Don't Fix Your Damaged Roof?
Why in the world would a Frisco roofing contractor tell you not to replace your damaged roof? Texas year after year leads the United States in the number of damaging hailstorms we have. On February 22 of this year, we had a major hailstorm that affected roughly 150,000 homes in the Dallas, TX region. A good portion of these homes being in the Frisco area. The next morning there were hundreds of trucks in Frisco, TX that were either responding to appointments or going door to door. A good portion of these were trusted Frisco roofing contractors and another good portion were people that drove in early that morning from neighboring states or cities to try and drum up business. Hail Season Early This storm that was towards end of February wasn’t even in the peak hail season in Frisco, TX. Generally, Frisco, TX sees most hailstorms from March to May. A very large amount of these homes in Frisco filed claims within a day or two and many of these homes even had their roofs replaced in the next few weeks. Frisco Roofing Contractor - What to Do? We had several appointments following this storm with a large amount referred from local insurance agents. Several of the homes had blown off shingles or possible leak issues from the storm. We repaired several small things for the homeowners with all of it being minor enough for no charge needed for the homeowner. We recommend to all the homeowners that they put off their roof replacement until June because the risk of hail events that will be to come more than likely. Obviously, there will be circumstance where you couldn’t wait for the Frisco roofing contractor to replace your roof from the hail event, such as selling your home. Big Storms Three weeks later a smaller hailstorm on Mar 14 hit the Dallas, TX region affecting roughly 65,000 homes. This storm wasn’t as bad as the previous storm but part of it hit Frisco, TX and hitting some of the same homes that were replaced the previous week or two. A week after the second storm on Mar 21 there was another storm that affected roughly 120,000 homes in the Dallas, TX area. Although this storm didn’t really hit the same area as the other two it still had all the potential to. These two pictures from hailpoint.com are from the February 22 storm and the March 14 storm. Although not as severe as the first one they both hit same parts of Frisco. More to Come Tomorrow night we have another spring storm that has risk of hail, high winds, and tornados. I encourage any homeowners that have a Frisco home that is hit by a major storm to have it inspected immediately but don’t replace your roof until June. You don’t want to have to pay two separate deductibles in the same year and must go through the hassle of getting your roof replaced twice. Majority of the Frisco roofing contractors will get your roof in good shape to last until the storm season passes. Why The Pressure? The roofing contractors that come from out of state or out of town want to sell and replace as many roofs as possible in a short window and then go chase the next storm. The problem is they will not be around to help you if you have any issues in the future. Texas doesn’t have a state license for roofing contractors that is required. This makes it easy for someone to set up shop quick and leave town just as quick. Gideon Roofing 6136 Frisco Square Blvd #400 Frisco, TX 75034 https://gideonroofing.com
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Important of Trusted Frisco Roofing Contractor Having a trusted Frisco roofing contractor is extremely important when purchasing a new home. The housing market in Frisco and the rest of Dallas – Fort Worth area right now is extremely hot and is moving very quickly. Recently a realtor that we know had a client looking to purchase a house in Frisco and was trying to close quick as aggressive as the market is. They were in the option period for the house and had just had the home inspected by the Frisco inspector. The inspector just a few small things on their report for the roofing portion. Frisco Flip House The realtor needed a Frisco roofing contractor to check out the entirety of the roof to see if the things the inspector noted were important. We showed up the next morning and noticed the roof was in far worst condition than what the inspectors report made it look like. It was a house built in the 80’s and I could tell immediately walking up that it had a sub-par quick renovation. There was overspray all over the grass and outside of house as they had just repainted the house. The investor selling the house had done a very quick remodel to try and sell the home. The inside of the home looked good from afar but could tell the work was done very quickly and cheaply flip the home. After we did the roof inspection it was worse than I thought it would be. Whoever was flipping didn’t replace the roof as you could tell it was more than likely at least 15 years old. The major problem the previous Frisco roofing contractor to replace