What to look for when choosing roofing contractor?

Roofing Contractors is such a broad term that covers every type of Roofing Contractor there is. Realizing that in Texas, anyone – literally anyone can be a Roofing Contractor since there is no mandatory licensing, often cited as a result of Texas being a Right to Work State, is often confusing for people and it is hard to determine what type of company or Roofing Contractors you are dealing with.

A good looking website doesn’t necessarily mean that they are a good company; however if they appear on the first page of Google organically – meaning they are not a sponsored site that has a paid a PPC campaign to be on the top or side of the page as a sponsored site, there is a very good chance that they are an established company / Roofing Contractor that has been around for a while and has a domain that is registered for some time, meaning they don’t plan on leaving. Whereas a new site by a Roofing Contractor that hasn’t been around for long and is only registered for a year, could be a Roofing Contractor that changes the name of their company at their convenience.

Often, the Residential Client may depend on The Better Business Bureau, Angie’s List, or one of many websites to find a referral for a Roofing Contractor, but sometimes, some of the referral sites also take payments for their referrals. For instance, Service Magic is one example; however, often these sites can only go off the information about a Roofing Contractor they receive, which may not differentiate a Residential Roofer who only installs Composition Shingles and a top rated Roofing Contractor / a commercial Roofing Contractor that installs and is credentialed as a certified applicator for all material types and manufacturers, commonly referred to as a Tier One Roofing Contractor.

Often, the Residential Client may depend on The Better Business Bureau, Angie’s List, or one of many websites to find a referral for a Roofing Contractor, but sometimes, some of the referral sites also take payments for their referrals. For instance, Service Magic is one example; however, often these sites can only go off the information about a Roofing Contractor they receive, which may not differentiate a Residential Roofer who only installs Composition Shingles and a top rated Roofing Contractor / a commercial Roofing Contractor that installs and is credentialed as a certified applicator for all material types and manufacturers, commonly referred to as a Tier One Roofing Contractor.

Houston’s Best Single Ply Roofing Contractors

The Tier System is to a Roofing Contractor what a FICA Score is to a common person in terms of their credentials and certified applicator status. The Tier Rating System was developed by Roofing Material Suppliers and Manufacturers. Typically, you have to earn your Tier Rating or buy an established company with a high Tier rating that has been in business for some time and established their credentials. What is the highest tier rating for roofing contractors? It is Tier One across the board with all major material suppliers.

Why all major roofing material suppliers? First of all, because they supply the majority of all the established materials for Roofing Contractors, different material suppliers have rights to distribute different product brands / lines. Here in Houston, the top Commercial Roofing Suppliers, who of course are also the top residential suppliers that supply the majority of the top Roofing Contractors, are:

HOUSTON’S TOP ROOFING MATERIAL SUPPLIERS:

• (1.)  ABC Roofing and Supply
• (2.)  Westend Roofing, Siding and Windows
• (3.)  RSG (Roofing Supply Group)
• (4.)  Specs Building Materials Company:
• (5.)  Southern Shingles

All of these suppliers will have certain Tier One Product lines they distribute and have exclusive rights to. For instance, out of the listed suppliers above, only #1 and #4 carry Carlisle-Syntec Single Ply products, and suppliers #2 and #3 carry all lines of Firestone; however no supplier in Houston carries all lines from both.  NOTE: not all product lines they carry are Tier One lines as there are too many materials that do not have a Tier One Status although they are still great materials that top Roofing Contractors use regularly with pride and assurance of quality.

Material suppliers rank their customers, Roofing Contractors, by a Tiered System. Any roofing contractor that has Tier One across the board with all the suppliers has earned that status over a period time, they have credentials from the Material Manufacturers as certified applicators and often have a good credit history that enables them (Roofing Contractors) to buy materials on credit and set up job accounts for jobs with coinciding payment terms, sometimes 60 days on Commercial Jobs requiring large material orders.

When it comes to residential, there is some governing and approvals from the shingle manufacturers and other residential roofing product lines for certifying a Roofing Contractor as a certified applicator. For example, any Roofing Contractor can buy GAF shingles; however, to provide a GAF System Plus Warranty, the Roofing Contractor must have a Certified Applicator Status.

Typically, a Roofing Contractor who has earned the credential of certified applicators by Firestone and Carlisle-Syntec, are usually considered Tier One Roofing Contractors across the board. The Tier system is a good way to separate the different levels of Roofing Contractors; however, a residential homeowner will not usually be able to find out the Tier Rating of the roofer. The more lines they have certified applicator status in and the industry associations that they are a member of, tell a lot about the type of Roofing Contractor. To sum up, it never hurts to do your research about any Roofing Contractor that you may be using before signing on the dotted line of a binding contract that is usually presented as a proposal by your Roofing Contractor. If you have any other questions about anything regarding roofing, feel free to contact your trusted Houston roofing company.