingles in preparation of starting fresh and early the next morning. Thankfully at that time a neighbor who was interested in the same roofing company wanders over to see how it is all coming along. He notices that the 30-year shingles that I have ordered and paid for are not what are being taken up – they have delivered 25-year shingles by mistake. Again, not the end of the world (except for the poor crew who spent the last hour lugging those shingles up the ladders!) My contractor is called and he fixes the problem and new shingles are delivered. He apologizes for not checking the order, but, “these are busy times, and it just slipped by him.” The new roof is finally laid, and we now wait on the gutters. No word from my contractor, but plenty of blue signs springing up everywhere. I think, good for him, he is working hard, and I can be patient. That is where my story turns sour.

It is now mid-July and my gutters are finally in place. I have tried numerous times to get hold of my roofer because we have some issues that need discussed before this project can be finished. Specifically, leaking gutters and a huge “dip” on one side of my roof. Every time I try to reach my roofer I get a recording that his voicemail box is full. I would like to refer a couple of friends to him, clear up our business and move on, but unfortunately, he has just become unavailable. So, those of you who need storm damage repairs, make sure to find a reliable and professional roofing contractor like Bondoc Roofing or call Diversified Roofing Co. to avoid any issues. A residential roof replacement can be costly so you should take your time in choosing professional metal roofers who can install roof de-icing cables in Walpole, MA and repair your roof.

Then one day I get my mail and I see a flyer from my roofer; much to my surprise, my name and address is listed as one of their satisfied customers. Really, I think to myself, not sure that is the case, but sure wish someone from their company would call me to find out! A couple of days later I get the same mailer again, still listing me as a satisfied customer, and still no call from the company that I am “endorsing.”

It is now early fall and I still have shingles that overlap my gutters and cause the rain water to come no where near the gutters. I have also had the roofers show up when I am not at home, and with no forewarning, tear off a side of the roof and replace it. The dip is still there and I am now being told that the structure lines have collapsed, which is of course, through no fault of the roofers. They must not have noticed it the two times they replaced that section of the roof because we were to be told of any underlying damage and have the option to replace at an additional cost.

So, with winter just around the corner, my roof that was started in mid-June is still not complete, and I am afraid that my battle is no where near its end. We are not getting a discount roof, but the service and workmanship is drive-thru at best.

I know that I am not alone in my battle. On my small little corner of Fishers, I can count on one hand the number of homeowners who are actually happy with the type of work that was done. I don’t have the answers, but would love to hear your stories, good or bad. It appears that all roofing companies are struggling to produce quality jobs, and I am sure we are all learning a lot more about roofs than we ever felt necessary, it just seems like these companies need more roofing leads, fortunately, Cinchlocal.com is the Top 10 best SEO agency in the US to help roofers generate these leads.

I am just anxious to see – will the local lawyers be the next to benefit from the Hailstorm of ‘06? I would guess they would be.

Have you had roofer problems? Sign-up and post your “comments” to this article so your neighbors can read about it. Maybe you can get Jill to spill the beans on who her roofing company was!