the roof didn’t have any ventilation on the roof. Boiling Attic With no ventilation the attic has no way for the hot air to escape. This led to major blistering of the roof and cutting the longevity of the shingle life way down. The Frisco roofing contractor also installed the flashing incorrectly and I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a good amount of leaking in the house. The problem with a freshly remodeled inside is you wouldn’t know if there were any current leak issues as the whole inside of the house had been painted. The investor flipping the house or previous owner had also covered up the attic access. No telling what kind of issues were hiding up there. Lacking Inspection The Frisco inspector never noted anything on his report of the home lacking any kind of ventilation. He had just noted a few different spots of blistering. This was surprising as the blistering was one of the worst, we’ve ever seen on a Frisco roof inspection. None of the pipe jacks were sealed on the nail holes and some of them were coming up. This was a smaller issue than the ventilation or flashing but still needs to be addressed. Do Your Homework The important thing when purchasing a home in Frisco is make sure you have a realtor you trust. A good realtor will let you know when it’s well to walk away from a home that might look good for the untrained eye. Also having a Frisco roofing contractor, you can trust to give honest opinion of the roof condition. This Frisco roof also had a good amount of hail damage but was mixed in with the blistering. A good Frisco roofing contractor would be able to get the roof replaced through insurance but with the amount of blistering they would be competent in their job. Just make sure and do your homework on companies you hire. Generally, inspectors have a limited amount of time to inspect the home and not necessarily experts in everything they’re inspecting. Gideon Roofing 6136 Frisco Square Blvd #400 Frisco, TX 75034 https://gideonroofing.com Local Frisco Roofing Contractor
Anytime a storm hits an area you will get a flood of people that come in from out of state and out of the city. We just had a storm in Frisco, TX in February and within a day or two there were countless roofing companies driving around with out of state plates. Generally, these companies will hire door knockers to canvas neighborhoods and set up appointments. Lots of local Frisco roofing are good contractors that use door knockers as well, but you want to be sure you hire a local Frisco roofer or another contractor that is in the DFW metroplex. Storm chasers a lot of times they will get a local number and a temporary PO Box in the area to appear like a Frisco roofer. You don’t want the stress of not being able to contact the company if a problem arises later down the road. Insured When hiring a Frisco roofing company anywhere in Texas you want to make sure they have a general liability insurance policy. These policies are important in the event something goes wrong it will protect both the homeowner and the business. Roofing contractors are also required to have insurance to pull permits with the city they are performing work in. This is one reason a large portion of companies don’t pull permits. Frisco Roofing Contractor - Permits Any professional Frisco roofing contractor will apply for a permit for every job. Once the job is finished the contractor must request an inspection by the city of Fri. Once the city performs the inspection, they will close out the permit ensuring the job was done correctly. If a city inspector sees a job being performed without a permit, they can fine the company but even worst can halt the job. The homeowner could have a half pulled off roof and be stuck in a bad position. Waiving Deductible Do not hire a Frisco roofing contractor that offers to waive your deductible. This use to be in a very grey area of law but September 1, 2019, a new law passed and it’s 100% illegal. There are still storm chasers that will waive it, but they will cut corners when they do the work. Then later down if you have a leaking roof or other issues it will be about impossible to reach them to get the problem resolved. Texas Department of Insurance has a good article here on it. Signed Contract You should have a contract signed between you and the Frisco roofing contractor so there are clear expectations of what they will be doing on the job. The homeowner should understand the timeframe that the job will take and clearly understand of everything else that will be taking place. Generally, the roofing contractor will handle the whole scope of the project such as gutters, fencing, windows, etc and this can be quite a few moving parts. So as the homeowner you want to make sure and have a clear understand of everything. Money Upfront Do not pay upfront for the job. It’s not unusual for a Frisco roofing contractor to collect a deposit upfront, especially if there are items that are special ordered. The deposit should never be more than 1/3 