Looking for contractors is a real pain in the ass, especially when it involves something crucial like "roof over your head." It's not like trying a restaurant where you can simply switch and go somewhere else if you don't like the place. I actually took couple of days off from work just to research and get estimates from several roofing contractors. I called at least 10 contractors and got 7 quotes/estimates. Alltops wasn't the cheapest but I chose it for the following reasons:
1. Quote covered pretty much all unforeseeable costs, meaning no hidden costs. Few other contractors came in with lower quotes but they were going to charge additional fee for any bad wood they have to replace. Most of them were charging about $5/foot. With our house being so old, I didn't want to take any chances with
2. My very picky friend used them for his house in Cerritos and was very happy with the result. The company has replaced roofs on many other houses in my friend's neighborhood.
3. Owner John was not pushy and didn't talk or sound like a typical contractor or a salesperson. He didn't even ask for any money upfront. He said he doesn't ask for money upfront because consumers are scared of contractors taking deposit money and just disappearing. John also has a cool British accent.
4. Alltops provided the longest workmanship warranty of 15 years. Most other contractors were 5.
This is a complete list of work that was done:
-tore off 2 layers of previous shingles
-installed half inch sheathing
-laid 30lb. underlayment
-installed new Timberline shingles
-installed new metal flashings for pipes, valleys, and chimneys
-all new metal flashings were painted to match roof color
-dry rot and termite damaged eaves board were replaced, primed, and painted
Entire work was finished in four days and crew did a good job with clean up each day. Best part is, there was no additional cost. I paid exactly what was on the original quote.
There was one incident that happened on the first day of construction. One of the employees from an outside company that was doing the teardown, stepped on a bad wood and his leg fell through our bedroom ceiling, leaving a big hole. John was very apologetic about this and got his crew to fix it as soon as possible. It was a bit of an inconvenience but they did a good job patching it up and repainted our entire bedroom ceiling.
The reason I didn't give five stars is because the owner wasn't on site everyday. I didn't expect John to be on site the entire time but should've stopped by at least once everyday to check on progress and monitor his crew. I also need to wait and see if there are any problems down the road like leaks or loose shingles, and how responsive they are to warranty/repair work. But the overall work looks good and our house looks so much better with new shingles.
One last tip. When working with any contractor, make sure you get a lien release from the contractor and supplier after you pay them. You may even want to pay the supplier directly for materials so you don't have to worry about mechanics lien if the contractor doesn't pay the supplier. read more