Roof Restoration legit or scam

[mickeyvee]

I was approached last weekend by a gentleman who owns a roofing & siding company. He markets it as a " Hail Restoration for roofing & siding". He said he will contact my home owner's insurance company directly and negotiate an acceptable price to have my roof "restored". The roof is 15 years old and I was considering having it replaced in the next 3-5 years anyway.

I have a few contentions:
1) What if the insurance agency will only reimburse 1/3 of the total cost? I'm not ready to commit to paying the remainder at this time. (of course, that is a contractual thing)
2) Does this really work? Is this legitimate...leveraging insurance $$ to "repair / replace" a roof?
3) Is this fraud?(am I naive?)

Thoughts and experiences??? Thanks!

[Christine_NM]

I have heard of roof maintenance but not covered by insurance unless there was extreme storm.

[Rich in Michigan]

Truthfully, I personally never do business with a contractor that approaches me. It's not that they are all fly by night guys but many are. The good guys are generally too busy to go door to door.

Not sure if this is legit or scam but what I would personally do is research the topic, then research contractors, then request bids from several.

[Bustoff]

Deleted

[Bustoff]

My HO wont pay to replace my roof simply because it's old and worn out. If a storm caused damage to my roof, they will pay for the damaged portion.

We recently experienced high winds blowing off some shingles on my 15 year old roof. The HO will only pay for the damaged slope. I tried to convince them to pay for the entire roof by arguing that the replacement shingles would not match the remaining ones.
I lost that argument.

[jfn111]

State laws differ on the requirements for matching. I know in MN the insurance companies will usually pay to replace the whole roof and or siding, due to storm damage.

[Ron]

We had a hailstorm three years ago which resulted in a lot of door-to-door roofers more than willing to negoiate all the necessary claims with each insurance company and wave the deductable.

I also thought it was a scam; however they went on the roof to photograph many "dimples" that I could not see from the ground. They submitted the photos to my insurance adjuster who came on site to document that the photos did represent the roof in question as she did go on the roof to see the damage. As it turned out, the roofing company was well known to my adjuster and she had been working with them for a few years and reported that it was no scam at all. They did quality work and had no "bad marks" against them that was reported to the insurance company that their work was less than expected.

The roof was an original from when the house was built, and had 20-year shingles (I didn't get the 30-40 year shingles in the first place since my builder was overcharging, IMHO). The replacement shingles were 30-year with no adjustment from the original quality shingles.

In this case, it worked out well. I was expecting to replace the shingles before the 20-year original expected life around the 18-year mark (better safe than sorry). I did pay an extra $300, but that was to upgrade the roof cap ( http://www.gaf.com/Roofing/Residential/ ... y_Advanced ) and an upgraded underlayment ( http://www.gaf.com/Roofing/Residential/ ... Deck_Armor ).

FWIW,

- Ron

[steelhorse]

My first thought would be Scam. Is he licensed? Dose he have references? What does he mean by "restored"? Is he going to patch it? Is he going to spray some type of coating on it? If your overall roof is in bad shape you need a new roof.
If it's been damaged from hail and you want to make a claim on your homeowners, call your company and talk to them.

[Nestegg_User]

I would probably NOT ever do business with door-to-door solicitors...

Extreme due-diligence is needed...
a few years ago (and unfortunately, currently)--in our area-- there had been high sheer winds and tornadoes... and every roofer within hundreds of miles converged, including the far less savory ones. The worst literally MANUFACTURED damage that looked like wind damage... and the insurance inspectors could tell. A few were even on the roofs without the owners permission-- so be careful.
I used a local, VERY WELL RESPECTED roofer... that I knew was fully covered and used his own workers. Only after some time did he even have any of his workers canvas areas for additional work... they were too busy earlier, so there can be good ones out there. But there were easily 10x or 20x more that I wouldn't touch.
Also note that every claim/request will have an impact on your CLUE score, wich may have an impact on how they will respond. For us, when I was with the insurance adjuster I looked and saw a "NP" on the corner of the folder and casually asked him what it was... he noted it meant "No Priors" ( over the previous decades !). I believe that is part of the reason they replaced the full roof and not try to only replace partial. (We upgraded roof to 35 yr, arch variety, which also mixed better in the neighborhood which NOW have a lot of replaced roofs.)

[likegarden]

On our previous house we had once a roofer come by telling us that our roof needs replacement, though we had it just replaced.
On our present house, 3 years ago, a wind blew off part of ridge vent. I had it replaced on both roof parts, also upgraded to larger openings to get more cooling. I never thought about contacting my insurance company, my fault.