of the total cost of the project and don’t pay the deposit in cash. Make sure it is paid with credit card or check. Also make sure there is a contract signed between both parties if the roofing contractor makes you pay a deposit. Check Reviews It is very easy to do but check reviews online. You can also make sure the company is a local Frisco roofing contractor by making sure not all the reviews are just recent ones. You can also check the status the company has with BBB. It isn’t very hard to get accredited by BBB, but you can make sure they don’t have complaints on them. You can also check google reviews, yelp and several other good sources. Frisco Roofer Referrals Ask whatever Frisco roofer you’re looking at hiring for three to five referrals of roofs they have replaced. Any local Frisco roofing and legitimate contractor should be able to easily provide. Tearing Down to Decking This is an extremely important part when replacing a roof that is often not done so the contractor can save a little bit of money and time. Contractors will remove the shingles but not remove the underlayment to save time and money on the replacement. The problem with doing is you can’t see the decking to see if you need to replace any rotting wood. Recently we did a roof in Southlake, TX that had four layers of underlayment. This means it had multiple roofs replaced over the years without removing down to decking. We ended up having to replace nine pieces of decking which was about 20% of the roof decking because they were rotted and compromised. Using Ice and Water Shield Although it isn’t as important as it is up north it is still important. The last two years we have had some pretty good ice storms and people that had ice and water shield were in a better position than those without. The ice dams that were in the valleys would start melting and water would find its way through the roof. It is not required by code and not all companies include it. We include on 100% of our roof replacements as it will prevent leaks and give your roof a longer life. Replacing All Accessories You will see lots of new roofs go up, but companies will reuse the vents and soft metal accessories. It tends to look bad when you have older vents and accessories but more importantly can lead to issues. Some of them have rubber boots that will crack and split overtime leading to leaks. Insurance companies pay for replacement of all these accessories on the roof so there is no reason they should be reused. Gideon Roofing 6136 Frisco Square Blvd #400 Frisco, TX 75034 https://gideonroofing.com Plano Roofing – #1 Unforgettable Awful Lie
Plano Roofing Inspection So back in December I received a phone call from a couple that wanted a Plano roofer to inspect their home. I was not aware of anything other than they wanted an inspection as it was about to sell. I checked the roof and although it was ten plus years old it was in good condition. They had some light blistering but that is pretty normal in Plano, TX or any roof for that matter in Texas that is that age with our heat. All their soft metal had damage, but it appeared the soft metal had been re-used from the previous roof replacement. Although this is a fairly common practice by many companies it is not a good one. Good News / Bad News Once I finished the Plano roofing inspectionI got down and told the homeowner the good news. They should be good to proceed with the sale of their home and shouldn’t have any closing delays regarding the roofing system. They then let me know that the buyer’s real estate agent had their own Plano roofing contractor come to their house and inspect the roof. The buyer’s real estate agent gave them a report from the Plano roofing contractor that stated it had major hail damage and the buyer was requesting a full roof replacement. Plano Roofer Report The seller asked me if there was any way to write up a report stating there wasn’t hail damage and the roof was in good condition. The homeowner had also had it inspected by their insurance company recently that also showed it had no hail damage. I let them know that wasn’t a problem at all, but I’ll go ahead and record a video of lack of damage that the other Plano roofer had falsely stated. I was hoping this would help put the buyers at ease that the roof was in good order. Waiving Deductible After recording the video and giving them the report, the buyer’s agent dropped the addendum for the home needing a roof replacement within 24-48 hours. To make matters even worst the buyer’s agent had written in email to the seller’s homeowner that they worked closely with the Plano roofer, and they could waive the homeowner’s deductible. The seller knew this was illegal, so it was already a red flag for them before they even had us inspect it. House Closed The homeowner closed on their home in Plano but with the bad taste in their mouth filed a complaint with the Texas Real Estate Commission. The important thing when selling your home is to make sure you get it inspected by someone you trust if you get a report stating there are issues. You should also get a combination of picture and video evidence so you can see the damage. End of Day The end of the day the person selling their home in Plano would have probably had trouble with their insurance company to cover the damage as there wasn’t any. I do know it was a major relief when the buyer’s agent dropped the addendum but I’m sure it was confusing for the people buying the home as well. If looking for a Plano roofing company, please feel free to contact us. Gideon Roofing 6136 Frisco Square Blvd #400 Frisco, TX 75034 https://gideonroofing.com Allen Roofing Inspection
