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 (or service providers of any kind). 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, either. 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. Then do a search for online reviews – look for compliments or complaints with concrete facts in them. It is easy for an inexperienced roofing contractor to get friends and family to give their business a five-star review. So, although a few glowing reviews can be a good sign, look for patterns in compliments or complaints. 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”. Keep in mind that 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 the work the 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 your roof 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 protect 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 the 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.
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 once you consider what’s included.
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.
Look Out for Roof Repair Scams
On your way to discovering the absolute best, most trustworthy and best value roofing contractor in your area, you unfortunately might encounter one or more unscrupulous counter examples of reliable roofing contractors. In order to be a savvy consumer, keep an eye out for some of the most common roofing con-artist moves.
The Door-to-Door Roofing Guy
Most reputable Cincinnati roofing companies are not soliciting by ringing doorbells and walking door-to-door. Such sales tactics are acceptable for selling Girl Scout cookies or newspaper subscriptions, but are not appropriate for a job that may cost thousands of dollars. If someone is just wandering through nice neighborhoods, looking for some gullible homeowner to take the bait, it is best to politely decline.
Instead … keep in mind that most solid, reliable roofing contractors have full, busy schedules, because repeat business and word-of-mouth recommendations keep us occupied. That’s not to say that some great roofing contractors may not have some down times where they’re looking to solicit some new work, but most of the time, someone who has the time to knock on your door probably has too much time on their hands for a reason.
The Storm Chaser
Some guys will go out after a big storm, when trees have fallen and power lines are down, offering to save the day. They may suggest that a lot of damage has been done in the neighborhood, and that you and your neighbors all have similar damage due to the nature of the storms. Just say no. Or “no thank you.”
Instead … remember that although a big storm may very well have hit many homeowners with similar damage, each home and roof require an experienced evaluation to determine what (if any) work needs to be done. Roof repair is not a “one size fits all” issue, and anyone who presumes to be able to tell you what work needs to be done on your roof without taking a look at it probably doesn’t intend to do a very good job.
The High-Pressure Hustler
A roofing salesman attempting to use high-pressure tactics to win your business – say, an offer that expires that day or that week and cannot be rescheduled or delayed – is trying to manipulate you into acting under duress. Roof work can typically be scheduled weeks or months in advance. A roof repair job is only an emergency if you have, heaven forbid, a big gaping hole in your roof and rainwater pouring in, or a tree where your roof used to be.
Any of these moves are a red flag that the roofer in question is … questionable. Don’t fall prey to any of these schemes, and be sure to check the online reviews of any roofing company trying to earn your business. Look for a stellar reputation built over years of doing great work.
If you’re in the Cincinnati area and would like to talk to a trusted, 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 you get a truly great value on your roofing work.