Lazy Roofer Scews Neighbor

4319hendrie

Ok so im hopeing i can get some good advice from honest roofers here. My neighbor (80 years old) got a roof on her house and garage. The garage has old kinda lousy vinyl gutters on. Long ago it had highbacks which were cut off long ago. When they stripped the roof the tore off the highbacks. The never bothered to put any type of gutter apron on and the roof boards are showing between the shingles and the fascia board. The roof boards were never exposed to the elements and the roofer says he never tore anything off. This isnt good, things are going to ROT, its a fairly easy fix but the roofer says it wasnt in the contract so its not his problem. I can fix it but coil costs money that she dosent want to pay. The roofer should have done it or asked about it whether or not it was in the contract, and had i not saw it she would have never known. I hate seeing crooked contractors give us a bad name, any ideas, can we make them fix it for free? Can i get a roll of coil out of them so they cover their butts?

scottstef

why get into a big huff about this? you can probably he said/she said this matter for months/years. why not go out and spend $50-75 for coil and fix it for your neighbor? if the neighbor won't reimburse you fro the coil, you have done a good deed. if the neighbor will reimburse you, you still have done a good deed.

just make sure the neighbor realizes you are just trying to help out and to not give the roofer a good reference if ever asked.

4319hendrie

Well I talked to the "roofing company" turns out its a bunch of firefighters who do this on the side. There gonna give me the coil to fix the job. I guess its all turning out ok in the end.

MJW

firefighters, hahaha

School teachers are good for this. Summers off and make some extra cash. This is why there is licensing in MN. It helps alot, but some homeowners are still cheapskates. I hope it turns out ok for you and your neighbor.

Grumpy

I fail to see how this is your problem... unless the lack of gutter is causing some problem to your property. I have no idea what a high back is btw.

Also in terms of contracts, I side with your neighbor's roofer. If he was paid to remove a gutter, but not reinstall one he lived up to his end of the deal. In my area most garages don't have gutters however of those that do, I would say half only have the gutter over the doors so you don't get water falling on your head while opening doors.

Was the crappy vinyl gutter worth anyting? I mean did it really do anything in the first place? You said it youself "crappy vinyl" IMO these types of gutters are worthless.

RooferJim

I think your too quick to jump to conclusions without really knowing anything, if gutter or metal trim work
is not in the contract then it would have been an extra anyway, the roofer owes you nothing.

RooferJim

4319hendrie

RooferJim, I agree technically he owes her nothing had it been in the contract it would have been extra. But they should have told her that it needed to be done, otherwise she would never know. Im just disapointed in the roof in general, they cut alot of corners. They did a double tear off and reroof in 5 hours, and didn't even properly caulk around the vent stack. I just know that personally I would never walk away from a job that dosent look good, or in this case had exposed roof boards. They obviously felt that it was their mistake in some way, becase they offered to give her a roll of coil to fix the problem.

Grumpy

I have a crew that tore of 12 squares and put back on in 4 hours one saturday morning. They did nothing wrong, it was just small enough that it went very quick. Point being, doing it fast doesn't necessarily mean they did it wrong.

They may have just given a roll of coil to stop you from complaining. I just gave a neighbor of a roof we did $50 to shut him up. He claimed we ruined some flowers which were not at all damaged. I totally deny any responsibility but the guy has called a few times, and he does have one photo of some left over garbage, about a handfull of shingle debris. I feel very sorry we left that handfull of debris, but I can not deal with this guy trying to extort me for imaginary damage.

I know it comes off like I am trying to attack you and your point of view, but I am not. As rooferJim said, perhaps you just don't know all the details.

4319hendrie

And i understand where you are comming from too Grumpy perhaps i don't know everything. Im just saying that it wasnt a 12 sq roof, closer to 25 and i can visibly see things that wern't done right. Im not saying that it was their responsibility to put on a gutter apron, all im trying to say is that when you leave a job, it should look finished. Their client had no idea that there was a problem untill i pointed it out. If it was my job... when i got to the point where i realized there was going to be exposed roof boards i would have said to my customer "look this is what needs to be done, we can do it when we put the roof on, or someone can do it after, but it NEEDS to be done. I called the "owner" once and he said yea make sure it gets fixed heres a roll of coil. There really isnt much of a problem here anymore. There is a big difference between a company such as yours Grumpy, and a bunch of firefighters doing this on the side. Im not even sure if they were insured.

Kirktheroofer

The contractor has a responsibility to meet the local codes for the state or municipality it operates under. With that said your neighbor should call the local inspector (even if roofing does not need an inspection) he will be able to tell you if what the roofer did was up to code.
I'm not sure what you are refering to as gutter apron is. This is not a term that we use in my area. I am thinking it is what we call drip edge, or edge metal. If this is what you are refering to, nearly all shingle manufacturers require the use of this material in order to ensure the warranty of their product. Drip edge can be purchased at any big box home improvement store and be installed after the shingles are put on if necessary, and is relatively inexpensive at about $0.40 per foot.

Now on behalf of the roofer, if the homeowner was looking for the absolute lowest price and conveyed this fact to the contractor, he may have purposely left off the product (and cut other corners) in order to bring the cost down to a more affordable price.
Many homeowners are simply looking for the least expensive contractor. The classic - you get what you pay for comes to mind.

4319hendrie

Yeah kirk you are right about some people wanting it as cheep as possible, pretty sure this was one of those examples.

Scott Young

25 sq double tear off in 5 hours??

AaronB.

How big was the crew, and what were the site conditions?

I would do the apron just to keep from getting my name tarnished.

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4319hendrie

They seemed to have alot of people running around, but i couldnt give you a number. And granted it was an easy roof, maby a 3/12, 4/12 at the most. And the fact that it was starting to rain sped them up too.

AtlantaLawn.com

some people

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