There’s a major issue in the roofing industry that I know my customers would be better off if they knew about before they had their roof replaced.
Here’s the scenario I’m talking about you need to be aware of that comes up so often with a lot of these roofing projects. A customer gets a settlement from their insurance provider and the customer goes shopping for a new roof to try and find a good deal. The customer gets multiple bids to have their roof replaced. (Click here to see why that’s a bad idea: why getting 3 estimates is a bad idea)
After getting 3 estimates, one of the contractors came in with a low bid that can save the customer a significant amount of money. The customer signs the deal. After getting the shingles off of the roof. The roofer comes up with thousands more dollars of work that needs to be done.
Let’s assess the situation:
The customer has accepted the lowest bid. This usually means the lowest quality of shingles are being installed. The contractor has the customer backed into a corner. The old roof has been torn off and the home is now exposed to weather until the new roof is installed. The roofer says “Ma’am or Sir, we really need to do this extra work that we found now. It will add (However much more money the contractor wants) to your bill. The customer has to say yes. Their roof is torn off. They can’t leave their roof e posed mid project. Roofers are using this against people.
Let’s summarize the situation:
- The customer is now getting a lower quality roof.
- The customer is now getting the most expensive price.
- Up Armor Roofing misses out on the business even though the price was better and the quality was higher.
- The customer wishes they had used a trustworthy roofer that stays true to their estimate.
Now, it is true that there are things a roofer can’t know until the shingles come off (such as rotten decking). I agree there, but a reasonable amount should be planned for by a good responsible roofer.
If it’s an insurance job, your roofer should be working with your provider to get the provider to cover the damages and not causing extra out of pocket costs for the customer.
This is how Up Armor Roofing handles this scenario: First of all we do take pride in charging our estimated price to the penny. We just finished a 148K job in Broken Arrow that had several extra costs we discovered that were unforeseeable before the project started. Up Armor Roofing ate those costs and we charged the customer exactly the estimated amount to the penny.
Secondly, we plan for incidentals and price our projects accordingly. This is the right thing to do. It all goes back to treating others how you want to be treated as Jesus said in Matthew 7:12.
Thirdly, when we do have to charge more because some unforeseeable & extraordinary repair becomes necessary during the project, Up Armor Roofing doesn’t make an extra dime from these extras. We charge exactly what our material and labor expense are and Up Armor covers the overhead expense. We stand by that promise and our customers can confirm this.
I’m telling you what my customers have told me. With that, know that I’m really just trying to help customers cover their 6. There are good roofers out there. Be sure you use one of the good ones and ask the right questions on the front end whether it’s Up Armor or not.
I don’t think it would be wrong to mark up additional work the same as the original estimate, but I can’t do it in good conscience. My estimate is an extension of my word.
Choose a roofer you can trust.
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