There is no such thing as being over protective with regards to your home and your finances. There are several roofing contractors out there which are willing to bend the rules to simplify things for themselves, leading to problems for you as well as your roof. Even honest contractors make mistakes every occasionally. That’s why it is important to know these 4 simple ways to protect yourself when choosing a roofing contractor.
Workers Compensation
Problem: You hire a roofing contractor to repair a leak on your roof. One of their workers decides never to use proper safety procedures and falls, breaking his leg. The employee holds you responsible to cover his medical expenses, because he was hurt on your property.
Solution: Roofers Compensation is really a kind of insurance covering roofing injuries. If a roofing contractor has workers compensation, any injured employees have entitlement to recover expenses for hospital bills and being unemployed. Be sure that your roofing contractor has workers compensation so that you will are saved the difficulty and expenses of paying those bills yourself.
Liability Insurance
Problem: Your roofing contractor leaves your roof uncovered after removing your shingles. That night there’s an urgent storm. Water seeps into your house and damages your sheet rock, carpet plus some nice furniture. Your roofing contractor has liability insurance, but there are exclusions preventing coverage of the interior of your building. eco-friendly roofing end up paying to repair the damages yourself.
Solution: If damage occurs to your house or building this is the fault of a roofing contractor, you want to be sure they will have good liability insurance. This will cover anything from broken windows to damaged interiors as stated in the situation above. Some contractors have liability insurance, but their insurance company offers so many exclusions that it’s almost like there is absolutely no coverage at all. Search for coverage that doesn’t exclude water damage and mold resulting from leaving a roof open.
Business License
Problem: You hire a fresh roofing company to work on your roof. A few months later you see a leak. You try to contact the business, but can’t find their information. You try to look them up by their business license and you find that there was never a small business license issued for that company. You are forced to pay for the repairs yourself.
Solution: Check in advance that your roofing contractor includes a business license. If they don’t have a license, it may be a sign that they don’t know what they are doing. The company could easily disappear or go out of business.
In the state of Utah, your roofing company should have a shingle license and a general roofing license to set up a pitched roof. A flat roof installation only takes a general roofing license.
A general contractor is legally able to install a roof without a roofing license should they have a general contractor license. However, there have been a lot of cases of general contractors branching out and installing roofs themselves when they lack the proper training. This causes problems for building owners in addition to home owners. It is ideal for a general contractor to possess a roofing license in addition to their general contractors license.
In Utah, the quantity for an over-all roofing licence is S280. The overall contractors license is B100.
If your roofing contractor is in the center of working on your roof and you find that they have given fraudulent business license information, (in Utah) you have the choice to terminate their service right away. You are not necessary to pay anything to the contractor since they were operating illegally. You can then find a qualified contractor to fix your roof and finish the work.
Lien Waiver
Problem: Your roof has been completed and you also pay the contractor. However, a couple weeks later, the contractor’s supplier contacts you requesting a fee for the materials installed on your roof. You discover that your contractor didn’t pay his supplier and that you are now in charge of that payment. This has happened and can happen to you.
Solution: Be sure you request a lien waiver when the job is completed and before you pay. A lien waiver simply states that if the contractor fails to make his payments to a supplier or employees, you are not responsible to cover them. It really is ultimately in place to protect the home or building owner from paying twice. In the event that you have the lien waiver before you pay, it really is conditional upon your payment. However, once your payment has cleared, the lien waver becomes unconditional without the additional paperwork.