When you’re in the market for a residential roofing company, it might seem as though finding one would be a breeze.
There are, after all, more than 100,000 roofing contractors operating all across the country right now. So surely, you can find one roofing contractor that you can trust in your general area, right?
Right! But that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s going to be easy. With so many residential roofing companies throughout the U.S., narrowing down your search to just one in your city or town can be a huge challenge.
Fortunately, there are some pretty simple steps that you can take to conduct a successful search for a local contractor. As long as you take the right approach to do it, you shouldn’t have too much trouble tracking down a roofing contractor to supply you with affordable roofing services.
Here is how to choose a residential roofing company you can trust from start to finish.
Begin by Listing the Roofing Contractors That Operate in Your Area
As we mentioned a few moments ago, there are tens of thousands of roofing contractors working on residential roofs all across the U.S. right now. This likely includes at least a couple dozen roofers in your area.
To kick things off, you should Google the words “residential roofing company near me” and see which names pop up. You should create a long list of these names and put as many names on it as you can.
The more options that you have as far as roofing contractors are concerned, the better. It’s going to take you some time to sift through all of them. But you’ll put yourself into a great position when you have lots of options available to you.
The last thing you want to do is limit yourself to only the first one or two roofing contractors that you can find. It’ll make it very difficult for you to locate a local contractor that you know you can trust.
Check Out the Websites for Each Roofing Contractor on Your List
Once you have a long list of roofing contractors put together, the next thing you’ll want to do is visit the websites for each of them. You’ll be able to use their websites to learn so much about them.
When you arrive at the website of a roofing contractor, poke around on it and visit all the individual pages set up on the site. By doing this, you’ll be able to find out:
- How long a residential roofing company has been in business
- Which roofing services a roofing contractor can provide
- Which types of roofs a roofing contractor specialize in installing
- What those in your community think about a roofing contractor
- How much a roofing contractor charges for roofs
- And so much more
You’ll be amazed by what you can discover about a roofing contractor by visiting a website like https://prr247.com/. It’ll let you know whether or not it’s worth exploring even more about a local contractor.
Read Through Online Reviews for Different Roofing Contractors
We just alluded to the fact that you can usually get some sense of what the people in your community think about a residential roofing company by visiting their website. Companies will often include testimonials on their sites from some of their past clients.
But why stop there? In this day and age, there’s a good chance that you don’t buy anything without reading online reviews about it first. So, why should your roof be any different?
You should head back over to Google to track down a bunch of online reviews for each roofing contractor on your master list. You can see what other people have had to say about them over time by looking at their reviews on sites like Yelp, Facebook, and more.
Try to read through both positive and negative reviews for the different roofing contractors you’re considering. It should give you a great overview of what contractors are going to bring to the table if and when you hire them.
See Which Roofing Contractors Your Family Members and Friends Would Recommend
Do you happen to have some family members and friends that have had new roofs put on top of their homes in recent years? They would be an excellent resource for you during your roofing contractor search!
Don’t be afraid to give these people a call and ask them about their experiences with different contractors. With any luck, you might hear them name the same one or two roofing contractors over and over again. It’ll indicate to you that you need to take a closer look at them.
Your family members and friends might also be able to steer you away from any roofing contractors that they didn’t like. This will make it so much easier for you to whittle away at your list of residential roofing companies.
You might even want to put out an open call for roofing contractor suggestions on your social media accounts. It’ll help you cast a much wider net, and you might be surprised to see what a great response that a single question about local roofing contractors gets.
Set Up Phone or In-Person Interviews With Individual Roofing Contractors
At the end of the day, you can spend hours and potentially even days researching different roofing contractors online and feel like you know them up and down. But how much are you really going to be able to find out about them without actually speaking with them either on the phone or in-person?
With this in mind, you should try to arrange to talk to as many of the roofing contractors left on your list once you get to this point. You should have some idea of which roofing contractors are worth your time and which aren’t, and you should make it a point to talk to those that you think could have something to offer to you.
Contact each individual roofing contractor on your list and see if they would be available to speak to you for 15 minutes or so. Those contractors that are interested in acquiring your business won’t have any problem setting aside time to talk.