We were called out for an Allen roofing inspection in September of 2019 for someone that was purchasing a home in Allen, TX. We provided a quote for a roof replacement as the house had extensive hail damage. The seller of the home insisted they use their own Allen roofing contractor, so we lost the job, not a problem at all! The buyer got a new roof and closed on the house and was happy. Fast forward to summer of 2021 and Allen got a pretty good size hailstorm. The homeowner that we had previously put a bid in for called us out for an inspection. No Permit On just about every Allen roof appointment, I go to I pull history on permits before I go. It gives me information of when the last time an Allen roofing contractor applied for a permit for replacement. I noticed there was no permit pulled in 2019 when I knew the homeowner replaced the roof and knew it might be bad. The Allen roofing inspection led to just what was expected to find. The Allen roofer used a builder grade shingle that doesn’t hold up well at all to hailstorms. We use Owens Corning shingles that cost a little more but hold up much better to hail. Brand Matters I’ve performed Allen roofing inspections on similar aged roofs where one has Owens Corning showed minimal damage and a builder grade would show extensive damage and in need of a replacement. The Allen roofer also re-used all their soft metal and vents on the roof which can lead to leaks if fail early due to age and cracking. There was also 20+ nail pops through the roof which is more than likely having their air guns on the wrong pressure. Nail pops can lead to good-sized leaks from a very simple issue that is caused by poor workmanship. Allen Roofer - Poor Workmanship Then Allen roofer also had several shingles that were already torn and cracked. Cracked shingles can happen overtime to age but the roof was less than two years old and shouldn’t have been happening already. Farmers insurance approved a new roof after we did our roofing inspection and gave them all the documentation. We replaced with an Owens Corning shingle and replaced all the soft metal and vents on roof like should have been done in first place. Reliable Roofing Contractor When you're are looking for an Allen roofing contractor make sure you hire someone reliable. Luckily, we were able to fix all the previous mistakes of the Allen roofer to previously replace this roof before there were major issues. You can read this article here on tips for looking for an Allen roofing contractor. Gideon Roofing 6136 Frisco Square Blvd #400 Frisco, TX 75034 https://gideonroofing.com Frisco Roofer - Inspection Miss
Just last month someone was selling their home in Starwood off Lebanon in Frisco. The home inspector had noted a few pieces of ridge vent that needed to be replaced as they were damaged pretty bad, so the homeowner needed a Frisco roofer. A very easy repair that would cost no more than a few hundred dollars. The homeowner selling the home contacted us to come out and give an estimate for the repairs. The roof was well over five years old and in an area that had been through several hailstorms in the last several years. We gave the owner the estimate for the repairs that the inspector found but let them know their entire roof was damaged from hail. They said it wasn’t their problem as it wasn’t noted on the inspection report, and they were just wanted to close the sale. The insurance claim on the roof and collateral damage would have been around $45,000 or so. Now the new owner has a damaged roof that probably won’t be covered by their insurance company as its existing damage. There is a good chance they get lucky once another storm rolls through and the claim will get processed off of that storm, but they will have to wait until then to file a claim and hope for the best. Frisco Real Estate Growth The Dallas – Fort Worth metroplex has seen tremendous growth in the last ten years and continues to grow at a staggering rate. DFW jumped from the sixth largest to the fourth largest metro area this past decade. The metroplex is forecasted to gain roughly another 1.4 million residents from 2020 through 2029. With all this added growth to the metroplex there is a lot of buying and selling of homes. For the majority of people their house is the largest purchase they will make in their lifetime. Most home transactions have an