If you've asked a roofer to come inspect your roof, should you plan to be home when he comes over for the inspection? It's fairly normal for a roofer to come to your home to inspect your roof during a weekday and that's the time when most people aren't home. But what is the best way to approach your need to have your roof inspected?
We get it. Everyone has busy schedules, and it can be really convenient to let the roofer come to your house, do the inspection, and then just get his report through Email, however, it's actually kind of important for you to be home for the inspection and here's why.
The biggest benefit to you meeting your roofer is that you get to see who it is who will be working on your project. You'll find out if he's timely, organized, professional, and does he communicate well, or does he come across as a pushy, dishonest salesman who's more eager for a commission than he is interested in helping you. Believe it or not, these are all things that rank as the most important factors with whether or not a homeowner has a good experience with his or her roofing contractor.
One of the main reasons you should be there, especially if you don't really know the roofing contractor, is because you can stand in your yard for some, or all of the inspection, and watch the roofer. This will ensure that he doesn't intentionally cause any damage to your roof. Vandalism by a roofer is one of the biggest scams and causes of insurance fraud. If you're watching him from the ground, though, there's much less chance that he'll try to cause damage, even if you're not in the yard watching the whole inspection. If you pop in and out a couple times, he won't know if he's being watched and will be far less likely to try to falsify damage.
A big benefit to you being home is that the person inspecting your roof can then review his inspection findings with you personally and onsite, and can answer any questions you may have about his findings. He can show you photos and/or video of the damage that he’s found on your roof, or other roof items that may need to be addressed, such as flashing that is rusting, or other such items. In fact, you as the homeowner, should actually be asking the roofer to show you evidence of the damage he says is on your roof. It's much easier to do this while he's there on your roof instead of waiting to get an Email from him some time later.
It's very likely that there may also be instances when the roofer may need access to your attic, as in cases with older homes where the decking may not be usable for attaching a new roof (because of current code requirements), or when the person inspecting your roof notices soft areas on your roof which could indicate rotted decking material from long term leaking. These sorts of conditions can only be evaluated correctly from the attic. It may also be necessary to inspect the attic to properly evaluate your ventilation. Things a roofing inspector may look for in your attic are whether or not your intake ventilation is blocked by insulation, or if your bath fans exhaust into the attic. Both of these situations would need to be corrected and they can't be known about without doing an attic inspection and they are definitely things you, as a homeowner, need to be aware of.
Another benefit to you, if you're home during the inspection, is depending on whether the roofing inspector finds storm damage on your roof, he can address whether you should file an insurance claim (if you haven’t already done so), and answer any questions you may have about the insurance claim process, and his involvement with you in that process. It's much better for you and more efficient to do this with your roofer in person so that you will have a good understanding of how he will be working with your insurance company and adjuster and if there are things which you need to be aware of that your insurance company may not include in your claim or explain to you full.
Want to learn more about the roofing your home, roof repairs, or the insurance claim process? Check out all our other resources in our Learning Center, or visit our extensive Video Library today.
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