[SimonJester]

So what happens two months down the road or two years years even after the job is finished. How do you get in touch with this company? What warranty do they provide on the workmanship? What sort of references can they provide? Are they going to sub contract this job out or do they use their own employees? These are all questions you need to ask.

When I replaced my roof due to hail damage a few years ago I got four quotes from reputable companies that have been around for a long time. The company I went with provided a 15 year workmanship guarantee on top of the shingle warranty. They had been in business for 30 + years, with good reputation. They used their own employees vs sub contracting the job out. Their quote was not the lowest quote however, nor was it the highest.


For hail damage insurance will pay for the repair or replacement of the roof minus your deductible. And you will have a claim against your clue report.

[investor1]

Was there a bad hail storm? Is the roof actually damaged by hail? I would imagine your home owner's insurance would only cover the cost of repairing the damaged portion rather than the entire roof.

If you don't have the money to replace the roof, don't do it now. If the hail damage is old, the insurance company might not cover it now. If they do, they'll cover it in a few years when you have the money to replace the roof.

I would ignore the door to door salesman. When you want to replace the roof, find your own roofer.

[placeholder]

Any roofing company will come out and examine your roof then let you know if there's recent storm damage.

[jasper]

my experience was similar to ron's, and in colorado we get lots of hailstorms ( so not hard to find some hail damage on older roofs)

We had a hailstorm three years ago which resulted in a lot of door-to-door roofers more than willing to negoiate all the necessary claims with each insurance company and wave the deductable.

I also thought it was a scam; however they went on the roof to photograph many "dimples" that I could not see from the ground. They submitted the photos to my insurance adjuster who came on site to document that the photos did represent the roof in question as she did go on the roof to see the damage. As it turned out, the roofing company was well known to my adjuster and she had been working with them for a few years and reported that it was no scam at all. They did quality work and had no "bad marks" against them that was reported to the insurance company that their work was less than expected.

the roofer did several homes in our neighborhood, and i did due diligence on the roofer. everything checked out with the roofer, and the insurance company was agreeable

i knew my roof was reaching the point of needing replacement (old age, not hail damage - i got up there with the roofer and the hail damage seemed pretty minimal, but what do i know) and was in the pre-comtemplative stages of getting it fixed.

this pushed me over the edge and i pulled the trigger on a new roof. cost us nothing, insurance rates did not change, have been very happy with the work done

still seems dirty in some unspecified way, but apparently legit

[August]

Many large roofing companies will "chase storms" and show up in areas damaged by large wind or hail storms. Most of them are licensed and many do decent work, but you still want to do your own background research. Though you'll want to be aware that these contractors will leave when the work dries up so if you have an issue 1 or 3 years down the road, they may or may not be available to fix the problem.

Also be aware that many of these contractors will examine a roof and say it's damaged even if it is not. They prefer to let the insurance adjusters be the "bad guy" and make the call as to whether the roof is damaged or not. This is due to the numbers since if say 1 out of 10 roofs that they inspect get covered by the insurance company, then they have made a profit.

The contractor waiving the insurance deductible is technically insurance fraud. It is widely done however and I've never seen anyone punished for it, just something to be aware of.

It is not uncommon for contractors to take the lead in dealing with your insurance company directly and will negotiate a price with them. If you are comfortable with this, it would not be a red flag for me.

Full disclosure: I work as a catastrophe (storm claim) adjuster for a large insurance company and work with many of these types of contractors on a daily basis.

[HardKnocker]

Interesting.

I'm surprised the insurance company replaced the roof at no cost. A 15 year old roof is 1/2 to 2/3 gone as far as life expectancy.

I would expect them to pro-rate the replacement cost with you. After all you would need a new roof after so many years anyway.

Is the insurance agent in cahoots with the contractor on these deals?

[derosa]

What is so wrong with someone out marketing for business? Even the poster above said his roofer who was very well respected had his guys out knocking on doors?

Not sure what 'restoration' is? Either you get a new roof or you don't. there is no magic sauce to spread on an old rood to 'restore' it.

No matter what the roofer says -- Its what the insurance adjuster says after they have been on the roof and taken pictures, etc - that determines what the insurance company does or doesn't do. No roofing company makes anyone replace a roof.

Here's the thing about hail. It just doesn't hit one house in a neighborhood does it. It hits them all or virtually all. So if your neighbors are getting theirs replaced there must me some reason, right? We had a hail storm 5 years ago. I would estimate that 80% of the houses in the neighborhood got new a new roof from that storm.

