The roofing contractors have made it to my neighborhood.

[Tyrone Biggums]

Not to imply these gentlemen were vultures or anything, they were local, polite, put on a good show, but apparently, I have "just enough" damage to negate a new roof and gutters. My roof is only 6 years old, but if I truly need one I'm ok with that. I would rather take care of it to avoid future issues and would love new gutters, but I'm not paying shit out of pocket.

I've heard and seen that the contractor always wants to meet the insurance adjuster at your house when they come to inspect it. They say it's so they can be sure the adjuster doesn't miss anything. My feeling is that it's so they can either work out some sort of deal with adjuster to add work or inflate the price, which could be totally illegal and false, I don't know, or it's so they know right then how much the adjuster is cutting you the check for and they can make their bid for every bit of that amount. Amirite?

Educate me. What are the benefits or drawbacks of having the contractor meet the adjuster?

[347Mike]

I wouldn't see a need to but then again I have never been in that situation.

I know when my car was wrecked though the mechanic/repair guy never wanted to meet with the adjuster.

[forbes]

yes and no.
alot of times adjusters don't nothing about construction. they just type the numbers in the program and it gives them the amount. there are alot of cases where the adjuster won't include edge flashing, vent stacks etc.
sometimes it is so they can pay the adjuster off and get the referral for other houses.

[sspstang]

Call some one reputable. Trust me, I am glad we did it on our rent house. My old neighbors used some door to door company, and they got screwed over. Doesn't MikeC do roofing?

[UserX]

Don't use a door to door company. If anything, I would at least get a quote from someone on the board.

[racrguy]

Call some one reputable. Trust me, I am glad we did it on our rent house. My old neighbors used some door to door company, and they got screwed over. Doesn't MikeC do roofing?

He does, and going by word of mouth, he does a damn fine job. No personal experience with him though.

[War Machine]

I'd use mikec

[mikec]

I do.

Here is the low down on the roofer wanting to meet your adjuster:

It's a sales trick to make you feel beholden to the roofing contractor. The contractor tells you that "he is going to make sure the adjuster doesn't miss anything." In reality, after a storm, the adjusters are independents and paid a percentage of what he writes, so he is going to miss nothing. He will even pay you for the flower pots in your yard if they so much as have a chip in them. In times of non storm you are more likely to get a staff adjuster, who is more inclined to short you, if he can. So, right now especially, the contractor is out to help himself. It's not to work out a deal, as licenses can be lost on the part of the adjuster and that is just not worth the risk.

Signs: "Let me put this sign in your yard to make these other guys leave you alone." Your neighbors think you chose them and call them as well. Another sales trick.

Filing a claim: Another trick, this one designed to get every dime of your insurance scope/paperwork. Companies train their sales guys to get you to let them into your home with the intent of "taking you to the table." Don't do this. Many of these companies will promise you "the absolute best roof money can buy." Good people fall for this bullshit every day, I know of one on this board right now that did. I could have saved him a shitload, but too late now. Bottom line is that when a roofer comes to your door, ask him what his "per square rate" is. Mine is currently $195 a square on a 3 tab, and $225 on a dimensional, all in name brand shingles. These prices are already adjusted for the price increase from my suppliers taking place on the 16th of April. This gets you all new leaded boot jacks, new turbines or vents, felt paper, shingles, etc. I also have an above average labor warranty of five years, with almost all other roofing companies only offering two years. I can upgrade you to 30lb felt, vented ridge cap, Z-Ridge, or anything else you like.

If you want to avoid BULLSHIT sales games, and DO want a great roof and an honest contractor, call me. two14-417-2077. I don't play the bullshit games and will shoot you straight. If you see a particular feature on another roof, I have it too and will beat the other guys ass in pricing.


Gutters: I do those as well. The insurance companies generally pay about $4.20 a foot or so and I have a guy that I can get them from for $3.75, though I'm working on that price now. I have contractors available to do pretty much ANYTHING home related, from concrete to construction to remodeling to...

Any other questions on how it works, ask me.

