How to Pick a Roofing Contractor

Replacing the roof on your home is an expensive investment. However, most roofs are under warranty for at least twenty years, so it is a good long-term investment to make. Not only is a faulty roof a deterrent for potential buyer down the road if you choose to sell your home, it also weakens the structural integrity of your home by letting in moisture which can lead to mold growth. Black mold can be the death of a home since it can make a home uninhabitable in addition to being extremely expensive to remove.

Since you have so much riding on replacing your roof, it's important that you do it right. A good place to start is with a few tips from the National Roofing Contractors Association. This is a leading voice and authority in the roofing and construction trade and professional contractors will usually hold some sort of membership in a professional organization. Before you even start getting bids on your job, you need to start by selecting which contractors you're going to allow to bid. A good way to start screening out the hundreds of roofing contractors that you will probably encounter is to only select contractors who have a permanent business address, a business telephone line, a tax ID number which allows them to operate legally and if it applies in your state, a business license.

The next easy step you can take is to get a list of references of former clients supplied by the business that you can call for a referral. Any business that cannot give you a ready list should be red flagged and you should not continue with them any further. Once you actually get a referral list, you need to take the extra step and call the clients on the list and ask them if they were happy with their roof and if they would use the roofing contractor again.

By now you should have narrowed down your long list of contractors to about half. This list will be whittled down even more by looking on your state's contractors' website to make sure the contractor you're interest in hiring for your job is current on their license and bond and doesn't have anything pending on their record that you need to be aware of.

Finally once you have narrowed down your list to a reasonable number, you want to get at least three written proposals that include a start date, a stop date, and a detailed outline that spells out how much money is being allotted for materials and how much money is being allotted for labor.  When you decide which contractor to ultimately hire, don't base your decision solely on the bid price since there are a variety of differences that can affect a bid price, including the quality of materials used and even the quality of workmanship. If you follow these tips, your big investment in your roof is sure to pay off and be a good long-term investment.