We got a call last week from a new homeowner who had good cause to be anxious about his roof. He purchased the roof within the last year or so, and as part of the sale, the roof was supposed to have been replaced. Recently, however, the owner discovered a leak in his new roof, so he called his insurance agent to discuss filing a claim. The agent wisely suggested he call a roofer to have it inspected rather than file a claim and gave him our phone number.
I pulled over to the side of the road so I could talk with the new owner about this, and I suggested that since the roof is so new, he can probably call the roofer who did the work and have them repair the leak as part of their workmanship warranty. To help him find out who the roofer was, I went to the website for Pikes Peak Regional Building Department so I could look up the permit for the re-roof. What I found was not pleasant news for the homeowner.
It turns out that there was a permit pulled for the re-roof, but then the contractor who bought it wrote a letter to PPRBD, which they have on file, available for public viewing, stating that his company would not be doing the roof at this address. Therefore, the permit was voided, and no replacement permit was purchased by the roofer who actually did the work.
The owner knows that it was re-roofed because as they were waiting to close on the house, they would drive by it and they watched the crew re-roofing the house, however, they have no idea who did it and so they have no way to try to get anyone to come back to give them the repairs they need as part of any workmanship warranty. Basically, this homeowner is now on the hook to repair not only the roofing problems, but the internal damage and mold problems as well.
How Could This Have Been Avoided?
Pretty much all roofers in Colorado Springs and El Paso County know how to look up a permit on the PPRBD website, but here are some quick instructions on how to do it just in case you don't already know.
- In your browser, go to pprbd.org
- Click on the button that says, Permits
- Click on the blue button that says, Search Permits
- Don't change the Search By field that should already say, By Address
- Enter the Street #
- Begin typing the Street Name in the next field. The form field will attempt to auto-populate with the street it thinks you want. If it chooses the correct one, click on that street name.
- If the Street Type is unique (i.e. St., Dr. Rd., Ln., etc.) it will automatically pull up a list of permits for that address
- If the Street Type is not unique, meaning that there's more than one street with that name, but a different Type identifier, you'll have to enter the Street Type to find the correct list of permits
- In the list of permits that is displayed, there will be a blue, Details button next to each on the right side. If you click that, you will be able to see the permit status, either Complete (inspection passed), Failed (inspection did not pass), Partial (some items still need to be addressed), or Voided.
Realtors, this is just one helpful tip we give you in our State accredited Continuing Education Class. If you're interested in us bring the Homestead Roofing C.E. Roadshow right to your office call our office at 719-433-6991 or shoot us an Email at info@homesteadroofingcolorado.com and we'll work your office into our schedule.