Lastly, on deductibles, if anyone comes to your door and says that they will cover your deductible, they are committing a FELONY, as they are playing with insurance fraud by doing so. You are set up with a deductible for a reason. So watch that shit. My pricing is good enough that you will have enough left out of your scope to cover most of it, if not all of it. I am not after the entire scope, I am here to provide a fair price, excellent service, and great product. I install ONLY Certainteed, Owens Cornings, and GAF products. I do not install Tamko or Atlas or the other 'lesser' brands unless you specifically request those products.

And thank you guys for your votes of confidence. I've done board members roofs for about the last eight or ten years and have ZERO complaints from any of those guys.

[Tyrone Biggums]

Excellent information, Mike. I really appreciate that. The wife and I are going to discuss it more over the weekend and I'm going to get up top and do my own walk over. I will be in touch.

[mikec]

Added another line or two to it, and will continue to edit it as I think of other stuff, so watch the edit time on it to see if it's changed.

And no problem, I'll be here.


If you do get up there, mark a 10x10 area and look for eight or more impacts in that square. If you can do this on two different slopes, with damage being close to at least the 50% mark, it is totaled. Wind damaged shingles will no longer be sealed, meaning that you can simply stick your finger under it and lift, same 50% criterion. At that point it's cheaper to replace than it is to repair.

[bcoop]

Mike knows more about roofing than I do, but not all adjusters are contractors, and they DO miss things all the time. They either miss them, or ignore them trying to get out of paying a higher claim. It's also illegal for a roofing co to tell you that you don't have to pay your deductible. Insurance fraud. A lot of times, that's why they will meet the adjusters. Get a higher claim, so you are out of pocket less or none. For instance, if there is fence damage, that you don't want to repair, or damage to a shed, that will help supplement what you would be out of pocket.

No disrespect intended. My best friend works locally for one of the larger national contractors. He is never going to win on price, but they put out a higher quality product than most. They use Titanium UDL as opposed to felt, for instance. Upgrades through ten are cheap as well. Such as high profile ridge, ridge vents, etc.

[Steve]

I'd never deal with a door to door salesmen of any kind. Definetely deal with someone you know you can trust by referral by someone who has used them.

I'd suggest either using MikeC, Dan03Mach or Blownaltered who would be my personal first choice because he's a good buddy of mine and have seen the work his company does.

[mikec]

You just validated a lot of what I said Brent. They're after the money. The titanium UDL is a great product, but doesn't really do anything that felt doesn't. The underlying material is a secondary means of preventing water penetration. The shingles are first. The only time that matters is if shingles go away. At that point, felt paper has a tighter seal to the nail than the plastic that is titanium UDL. Pretty stuff, same difference.

Upgrades are always cheap. Standard ridge cap runs a little over a buck a foot, Z-Ridge sells for about three bucks a foot, so you're looking at about $400 or so difference on the average house. Pretty cheap. The only "expensive' upgrade is the vented ridge cap, which I don't really recommend as they trim your decking back about three inches on each side of the ridge. Once the shingles get a little age on them they are apt to be ripped off by high winds, leaving a six inch wide gap at the peak of your roof.

As Steve just said, do NOT use the door to door guys. You are nothing but another door to be knocked for them and they do NOT care about making it right. Many are actually out of state that swoop in and get local numbers and the like to appear as local.

[Mychael101]

Not sure where the OP is located but when I was in Coppell to file for my solicitors permit I was told that there were close to 700 permits filed from roofing companies. Since my game was paintless dent repair, I really stood out.

[BigTitan21]

MikeC is right on with everything regarding Contractors & Adjusters.

I work for the CAT office in Richardson and most of the independent adjusters out on the field now are ours. Independent adjusters benefit from higher estimates. However, there are plenty of new adjusters that aren't seasoned enough to know the difference in materials which almost guarantees a supplement. I understand how this frustrates contractors/insureds. A contractor will make an insured believe that they are owed an XX amount of money when in reality it may be nowhere close to it. Just hire MikeC and be done with the problems.

It was referenced earlier that all an adjuster has to do now is type some stuff in a computer and it does all of the work. That is simply not the case. An adjuster still has to know what he/she is looking at in order to write an estimate.

Now STAFF adjusters are a completely different breed. They dont benefit from higher estimates.