Choosing the right roofer can feel like a daunting task. Hiring an affordable roofing contractor may feel risky, because you worry that the lowest bidder may not be doing the best work. On the other hand, is the most expensive roofer going to do work that is twice as good as someone charging half as much? It may not be as hard as you think to find the best *value* in roofing in Cincinnati – affordable roofing contractors who provide the best overall quality for the price.
Ask for Referrals
Referrals are typically the best way to find good roofing contractors. Anyone can set up a website or advertise online, but friends, family and neighbors are only going to refer someone they know or hired for work themselves. They’re unlikely to refer a scam artist, and they probably won’t send a new, fly by night contractor your way. Ask people you know for recommendations for potential roofing contractors before you start vetting them yourself.
Do Your Own Research
One of the first steps in doing your own research is checking the Better Business Bureau ratings for each roofing contractor. If there are complaints against them for shoddy work, failure to complete work on schedule or overcharging, strike them off your list. Once you’ve checked the ones on your list, then do a search for online reviews – especially complaints with concrete facts in them. It is easy to get friends and family to give your business a five-star review. The more valuable information is contained in the three star and lower ratings. What problems are repeated throughout these complaints? How many one star and two-star reviews do they have and why? (You should disregard blank reviews, or those with vague or unspecific complaints, because this could be review spamming by a competitor to pull down their score.) The valid and valuable complaints are ones like, “They fixed the hole in the roof but not the structural damage”, or, “I paid but waited a week after they had said they were going to start the work”, or “They did a decent job on my roof but left a mess in my yard when they were done”, or “The price I was charged didn’t match their estimate and I never got an explanation about why”. Also, it’s very common for even great companies to have a couple of bad reviews. Let’s face it, you can’t please everyone all the time and each situation is unique. But are there a lot of complaints? Are the complaints consistent? That’s what you want to look out for and avoid.
Ask for an Estimate
Any roofing contractor that is still on your list at this point should get a call and you should ask them for an estimate. This gives you a better idea of the scope of work contractors say your particular situation requires and the price for each task. It also gives you a chance to interact with each business and get a feel for how they handle their customer service – you want to feel like they’re interested in your business and happy to answer your questions. If you don’t understand what you’re getting, you’re less likely to be happy with the results! Reading through the estimates will also help you determine how much each aspect of the project costs, such as repairing flashing or gutters while fixing leaks in the roof.
Give each potential contractor time to do a thorough inspection so that their bid includes everything that needs to be done. If the issue is verified by multiple contractors, then you can have greater confidence that the problem has been properly identified. Conversely, if any of them just looks at the roof from the ground and offers a low bid, that is a major red flag. During this process, ask if they are licensed and insured. If they aren’t or waffle in their answer, don’t hire them. Licensing and insurance protects you from potential liability if someone is hurt while the work is done or if there is a problem with the work after it’s finished.
Ultimately, just because a price is low, doesn’t mean the work is bad, and just because the price is high doesn’t mean you’ll get a great result. Some higher priced companies spend a TON of money on marketing – that means they need to make that money back somewhere. Consider a smaller, locally reputable roofing company who relies more on word of mouth and referrals. If they’ve built their business in your community by serving your neighbors well, you are probably going to have a similarly positive experience. Here’s more information about why some roofing companies cost more than others.
Determine a Final Scope of Work
Agree with your chosen roofing company (or the top few contenders) about a final scope of work such as patching holes in the roof, replacing shingles, replacing the entire roof or putting in new gutters. Once you know exactly what kind of work you want to have done, you can make a better comparison between any remaining potential companies. You may find that the roofing contractor who wanted to lay down a new layer of shingles doesn’t have the time to do a whole roof replacement, or their price for that job is not as good of a deal as you thought it would be.
Take care to ask for details about the materials they’ll use and the time frame for the completion of the work. You are looking for the best overall value, not the cheapest job. A cheaper roof will not cost as much to install but won’t last as long and may not survive the next big storm. Beware of contractors who give a low bid but ask for a blank check for related expenses or labor. On the other hand, you may be able to score an excellent deal if you’re able to be flexible about the time frame and can schedule the work for a slower season.
Hire the Best Priced Roofing Contractor Who Provides the Best Value
Once you’ve created your short list of licensed, insured, reputable and affordable roofing contractors and have received their bids, you can pick the one that has the best overall value and offers the best customer service. Note that you should only select someone based on the proposal they submitted in writing, because it is the written contract that they’re legally bound to abide by. If you’re in the Cincinnati area and would like to talk to an established local roofing company with a stellar reputation and tons of experience, we’d be happy to give you a roofing estimate and show you how we provide excellent value for our community. We’re here to help!