inspection that happens prior to closing but we still recommend getting a Frisco roofer to perform an inspection. Home inspectors have two to three hours to inspect the house from top to bottom and might not know everything to be looking for on the roof. In the last month we have had several houses that the damage was either vastly under reported or over reported. Blistering a lot of times on roofs can be mistaken for hail damage as it looks very similar. Frisco inspectors mistake daily for it being hail and a lot of unexperienced roofing contractors mistake it for hail. Blistering is not covered by insurance carriers and is very typical in Frisco, TX because of the extreme temperatures we get. If the roof and attic have proper ventilation you can mitigate much of that but can still happen. We did a Plano roofing inspection recently where a different roofing contractor claimed a Plano roof had major hail damage and needed a full replacement. Although sometimes it can be mistaken for hail this blistering was very light and seemed to intentionally mislead the homeowner. The majority of roofing contractors will perform the inspection for free and give you the peace of mind that your future roof is in good shape. If you would like an honest assessment by a Frisco roofer, please feel free to reach out to us or one of the other reputable companies. Gideon Roofing 6136 Frisco Square Blvd #400 Frisco, TX 75034 https://gideonroofing.com Importance of Experience
It’s important when looking for a McKinney roofing contractor that is experienced and can move fast. We received a phone call from a homeowner that needed an inspection on their house in McKinney as they were selling their home. They called us out for inspection, and it indeed need a roof placement due to hail damage. I gave them our report and let them know it needed replacement. What the homeowner didn’t tell us they had already had their insurance company come out. They asked how quickly we could re-roof the home and told them just about immediately but generally insurance is the biggest hold up as you must wait on the check. They let me know they already had the check, but one problem is they were closing on the house in less than five days and needed the roof replaced before then. McKinney Roofing Contractors Crunch time Let them know it shouldn’t be an issue to replace the roof in that timeframe but needed to make sure our roofing supplier had all the colors in stock that we needed. They indeed did and let them know we needed the shipment the next day. We replaced both the roof and gutters in two days which allowed the homeowner to close on a very short window. They had their movers moving them out the day we were roofing the house. Talking about a lot of people moving around! As a McKinney roofing contractor, you must be flexible and able to move quickly. Luckily the timing of everything matched up and we were able to help them close on their house efficiently. After they closed and moved out the buyer’s agent reached out as the new homeowner wanted a few older trim pieces painted. House Closed! Although it wasn’t part of the roofing system we went ahead and went out there and did the work for them. I didn’t’ want the previous homeowner any added stress as he was in process of moving his family to Chicago. I wouldn’t recommend waiting until that short of a window of hiring a McKinney roofing contractor but sometimes you must work in tight time frames. The McKinney roof turned out to look great and the new homeowner was very happy with the result. Gideon Roofing 6136 Frisco Square Blvd #400 Frisco, TX 75034 https://gideonroofing.com Bad Frisco Roofing Contractor
We recently completed a project and just reminded us about how being a reliable Frisco roofer is so important. The homeowner had hired a different Frisco roofing company several years ago to replace their roof. They had contacted the previous Frisco roofer to come out and check their roof out as they had noticed several leaks in their upstairs bedrooms. The roofing company that had previously replaced their roof wasn’t returning calls to come out and check the roof out. The company to previously replace their roof was a friend of theirs but ended up doing a very poor replacement. The homeowner reached out to us to schedule an inspection to see if we could find where the leaks were coming from. We found the leaks coming from flashing that was not installed correctly. We also discovered extensive hail damage from a storm that was probably from the previous year. Farmers Insurance The homeowner started a claim with Farmers, and we went to work. Farmers ended up having us document all the damage as they weren’t sending people to the field at the time because of COVID. The previous Frisco roofer to do this house did a very poor job and cut lots of corners. They didn’t replace any of their soft metal accessories on top of the roof. Even worse than that was they installed the flashing at the front of the house incorrectly which is what was