How To Choose Roofing Contractor For
Commercial Or Residential Buildings?

Importance of commercial roofing contractors: With the passage of time buildings age and problems tend to show up in various parts of the building. Of these, the decidedly most important factor in maintaining the roof. Roof maintenance is ignored by most people, but roofs can cause the most damage to the commercial building owners. Roofs can begin to leak and can cause major damage to any equipment, goods inventory kept inside the building.

Who are commercial roofing contractors?

A professional commercial roofing contractor is a roofing contractor who usually provides a variety of roofing choices for commercial buildings but specialized contractors in different areas of roofing are also available. They are available for repairing roofs of commercial buildings.

Tips to choose commercial roofing contractors

• Make sure that the commercial roofing contractor has a valid license and operates legitimately. This can be done by requesting and then verifying their regional and state licenses, the permanent address of the company and a valid and fair warrant program. Any other claims may be illegitimate and fraudulent.
• Ask for a written proposal of their work and plans for your contract. Any legitimate roofing contractor would gladly provide a portfolio of his previous work.
• Most of the commercial roofing contractor has websites with customer reviews that may give an insight into the quality of the work the contractor does. This also tells you about the professionalism of the company the behaviour it does with its clientele and the price estimates for their work.

Importance of residential roofing contractors:

Before replacing a roof on your house, the most important thing to do is to choose the best possible roofing contractor, who will give you quality products to prevent future leaks and have a long- lasting life.

Who are residential roofing contractors?

Residential roofing contractors are roofing contractors who can be employed for roof repair for residences and basically any type of roof.

Tips to choose residential roofing contractors:

The most important tips to follow while hiring a residential roofing contractor are:

• Arrange a personal meeting with the residential roofing contractor and ask them whether they give free estimates. Also, inquire for referrals and their website details. All this information is crucial because roofing is a serious investment and involves spending a quite large amount of money, so you should be seeking a professional roofing contractor.
• Inquire about the time period they have been in the business and their market reputation. There can be an instance where you hire a residential roofing contractor with less experience and no known reputation, then that contractor may be out of business by the time your roof begins to have problems. According to a recent survey, an average new starting roofing contractor may go out of business within a time period of 3 to 4 years. That is why in general; new entries to roofing contractors are not usually to be trusted with your family’s safety.
• Make sure that the contractor you hire has valid documents for operational purposes. He must also be in possession of a valid license for working in that specific state or region. This information can be easily verified from the State Licensing Board.
• If the contractor is valid and has a good reputation and you decide to employ them, it is crucial to get the details of their contract proposals and including the amount that will be required for you to pay them for repairing your roof repair and document them in legal terms. This will serve as a valid proof in later time if the contractor decides to make falsified claims about what he has done and what he is owed.
• Inquire into whether the contractor deals work to other contractors. If this is so then you should look for other contractors. This is because contractors who assign work to other contractors pay these subcontractors very less money compared to the amount of work they do and this leads to poor quality of work by them as they wish to finish their work faster and move on to newer projects to earn more projects and more revenue.
• The new products that will be installed by the contractor should be certified by a certified installer and make sure that the contractor provides emergency repair services, should you require it.
• Contact previous customers of the contractor and contact them inquiring about the quality of services rendered by them and the conditions of the roof installed. A lot of information about the quality of work done by the contractor and the amount charged for the work done and the behavior of the contractor if they raised any complaints against their work quality or suitability. Also, information about their working methods and workmen can be gathered.
• Verify whether the residential roofing contractor has a permanent address registered for his firm and a valid email address and phone number. Also, check whether they are registered with workplace safety and insurance companies.

Differences between commercial and residential roofing contractors:

• Even though commercial and residential buildings can use the same roofing materials in theory, in practice some materials are considered better for usage in commercial buildings when compared to residential buildings. Largely, the type of material used for roofing of buildings is largely dependent on the function of the building.
• Flat roofs are generally better for commercial buildings while shingles are better for residential buildings. Flat roofing’s include chimneys, pipes, HVAC systems and other systems that need outlets on the roof. However, small businesses may not try and install flat roofs since they cost a big amount of money.
• Commercial roofing companies more often than not sign contracts with unions, for whom they are obligated to work. In such cases, they are restricted from accepting any non-union based roofing contracts. Also, companies who are not union obligated, can be specialized only in commercial roofing and not be suited for the smaller jobs of residential roofing. Residential roofing contractors in general run smaller businesses and in many cases, it is a one man job, wherein the contractor you speak to regarding all matters is the one who does the roofing.
• The insurance liability of commercial roofing companies is more expensive and is associated with larger amounts of money who makes it not cost-effective to hire commercial roofing contractors for residential roofing jobs.