Roofing is quite an important part of any building project.
Whether you want your new house roofed or the leaky roof of your old house repaired or entirely replaced, you want a proficient contractor who can at least assure you of durability.
If not, you’re likely going to have to cough out huge sums sooner than you expect for a repeat of the same project.
If you stay in or around Portland, finding Portland roofing contractors to repair or replace your roof isn’t hard.
This is because there are so many of them in Portland to choose from. The real dilemma is choosing the one who actually knows the work and will deliver in a timely manner.
Here are a few ways through which you can ensure you make the right choice.
Experience
A contractor with enough experience should be able to do a good work. How long is enough experience? T
his depends, but anything from four full-time years of consistent work over the last ten years will do.
The four years don’t have to be successive, but the contractor needs to have worked with little or no supervision in those years.
The reason is that anyone who has worked for this number of years must have installed and repaired many roofs including those that are similar to your own project or exactly the same.
How do you find out if they are actually honest about the amount of experience they possess?
Ask for examples of jobs that have been completed by him or her. Getting enough references and possibly reviews will go a long way in establishing the level of experience acquired.
Licensing and Certification
Closely tied to experience is licensing and certification. Before a contractor is licensed and/or certified, s/he must have demonstrated considerable experience and knowledge of the roofing industry, and adherence to established best practices.
Portland roofing contractors must be licensed by the Oregon Construction Contractors Board (CCB).
Ask for evidence of this license before contracting your work to anyone. When in doubt, verify here on the CCB website.
Ask Your Local Friends and Neighbors
Testimonials and recommendations mean that the contractor delivers on his or her word.
Every roofing company often has some testimonials by previous customers on their website.
This is a marketing strategy, though, and you may not want to believe everything you read.
A more reliable option is to check for reviews on independent sites like Google reviews.
Ask your local friends and relatives about those who handled their roofing projects. Perhaps you know a neighbor who recently had their house reroofed.
Find out how satisfied they are with the work. If they are satisfied and can recommend the contractor, then your search may just have come to an end.
You can also ask the contractor for the contact details of some of their recent customers.
If they are sure of their work, giving you the details won’t be a problem. Reach out to those customers and know what has been the condition of their roofs after the contractor worked on it.
Besides asking about the overall quality of the workmanship, find out other details like the cost and turn-around time.
This might help when making your final decision.
Make a Shortlist of Possible Candidates
It’s unlikely that all your friends will recommend the same person.
Their tastes differ, and where cost is the main concern for one, experience might be another’s major priority.
You need to find out why each friend or neighbor recommends a particular person.
Using the information you’ve gathered, you can then draw up a list of possible candidates to choose from.
Weighing up each person’s strong points against the others’ will help you reach a tradeoff between the different qualities you require.
The individual that has the right mix of these qualities is the best choice.
Verify the Contractor’s Reputation
Beyond asking your friends and neighbors their opinion or recommendations, you can also verify a company’s reputation by checking their ratings on independent rating sites like the Better Business Bureau (BBB) website: https://www.bbb.org/.
Roofing is among the most popular business categories on the BBB website, so verifying one on the site will be quite easy.
You will also find free reviews from past customers.
Conclusion
Do not let a contractor who doesn’t exist on the BBB site (or other rating sites), or exists but has a poor score, work on your roof.
Some certifying bodies may require a contractor to maintain a fairly good rating on BBB.org in order to retain their certification.
With the few tips we’ve provided above, you should be able to find someone who can take care of your all your roofing projects.
