Spring 2011 Hail: We Are Not Hiring !!

Hail has pounded much of the Northern End of the Greater Dallas Area. Prosper, Coppell, and countless other areas. If you want a job in roofing, now is the time! I am reasonably plugged into social media. On twitter there are Tweets about sales positions and crews all over the place. In fact one of our best Project Managers was recently offered a new truck to jump ship to one of my competitors. He stayed put.

Despite a large influx of work, we will not be hiring. Even though a few added bodies would certainly increase our bottom line we will fight the temptation. There is just not time to properly train and supervise new estimators and crews during a hail event. Roofing has takes experience and on the job training. You don't just throw a newbie into the middle of things during a hail storm. The will lack technical roofing knowledge and practical skills to make sure an adjuster writes up a claim properly.

You obviously don't want a newbie taking care of you roof, but how can you spot one?

• Real roofers don't drive cars. They drive trucks. 
• Ask questions...the rookie will only have a memorized pitch, not a deep working knowledge. 
• Did they get up on your roof? No is not the good answer.
• Did the offer an estimate to you? Many are quick to want nothing more than to see the insurance papers.
• Did they knock on your door? Good roofing companies have more than they can handle right now. It is a new guy that has the time to go door to door.
• Is their sales pitch more about how much of your deductible they can save you (an unethical and likely illegal act which is a future blog post) or the quality of the job and how qualified they are?
• Do they have Texas plates on their truck? If they are out of State, the are at a minimum new to our area.
• Go to Craigs list - find out who is hiring. 

If you want a roofing career Bert Roofing Inc. might be for you. Just not right now.

Atlas Roofing Products Raise Warranties

Atlas follows the lead of GAF and changes warranties.

Shingle Warranty Wars..Again

January 1 2010 GAF announced that 30 and 40 year products would now carry a (Limited) Lifetime warranty similar to other high end shingle product. With little surprise, Owens Corning and Tamko have matched this with other likely to follow.

Few of these Lifetime products will last beyond 25 years and many far less in the heat of North Texas. While there is value conveyed to the property owner. They need to understand the limits of these warranties.

All Lifetime shingle warranties are of very limited value. After 10 years, these Lifetime shingle warranties cover only the shingle (which can be less than half the job cost) and do so on a prorated basis (50 years). For example, if a roof installed today were to wear out in 20 years, then a Lifetime warranty would only cover around 30% of the replacement cost of the roof (30yr / 50yr times 50% of replacement cost).

To make that Lifetime warranty truly meaningful, a homeowner should strongly consider upgrading to a manufacturers enhanced system warranty. The manufacturer requires the contractor who installs the shingle to use premium accessories and special application methods. When done, these enhanced warranties cover the full replacement of the roof, not just the shingles. Following the example above, the warranty would cover 100% of the job not 30%. Only a shingle manufacturers Certified and / or Preferred Contractors may offer these warranties.

Bert Roofing Inc. is a Certified and / or Preferred Contractor for GAF, Owens Corning, and CertainTeed. We offer a full line of enhanced warranties. Visit us at our website BertRoofing. com