[Easy Rhino]

I also wonder what the heck restoration is. A new set of shingles on top of the old set? last time I was shopping a roof around here the word was that was okay, but only for a second layer on top of an original layer, after that it needs to be torn down and rebuilt.

[Saving$]

It sounds like a scam, but I will give you a few data points.

In 1994, shortly after buying a house and when I knew much less than I know now, a roofer who is very well respected in the area inspected the roof. He declared that the entire roof needed replacement. Two weeks later, another roofer reroofed a valley for $200. I still own the house, and the balance of the roof and the reroofed valley have served me well for the last 20 years, although it is about time to reroof that one. It did not need a new roof, and the respected roofer was trying to scam me.

Another house with a roof installed in 1996 had some loose shingles. In 2010, for about $500, a small roofer replaced the loose shingles, checked all the shingles, renailed a few shingles, and replaced all the plastic vent boots. That roof is still fine. Neighbors, whose roofs were installed at the same time in 1996 have had replacements entirely paid by insurance companies due to hail damage. I had the hail also, but whatever damage it did does not seem to have affected the roofs ability to keep things dry.

Two months ago, a roofer stopped by a friends house to tell them they were in the area giving free quotes due to all the hail damage. They got a quote to remove and replace their 14 year old roof, and got worried. I advised them to call three other roofers. Two of them were happy to give quotes on complete remove and replace; the third told them there was nothing wrong with the roof, fastened a few loose shingles when he was up there, and told them to call him back in 6-8 years when the roof wears out. This is the roofer I am going to hire the next time I need roof work.

I have never heard of roof "restoration." Maybe it involves replacing the plastic vent boots and renailing loose shingles. Maybe it is a scam.

[placeholder]

I would expect them to pro-rate the replacement cost with you. After all you would need a new roof after so many years anyway.

Not if you have replacement cost coverage.

Is the insurance agent in cahoots with the contractor on these deals?

What would the agent have to do with it?

[stemikger]

Truthfully, I personally never do business with a contractor that approaches me. It's not that they are all fly by night guys but many are. The good guys are generally too busy to go door to door.

Not sure if this is legit or scam but what I would personally do is research the topic, then research contractors, then request bids from several.

+1

I agree. In my area a good contractor is way to busy to look for business. I always had to wait to get a job done by someone who is qualified and has a good reputation. I'm not saying this could not be legit but I would wonder why he needs to solicit business door-to-door.

[smackboy1]

I was approached last weekend by a gentleman who owns a roofing & siding company. He markets it as a " Hail Restoration for roofing & siding". He said he will contact my home owner's insurance company directly and negotiate an acceptable price to have my roof "restored". The roof is 15 years old and I was considering having it replaced in the next 3-5 years anyway.

I have a few contentions:. . .

3) Is this fraud?(am I naive?)

He may or may not be legit. But you can protect yourself from 99.99% of any contractor scams by following this procedure:

1) Get a 2nd opinion from a legit contractor
2) Obtain at least 3 competitive bids from legit contractors
3) Do not automatically choose the lowest bid (or highest bid for that matter)
4) Have a written contract w/ warranties spelled out
5) Stage payments so you do not get screwed if the contractor walks out mid job

What is a legit contractor? At minimum they can provide:

- Proof of state license (and bonding if required)
- Certificate of general liability and workers comp insurance (provided directly from their insurance agent to you)
- References

[MrManlyMister]

I was approached last weekend by a gentleman who owns a roofing & siding company. He markets it as a " Hail Restoration for roofing & siding". He said he will contact my home owner's insurance company directly and negotiate an acceptable price to have my roof "restored". The roof is 15 years old and I was considering having it replaced in the next 3-5 years anyway.

I have a few contentions:
1) What if the insurance agency will only reimburse 1/3 of the total cost? I'm not ready to commit to paying the remainder at this time. (of course, that is a contractual thing)
2) Does this really work? Is this legitimate...leveraging insurance $$ to "repair / replace" a roof?
3) Is this fraud?(am I naive?)

Never, ever let an unsolicited contractor talk with your insurance company on your behalf. Perhaps your homeowners insurance policy is unique, but I haven't seen one that covers worn out roofs.

To answer your contentions:
1) You get to decide what a new roof is worth to you.
2) This is not legitimate. It's not "leveraging" it's more like "lying".
3) If this "contractor" is going to claim that hail damage occurred and it didn't, it could easily be insurance fraud.
3b) It does indeed sound like you are naive. Or perhaps "greedy"?

Why don't you talk to your insurance agent yourself and explain the whole deal? If it's legitimate, then you might as well be transparent about the plan, right?

If you balk at talking to your agent about this, then that tells me you know the truth about what's going on here.