There is no such thing to be over protective with regards to your home and your finances. There are numerous roofing contractors out there that are willing to bend the rules to simplify things for themselves, leading to problems for you and your roof. Even honest contractors make mistakes every once in a while. That’s why it is critical to know these 4 simple methods to protect yourself whenever choosing a roofing contractor.
Workers Compensation
Problem: You hire a roofing contractor to repair a leak on your own roof. One of their workers decides not to use proper safety procedures and falls, breaking his leg. The employee holds you responsible to pay his medical expenses, because he was hurt on your own property.
Solution: Roofers Compensation is really a type 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 out of work. Be sure that your roofing contractor has workers compensation so you 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 you can find exclusions preventing coverage of the interior of your building. You wind up paying to fix the damages yourself.
Solution: If damage occurs to your home or building this is the fault of a roofing contractor, you want to be sure they have good liability insurance. This will cover anything from broken windows to damaged interiors as stated in the problem above. Some contractors have liability insurance, but their insurance company offers so many exclusions that it’s almost like there is no coverage at all. Look for coverage that doesn’t exclude water damage and mold caused by leaving a roof open.
Business License
Problem: You hire a new roofing company to focus on your roof. A couple of months later you see a leak. You try to contact the company, 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’re forced to cover the repairs yourself.
commercial metal roofing : Check in advance that your roofing contractor includes a business license. If they don’t have a license, it could be a sign that they have no idea what they are doing. The company could easily disappear or go out of business.
In hawaii of Utah, your roofing company should have a shingle license and an over-all roofing license to install a pitched roof. A set roof installation only takes a general roofing license.
An over-all contractor is legally in a position to install a roof without a roofing license if they have an over-all contractor license. However, there have been many cases of general contractors branching out and installing roofs themselves if they lack the proper training. This causes problems for building owners together with home owners. It is ideal for a general contractor to have a roofing license besides their general contractors license.
In Utah, the quantity for a general 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 immediately. You are not required to pay anything to the contractor because they were operating illegally. After that you can find a qualified contractor to repair your roof and finish the job.
Lien Waiver
Problem: Your roof has been completed and you also pay the contractor. However, a few weeks later, the contractor’s supplier contacts you requesting a fee for the materials installed on your own roof. You discover your contractor didn’t pay his supplier and that you will be now responsible for that payment. It has happened and can happen to you.
Solution: Make sure you request a lien waiver once the job is completed and before you pay. A lien waiver simply states that when the contractor does not make his payments to a supplier or employees, you aren’t responsible to cover them. It really is ultimately in place to protect the house or building owner from paying twice. In the event that you have the lien waiver before you pay, it is conditional upon your payment. However, once your payment has cleared, the lien waver becomes unconditional without the additional paperwork.