The initial inspection of your roof is an important part of the roof replacement process, but there are a few things you should know before you schedule an appointment with your local roofer.
Related Blog: Should I Meet My Roofer Before The Inspection?
In short, yes! We’re all busy these days and it’s way more convenient to schedule an inspection during a workday and have it all done by the time you get home. But, being home during the inspection is important to help protect you and your home.
Roofers vandalizing a roof in order to secure more work and sales is one of the most common roofing scams out there today. Remember, they want to find damage because that means they get to make a sale. So, an unethical roofer may purposefully damage your roof in order to make that happen.
Being home during the inspection significantly lowers the chances of this happening, especially if you occasionally pop outside to check on their progress. Even just being in the house will help you avoid this in most cases.
One big benefit of being home during the inspection is that you can let the roofer inside to inspect the underside of the roof deck to check for damage like stains, cracks, and water damage. They can also ensure your ventilation is set up correctly from your kitchen, dryer, and bathrooms.
We follow all safety recommendations regarding COVID-19, so if we need to be inside the home we will be wearing masks, gloves, and other recommended safety gear.
If you’re home during the inspection you get the results immediately after. This allows you to hear it straight from the roofer with any pictures or videos they took from up top. This face-to-face communication makes it easier for both parties to communicate any damage and what might need to be repaired.
One of the trickiest parts of roof replacements is dealing with insurance and making a claim. If you’re home during the inspection you can use your roofer as a resource to learn more about the extent of your damage, whether or not you should file a claim, and what you should expect in costs of repairs.
A helpful roofer will also help talk you through the insurance claim process and answer any questions you may have.
Don’t you want to know the type of person you’re going to be working with? If you’re home during the inspection you get to meet your roofer face-to-face to see if they’re the type of person you want working on something as important as your home. This is probably the most important reason that you should be home during an inspection.
Are they on time? Courteous? Honest? Professional? Communicative? Can you trust them? You should know all of these things about your roofer before you continue working with them and the best way to do that is to meet them in person.
It should be an easy answer, but unfortunately, it depends. By and large, most roofers will inspect your roof for free. However, there are exceptions to the rule depending on a few factors:
Do you live in a retail market or more of a storm market? In a retail market, there is not much storm activity, which means not much reason to do roof repairs, and contractor competition is relatively low. Therefore, these roofers may feel justified to charge for an inspection.
However, if you live in a storm market, which is an area that gets a lot of storm activity, including tornadoes, hail, and strong winds, there is likely a higher need for roofing work and therefore, more competition, which can result in more free inspections.
If you are trying to buy a home and the home inspector has identified problems with the roof, his inspection report may indicate to get a licensed and qualified roofing contractor to inspect it.
However, the catch is that usually 95% to 99% of the time in a real estate transaction, when there are issues with the roof, the seller is the one getting the roofer and not the buyer. The implication of that is that the roofing contractor who is coming to inspect the house for the buyer has a minimal chance of actually getting any work out of it; therefore, he may charge for the inspection.
If you live outside the roofer's normal service area and the roofer has to travel a great distance to inspect your roof, they may charge you for that inspection.
At Homestead Roofing, we typically do not charge for an inspection within our service area, but if a situation comes up where we do need to charge for an inspection, and there is work that needs to be done as a result of that inspection, we credit the inspection fee toward the cost of repairs.
If you’re looking for more information about the specific areas we serve, are looking for an inspection, or just have questions, contact our office today to speak with a member of our team.