Are you facing a severe roof damage and looking forward to hiring a roof repair service to fix the issue? On an average, a person might suffer roof repair or replacement only twice in his entire life. That means one cannot be much experienced when it comes to dealing with roofing.
Due to this, a lot of roofing scams are commonly operated in the country, and many people get robbed because of this. We have compiled a reference document to save you from such roof repair service scams. Read carefully.
1. Compulsory Downpayment
Many fraudulent roofing contractors ask the homeowners for down payment before starting working on the project. They present their case very well. They cite how they require to buy new roofing material and need a lot of money for that purpose and therefore, the downpayment is a necessity.
Most of such roofers end up running away with the client’s money. They just don’t appear at work once they’ve got downpayment.
What’s the way out of this? Make sure that you don’t pay even a penny before the roofer starts working on your project.
2. Door to door roofing scams
How many times did a salesman turn up at your doorstep selling an unbelievably good deal? This method of a door to door sales is often used for roofing scams. Though the targets for this are senior citizens, it can happen to anyone, even you.
If a salesman appears at your door and offers a roof inspection, it might be the knock on a door to door roofing scam.
Here are the things you must do and know about this.
- Make sure you don’t let the salesman inspect your roof without checking their license and identity proof.
- Don’t leave them unattended. Most of these scams are working, for people let these salesmen go to their roofs alone. This gives them a chance to fabricate a damage and thus fool you into thinking that you immediately require a roof repair service.
- Don’t sign on any documents, in case you’re convinced that your roof requires replacement. Let the insurance company re-check if your roof is damaged or not.
- Do a background check on the roof repair service thoroughly before hiring.
3. Roofing gypsies
There is a set of people who keep track of areas hit by hailstorms and wind damage. They offer immediate help to people who might be facing some roof damage. But these people don’t provide honest services. In fact, the roof repairs done by these individuals cause additional damage.
Most of the times, they insist on roof replacement. These newly done roofs last no longer than 5 to 7 years (the average age of roof is 20 -25 years). By the time, people realize their mistake, these scammers are already gone, leaving people with even more severe roof damage.
How to be careful? How to avoid such scams? Apply the same old method that we always promote. Check the license carefully, insurance documents and do a thorough research on the company’s background. Do your research well and you will never fall prey to such scams.
4. Fluctuation in prices
Even a licensed company can do this to you. Pay real attention to how these scams work.
When you hire a roof repair service, it will give you an estimated cost. Once it starts working, the contractor would cite several different reasons and ask for additional money. These reasons can vary between a rise in prices of raw material cost, previously undetected roof damage or extra labor.
One thing you must know is that there’s never a sudden increase in roofing material cost. Almost all the contractors get notices about a rise in cost weeks before and therefore, it isn’t your responsibility to pay additional charges just because the price went up.
How to avoid this?
It is advisable that you ask the roofer to do a full damage detection before beginning the work. Get a written estimate and read the contract carefully before beginning. The only damage that can go undetected is in the roof decking. Most of the professional roof repair services mention the charges for additional roof decking damage repair in the contract. Read that carefully.
Most of these scammers will threaten to leave the roof repair if you decline to pay additional charges. There’s no way out if you get into this kind of scam but apparently, you can prevent this by hiring a reputable roof repair company.
5. Pushing for the sales
How about you find a contractor who is more enthusiastic about signing a contract than you’re? That’s a sign of something fishy. If you realize that the contractor is trying to push the sales, you must immediately back off.
The reason they insist on signing the contract as early as possible is it gets a lot tougher to get out of a legal contract and. Therefore, you won’t be able to say no to that contractor even if you find a roof repair service offering a much lower quote.
The only way to avoid this is to take a good amount of time to take your decision. Don’t sign the contract the very day you meet the roof repair contractor.
Look for other roof repair contractors in your area (You can use Same Day Pros to find trusted roof repair services in your locality), consult with them, look for reviews and references and then when you are very sure that he’s the right guy, get onto signing the contract.
6. Too good to be true quotes
If some contractor quoted you a price too good to be true, it is. Such contractors never fetch good reviews. They might save the money on material or labor and cost you much more than you can imagine. The roof might start deteriorating only after a few years or it might not be properly repaired.
You must always try to go with the middle quote after carefully trying to find an ideal roof repair company.
All of these are too common to be ignored. This can’t be considered a scam but in a way, it is. You end up with low-quality work and even more expenses than you initially expected.