Once you get them on the phone or meet up with them in-person, you should run through a series of questions with them to find out everything you need to know. Some good questions to ask would be:
- How long has your residential roofing company been around?
- What sets your company apart from all the rest?
- Do you always stand behind the work that you do?
- Will you be able to work with the budget that I have in place?
- Why should I bring you onboard to install a new roof for me?
Ask as many questions as you need to in order to gauge whether you like a roofing contractor or not. You’ll be able to build up some sense of trust with each contractor with every passing question.
Make Sure the Roofing Contractors You Like Most Are Licensed and Insured
All of the questions that we just threw out there for you to ask roofing contractors are important. But there is one question that is more important than all the rest.
That question is: Are you licensed and insured? It’s a question that you’re 100% going to need to ask any residential roofing company before working with them.
There is no way—absolutely no way!—that you should agree to work with a roofing contractor if they aren’t licensed and insured. You’re not going to be able to trust a roofing contractor that doesn’t have a license number and proof of insurance to show you.
By obtaining a business license, a roofing contractor will show you that they’ve gone through the right steps when it comes to establishing their residential roofing company. You’ll be able to rest assured knowing that they have the proper training under their belts and know what they’re doing.
By obtaining business insurance, meanwhile, a roofing contractor will show you that they’re covering all their bases with regards to your safety and security. You won’t have to worry about footing the bill if someone gets hurt during a roofing job or if something gets damaged during it.
We really can’t stress the importance of a business license and business insurance enough. You’re going to be putting yourself, your home, and others at risk if you work with a local contractor that is unlicensed, uninsured or both.
Attempt to Obtain Free Quotes From Your Favorite Roofing Contractors
Outside of answering a million and one questions from you, great roofing contractors should also be ready, willing, and able to provide you with a free quote if you want one. This should come with the territory for residential roofing companies.
Prior to providing you with a free quote, a roofing contractor will visit your home and check out the condition of your current roof. They’ll also take measurements of your roof and listen to you as you talk about what kind of roof you want.
Once all of that is done, a local contractor will crunch the numbers to calculate what a roof is going to cost you. It’ll help you decide if their prices are good enough for your specific budget.
It’s almost always advisable for you to get at least three or four budgets if you can before agreeing to work with a residential roofing company. By getting this many quotes, you’ll be able to get access to the best possible deal on a new roof for your home.
See How Soon Some of Your Preferred Roofing Contractors Could Potentially Get Started
There is one problem that’s going to come along with hiring the best residential roofing company in the business. There is a decent chance that they’re going to have a long list of people waiting for them to provide them with their services.
If you don’t have any issues waiting for a little while to get a new roof, you’re more than welcome to schedule roofing services a few weeks or even a few months out. There is nothing wrong with taking this approach to getting a new roof.
But if you need to have a new roof installed in a hurry, you might need to talk to different roofing contractors about how fast they can offer their services to you. You might need to pass on working with a residential roofing company if they’re all booked up for the foreseeable future.
Hire the Local Contractor That You Trust the Most at the End of Everything
After you’ve worked your way through all the other steps that we’ve discussed here, there should be one residential roofing company that stands tall above all the rest. They should have everything from experience to great prices to offer to you.
You’ll want to touch base with them and let them know that you’re interested in working with them over all your other options. They should be excited to get started and interested in listening to what you have to say about what you want your new roof to look like.
Getting to this point might take some time, but you’ll feel good knowing that you can trust the residential roofing company that you’ve chosen. It’ll get your roofing experience off to a strong start and instill confidence in your roofing contractor that you might not have otherwise.
Which Residential Roofing Company Are You Going to Work With?
Now that you know how to select a residential roofing company that you can trust, get out there and start working on doing it. Over the course of the next week or two, you should be able to carry out a search for a great roofing contractor and hire the right company for the job.
Make sure you don’t skip any steps along the way. It’ll ensure that you end up with the right local contractor for your project when you’re all finished.
Read the rest of our blog for more informative roofing articles.