causing the leaks. Farmers ended up covering full replacement of roof but wouldn’t cover the leaks because it was caused by improper installation of the previous Frisco roofing contractor. No Permit I checked permit history on the house and the previous Frisco roofing company didn’t pull permits either. I was not surprised about this at all as it’s very typical for companies that don’t stand behind their work. This is a huge red flag as any legitimate Frisco roofing contractor will pull permits with Frisco when replacing the roof. City of Frisco requires you to have active insurance when you pull a permit. It protects the homeowner to make sure they are hiring a legitimate contractor. Luckily for the homeowner the damage caused by the leaks was only a few hundred dollars and an easy fix. Vetting a Frisco Roofer So, when you are looking for a Frisco roofing company you need to make sure they pull a permit 100% of the time. You can even request to see proof they have active general liability insurance. Check their reviews online and ask for some referrals of theirs. The homeowner was obviously frustrated at their friend and the previous contractor that ended up ignoring their calls when issues came up. Luckily it was a fairly easy fix and was caught pretty soon. Gideon Roofing 6136 Frisco Square Blvd #400 Frisco, TX 75034 https://gideonroofing.com Insurance Referral
We received a phone call from an insurance agent that we work closely with that had a client looking for a McKinney roofing contractor. They had two rental homes in McKinney they wanted checked out. The two homes had a hailstorm, and the homeowner wasn’t sure the extent of the damage. We inspected both houses and while there were a few hail hits we informed the homeowner it was very minimal. Let them know the houses were fine and nothing needed to be done at that point. They were very excited to say the least but let us know after we told them they had a different McKinney roofing contractor inspect their homes a week before. Dishonest McKinney Roofing Contractor The other McKinney roofing contractor let them know both homes had extensive damage and wanted them to file claims immediately. She was in process of filing the claims, but her insurance agent wanted the roofs inspected by a McKinney roofing contractor he trusted first. Many roofing contractors claim there is damage and get claims started. It does a disservice to the homeowner when they do this though. Some McKinney roofing contractors do it because they are dishonest, and they hope they can throw enough claims against a wall to see if one sticks. Don't File a Claim The problem with this is claims hurt a homeowners insurance record even if they result to nothing being paid or fixed. Most insurance companies don’t allow two claims within three years if you want to sign over to a different carrier. Other McKinney roofing contractors because lazy or not educated on how much damage is needed. General rule of thumb is you need ten hail hits in a 10×10 area on the roof on each side. So, if a roof has damage but it’s just a few small spots it’s best to wait until another storm comes to file an insurance claim. Luckily the insurance agent had us check the roofs before claims were made so there was no harm done. Just frustrating for homeowners as it can be very confusing when hearing multiple opinions. You would think it would be more straightforward of dictates an insurance claim. Do Your Homework Always check reviews and do a little research of McKinney roofing contractors you are looking at hiring. BBB can be a good source to make sure no complaints on a roofer that you are looking at. If the roofer does claim you have damage, they should be able to provide a combination of pictures and video. Every legitimate McKinney roofing contractor will provide that with their report. Getting a referral from your insurance agent can be a good idea as well. Usually, the roofers that work in conjunction with agents are a good option. Most insurance agents will give you three referrals and its companies that are honest and not going to mislead the company. Referrals Matter If there was a McKinney roofing contractor that kept telling homeowners to file claims that didn’t have damage that would be a short-lived relationship between the insurance agent and roofer. The roofer receiving referrals from an insurance agency also will know how to work well with that insurance company. Every insurance company has different policies and operate different. To make claim a smooth process it’s best use a roofing contractor that has experience with that company. Many times, insurance companies won’t cover damage that is in a result from workmanship from the previous work if it was done incorrectly. Working with the wrong McKinney roofer could lead to a denied claim or the claim process taking much longer than it should. Gideon Roofing 6136 Frisco Square Blvd #400 Frisco, TX 75034 https://gideonroofing.com |
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