Question for you full time Roofers - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

CutTwice · 10-24-2009, 08:59 AM

I am doing a full house re-siding job and the HO wants to reroof now also. I would do it myself but I think it would be better to find a crew to do it. It is a simple roof with 20 year shingles and a few small penetrations. Where should I look for a crew that can do this? I know some roofers here but I know that if I want to stay in budget I'm going to have to do this in-house.

jabaqui · 10-24-2009, 07:10 PM

Why not get the pros in there and have them do it?Budget is one thing but if you find a crew of "budget concious" guys what kind of job will you get?Id tell the homeowner that for a few bucks more he could have it done by the pros he may jump at it.Hes already spending money on a siding job done buy the pros why not the roof.

Slyfox · 10-25-2009, 09:04 AM

Staying in budget = under bid the job?

Go through your numbers again and find where you made the mistake and explain that too the home owner, and let them know how much additional money is needed.

2ndGen · 10-25-2009, 03:41 PM

If you can't do the job right and make money on it, I'd let it go if I were you and not even marry yourself to a situation that could end up costing you money and lost sleep and knots in your stomach.

If you're a good sider, stick to that and focus on that and sell the roofing job to someone else (while you get a nice little 10% commission on it).

What's bad about roofing is that a mistake on a roof could cost you far more than anything you could earn on it. Hiring incompetent roofers could even cost you a lawsuit.

Sometimes, it's better to just walk away and move on to the next job that you can handle without having to worry about it.

If you feel compelled to attempt it, place an ad in your local Craigslist.
You should get tons of responses from most claiming to be Roofers.
If you're lucky, you might just be able to pick up a few local guys and pay them piece work (by the square) where they can make more money than by the day, but will feel motivated to finish as quickly as possible.

Just make sure you or someone you trust can check the quality of their work.

Good luck.

PS: Ask the homeowner for any bids they got and compare see how much you can make on the job (you might just be able to get more than what you originally wanted this way). Tell them you'll give them the best price when compared to legitimate roofing contractors (not jack-of-all trades crackheads or illegals who'll work for a day's pay). Compare apples to apples and offer a better jobs for a little bit less.

But whatever you do, do NOT price the job out cheap.

We have a saying where I'm from: "Lo barato sale caro."

It basically means "Penny wise, pound foolish."

CutTwice · 10-25-2009, 10:29 PM

I appreciate the info, but I'm really not afraid of the roofing job itself. I have solved many more roofing problems than most remodelers because I understand the way they go together. Two of my favorite things to explain to HO's are capillary action and the porous nature of brick. As long as I have the right oversight I know I can get the job done well. One of the reasons the HO is asking me to do this is because I have already identified the problems on the roof. Besides that, I go overkill on the details that can cause problems in the future. This is a real simple roof and since I already have the insurance, I figure I can get some experienced guys to help with the labor part while I manage and pitch in where I need to. Also, things are slow and I thought one of you may know where to look for competent people. I am not sure I want to try the craigslist route. That's asking for trouble. And I don't intend to lose money on this.

Grumpy · 10-28-2009, 08:00 AM

If you don't want to do it yourself and you can't afford to pay someone else to do it, the answer is simple... let someone else do it.

LOL the roof should have been done before the siding anyways. Sheesh! Talk about backwards remodeling.

If you want to do it inhouse but need help put an add on craigs list for experienced roofers and watch the responses come flying in. Not all will be experienced of coarse

but you'll find a few who are.

BTW if youc an't afford to sub it out you are selling it too cheap... maybe that's why he wants you to do the work? If it's truly detail and over doing it, then he should be willing to pay a premium for you to do the work. Am I wrong in my thinking?

RobQuillin · 10-28-2009, 10:10 AM

The way you describe the situation it sounds like the roof is an after thought. If that is the case then apparently they aren't have too much problems with it. So if they don't have the buget for the roof then they should wait until they do have the buget for it. Sometimes HO will just try to add things just to try to get the contractor to cut them a deal on it. The problem is everytime I did this I ended up loosing my but on it. I'd say tell the home owner what it would cost to do it properly and don't budge from it. If they decide to persue it then you have the money to have a professional crew come in and do it with their liability and not yours. If the HO decides not to do it then you just dodged a bullet.

2ndGen · 10-28-2009, 04:46 PM

Your post brings up something in my mind Grumps!

Here's a little saying I like to share with homeowners...

"Let an electrician fix your light and a plumber fix your pipes,
but when it comes time to waterproof, only let a Roofer do your roof!"