How to Choose a Roofing Company

Before you hire one of the valley’s roofers, check the license, get more than one written estimate for the same work, and get a written contract before work starts. In Wisconsin, you must get a copy of it before work starts or you pay. That’s the advice of Minnesota’s Department of Labor and Industry (MN DLI) and Wisconsin’s consumer protection agency (DATCP).

Five steps, drawn from MN DLI and DATCP advice:

1. Check the license or certification.
2. Get more than one estimate, at your house.
3. Call references and check complaints.
4. Read the written contract before you sign.
5. Don’t pay all or most up front, and hold the final payment until the work is done.

What Should You Check Before You Hire a Roofer?

The license, the company’s history and how to reach it. MN DLI suggests you:

• Ask for the license number: Then check it online or call MN DLI at 651-284-5069 or 800-342-5354, which can also tell you about any disciplinary history. See how to check a roofer’s license.
• Ask for references: And how long the company has been in business.
• Ask for a real address: A Minnesota business address other than a post office box, and a local phone number.
• Check court records: Look up the contractor’s litigation history on the Minnesota state court system’s website.

In Wisconsin, ask about the company’s state certification. DATCP says a contractor doing roofing on a one- or two-family home who will get the building permits needs a Dwelling Contractor certification and a Dwelling Contractor Qualifier certification from DSPS. You can also ask any contractor for a certificate of insurance that names you as the certificate holder, so you’re told if the policy ends.

DATCP adds more checks. Its emergency repair advice says to ask whether the job will be subcontracted and who will actually do the work, since contractors must tell you about subcontractors. Call recent customers and ask whether the contractor showed up on time, cleaned up, honored its warranty and would be hired again. And ask DATCP’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, (800) 422-7128, and the Better Business Bureau whether complaints have been filed.

How Do You Get and Compare Roofing Estimates?

Get more than one, for the same job. Wisconsin DATCP says:

• Decide the job first: Know what you want done before contractors come out.
• Same work for all: Make sure every contractor bids on exactly the same work.
• At the house: Have the contractor see the job, not give a phone estimate.
• Low bids: Be wary of an extremely low estimate.

Which Roofing Contractors Should You Avoid?

MN DLI lists warning signs. Avoid contractors that:

• Arrive in an unmarked vehicle
• Ask you to sign an estimate or authorization before you’ve decided to hire them
• Will do the job at an unusually low price
• Offer to pay your deductible, or give discounts or rewards for hiring them
• Give only a post office box as their address
• Want full or substantial payment before work begins
• Won’t give a written estimate or contract
• Won’t give a license number issued by Minnesota
• Won’t give references
• Show up unsolicited
• Use high-pressure sales tactics

An estimate or authorization form can be a contract. MN DLI says you may be signing one without knowing it. If a contractor contacted you first, MN DLI says the contract must give you three business days to cancel. If your job includes gutters, soffit or fascia, MN DLI says the company needs a building contractor or remodeler license, not just a roofer license. After a storm, read what to do after hail or storm roof damage too.

What Should a Roofing Contract Include?

Every term of the job, in writing. MN DLI says a contract should include:

• The work: A detailed summary of what will be done.
• The materials: A description of them.
• The price: The total, or how it will be worked out.
• The payments: A schedule showing when each is due.
• The timeline: Dates, and exactly what happens if the contractor misses them.
• Changes: Every change made in a written change order that you sign.

Wisconsin’s home improvement rules (ATCP 110.05) require a written contract when you pay anything before the work is finished, or when the contractor came to you, by a visit, phone call, mail or a flyer left at your home. Any written contract you sign must meet these rules too. It must be signed by both of you, and you must get a copy before work starts or you pay anything. It must set out:

• The contractor’s name and address, and the salesperson’s
• The work, and the main products and materials, with their brand, type, grade, size or quantity
• The total price, including any finance charges, or for time-and-materials work, the hourly labor rate
• The dates work will start and finish
• Any warranty or guarantee
• Any mortgage or security interest taken on your home
• Any other documents that form part of the contract

What Does Wisconsin Law Say About Warranties and Permits?

You get every warranty in writing, and you’re told about permits before you sign. Wisconsin’s home improvement rules say:

• Warranties (ATCP 110.04): The contractor gives you a copy of every written warranty when you sign, and puts any spoken one in writing. A manufacturer’s product warranty can instead come when the product is installed, or at the end of the job if the contract says so. Each warranty the contractor gives must state its conditions, exclusions and limits, and how soon it will act on a valid claim.
• Permits (ATCP 110.03): The contractor tells you every permit the job needs before you sign, and doesn’t start until they’re issued. Where inspections are required, you get copies of the inspection certificates before the final payment.
• Materials (ATCP 110.023): The contractor can’t swap in other products or materials without your consent, in writing if a written contract is required or you signed one. A spoken OK is allowed only for a change that costs you nothing more and doesn’t lower the value, and the contractor must record it and report it to you before the final payment.
• Delays (ATCP 110.027): The contractor must tell you of a delay past a contract deadline, and with a written contract a new deadline counts only if you agree in writing. It isn’t responsible for delays it can show you caused, or that a destructive act of nature, such as a tornado, or civil disorder, such as a strike, caused.
• Canceling (ATCP 110.07): If you’ve paid and the contractor misses a deadline, doesn’t warn you of a delay, or doesn’t get your OK to a new deadline, you can cancel in writing. It must return money it hasn’t spent within 15 days of your demand.

How Should You Pay a Roofer?

Not all or most of it up front. MN DLI says to avoid contractors that want full or substantial payment before work begins. Wisconsin’s rules say any payment before the work is finished means the contract must be in writing. And Wisconsin DATCP says never to sign a completion certificate or make the final payment until you’re satisfied and all the work is done as agreed.

Ask for lien waivers. Wisconsin’s rules say the contractor must tell you in writing, before you sign, that you can ask for them. If you ask, it must give you lien waivers from every contractor, subcontractor and supplier at each payment. DATCP says this stops a supplier or subcontractor putting a lien on your home if the contractor doesn’t pay its bills, even when you’ve paid in full.

In Minnesota, ask which license your roofer holds. MN DLI’s Contractor Recovery Fund page says you can apply if the company held an active residential building contractor (BC) or remodeler (CR) license when you signed and when the work was done. It doesn’t name the roofer (RR) license, and MN DLI’s roofer license page asks RR companies for a $15,000 surety bond. If your roofer holds only an RR license, ask MN DLI at 651-284-5057 whether the fund would cover your job.

The fund can repay an out-of-pocket loss on an owner-occupied Minnesota home. MN DLI says that covers work the contractor didn’t finish, work so poor it must be redone, damage it caused, and fraud, deception, dishonesty or misuse of your money. You need a final, docketed court judgment against the contractor first, and must apply within two years of it. It pays no more than the judgment amount, and doesn’t pay attorney’s fees, or for things outside the house such as landscaping, fences or driveways. MN DLI says no more than $550,000 can be paid out for any one licensee.