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Vetting Your Roofing Contractor

Stephanie Miles | November 6, 2009

Vetting your contractor is one of the most important steps you will take when deciding to put a new roof on your home or office building, according to the DFW-based commercial roofers at Lone Star Roofing. Whether the project is big or small, putting on a new roof is a huge deal for people in both time and money. That’s why it is really important that you take the time to find the right roofing contractor for the job.

To make matters even more confusing, you have to deal with the fact that the roofing industry is a high-risk industry. A lot of construction companies or people out there just come and go. And these fly-by-night roofers are obviously not who you want handling your roofing job. Unfortunately, the roofing industry is famous for having that particular problem and for having certain contractors close up shop suddenly and without warning.

That is specifically why it is so important that anyone thinking of putting a new roof on his home or commercial property should take the time to do their research, and make sure they are hiring a reputable commercial roofers for any job in the DFW area. “You are going to have to be a little more careful when hiring a roofing contractor as opposed to hiring any other type of contractor, but that is just the name of the game at this point,” say the experts at Lone Star Roofing.

When they begin the process of vetting any commercial roofers in DFW, building owners are advised to search for a roofing company with a long history of working in the area. It is important to choose a roofing company that will most likely still be in business if any issues come up with the roof that need to be repaired in the future. “So when it comes down to it and you are vetting a contractor, you are looking for someone who has experience and someone who is going to be around long enough to be able to guarantee some type of workmanship warranty,” according to Lone Star Roofing. “For the obvious reasons, you don’t want to hire someone who could be closing up shop in a few months, since in those cases you will have no way to collect on a workmanship or labor warranty should something happen to the roof.”

Everyone has their own techniques for vetting potential contractors, but the big three things the experts at Lone Star Roofing encourage everyone to do are to make sure the commercial roofers they are working with in DFW have a physical address, that they are listed in good standing with the Better Business Bureau, and that they have some type of affiliation with a professional roofing organization.

Some additional tips:

Visit the business’ physical address. There is no point in even getting a labor or workmanship warranty if the roofing company behind it disappears a few weeks later. That’s why you should make sure the company you are hiring has a physical address where they can be found should something go wrong. If a particular company has been in business at the same location for a number of years, then that is a good sign that they probably won’t disappear in just a few weeks or months. So anyone thinking of hiring a roofing contractor should check out that contractor’s physical office address to make sure it exists.

Check with the Better Business Bureau. The Lone Star Roofing experts say they would certainly encourage everyone to call their local Better Business Bureau office to make sure the company they are hiring is listed and in good standing. Once you have gotten through, you can also check the company’s history and make sure there aren’t any outstanding complaints. Obviously, if a number of people have had problems in the past with that company, then that is something you would want to stay away from. But in general, checking with the Better Business Bureau can give you a pretty good idea of the roofing contractor’s reputability.

Ask about professional affiliations. It is a good idea to check with your roofing contractor to see what kind of professional affiliations he maintains, just to make sure he is a member of some type of professional organization or group. Because each state has its own individual roofing contractor associations, there isn’t just one group to ask about. But in general, the most important thing is just making sure the contractor belongs to some group that is reputable. Nationwide, a few big national roofing contractor associations are reputable and established.

In general, those are the three biggest things an individual can do to vet his contractor: Check the physical address, contact the Better Business Bureau, and make sure the contractor belongs to at least one roofing organization. If all of those check out, that that is a good sign that you are on the right track and you have probably found yourself some good commercial roofers in DFW.

About Stephanie Miles

Author Name

Stephanie Miles is writer for the Yodler, the consumer education branch of Yodle, an online advertising company and business directory that proudly supports local businesses.

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