Natural disasters like tornados, hurricanes and earthquakes can bring out the best in people, as strangers reach out to help others in need. Unfortunately, crises also bring out persons who choose to take advantage of the victims. Some of the most common “after-disaster” scams involve damage done to roofs, says Better Business Bureau of Southern Arizona.

Whether your roof got hit hard by a natural disaster or just needs to be replaced due to time, you need to take certain precautions when it comes to hiring a roofing contractor. In 2011, BBB received more than 3.3 million inquiries from consumers looking to find a roofer they could trust – making it the top inquired industry in the BBB system.

BBB offers the following tips to homeowners who suffer roof damage in the wake of a natural disaster:

Do your research. Check with your insurance company about policy coverage and specific filing requirements. Save all receipts if temporary roofing repairs are necessary.

Stay calm. Although you may be anxious to get things back to normal, avoid letting your emotions get the better of you. Don’t be pressured into making an immediate decision with a long-term impact.  Be pro-active in selecting a company and not re-active to sales solicitations.

Shop around. For major repairs, take time to shop around and get 3-4 estimates based on the same specifications and materials. Check out references that are at least one year-old, and verify that the contractor is required to be licensed and/or registered to do work in your area. Also, check with your local building inspector to see if a building permit is required.

Avoid high-pressure sales tactics. Be wary of door-to-door workers who claim to have left-over materials from a job “down the street” or who do not have a permanent place of business. If sales people go door-to-door, check to see if your community requires them to have solicitation permits.

Trust your gut. Be leery if a worker shows up on your doorstep to announce that your home is unsafe. If you are concerned about possible structural damage in your home, have an engineer, architect or building official inspect it. While most roofing contractors abide by the law, be careful allowing someone you do not know to inspect your roof. An unethical contractor may actually create damage to get work.

Get everything in writing. Require a written contract agreement with anyone you hire. Be sure their name, address, license number and phone number are included in the contract. Read and understand the contract in its entirety, don’t sign a blank contract, and make sure you get a copy of the signed contract at the time of signature.

Clearly written proposals that are detailed and broken down into separate line items are a good sign that the contractor is being thorough and has prepared an accurate estimate. The following is a partial list of items your estimate or proposal should include:

• The type of roof covering, manufacturer and color
• Materials to be included in the work, e.g., underlayment, ice dam protection membrane
• Scope of work to be done
• Removal or replacement of existing roof
• Flashing work, e.g., existing flashings to be replaced or re-used, adding new flashing, flashing metal type
• Ventilation work, e.g., adding new vents
• Who is responsible for repairing/replacing exterior landscape or interior finishes that are damaged during the course of the work? Make sure that it contains language addressing who is responsible for any damage that occurs as a result of the work. All items of concern and work to be done should be included in the contract.
• Installation method
• Approximate starting and completion dates
• Payment procedures
• Length of warranty and what is covered, e.g., workmanship, water leakage
• Who will haul away the old roofing materials and/or project waste (e.g. extra materials, packaging, etc.)? Is there extra charge for this service?

If one estimate seems much lower than the others and it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Many fly-by-night contractors’ below-cost bids seem attractive, but these contractors often are uninsured and perform substandard work or use substandard materials. Make sure to read the fine print. Some contracts use a clause where substantial cancellation fees or liquidation damages are required if the homeowner decides not to use the contractor after insurance approval of the claim. In some instances you may be required to pay the full agreed price if the homeowner cancels after the 3 day cancellation period. If an estimate or contract is confusing, ask the contractor to break it down into items/terms you can understand.

Disaster victims should never feel forced to make a hasty decision or to choose an unknown contractor. BBB has BBB Business Reviews on more than 67,000 roofing contractors, and they are available for free at www.tucson.bbb.org.

From time to time, here at Better Business Bureau of Southern Arizona, we like to share our insights into industries we that receive heavy activity with us. As the leader in advancing marketplace trust, we hope by providing our insights we can proactively deliver information many consumers seek from BBB.

In this post, BBB focuses on roofing contractors. As an industry, roofers were the second most inquired about industry in Southern Arizona in 2009; as consumers turned to BBB before deciding which roofing contractor they could trust their business to.

To find a reputable roofing contractor, BBB urges consumers to:

• Shop around. Obtain bids from several contractors. Keep specifications identical by getting the weight per square for composition shingles. This enables you to judge the quality of the materials – the heavier the weight per square, the higher the quality.
• Verify the business’ true identity. Get a business card and the physical location of the business. And beware “lookalike” businesses. New businesses may use a name similar to a well-established business in the area to take advantage of the reputation.
• Watch for scams. Beware of fly-by-night repair businesses soliciting work in unmarked trucks and requiring advance payment. And don’t succumb to high pressure techniques such as “the price is only good today.”
• Do your homework. Check contractors’ BBB Reliability Report free-of-charge by calling 800.729.9226 or starting with www.tucson.bbb.org. Ask the business for references of recent jobs they’ve completed in the area. Ask customers about their experience with the business, quality of work, time frame it took to be completed and overall satisfaction. Verify that the business has any and all required licensing. Ask for proof of both liabilit (more…)