One good thing to say about these guys is that their salesmen work their butt off. Unfortunately for them, they guy in charge isn't very honest. I cannot speak about the quality of their workmanship, but I can explain why I didn't have them do my roof. Empire is a 'storm chaser' roofing company. The contractors drive around neighborhoods and look for old roofs, ask for permission to inspect the roof, and if they find damage they will help you make a claim on your insurance for a new roof. They will handle it all for you, and if you're willing to get 25 year shingles with only a 2 year workmanship guarantee and hand over your insurance money, then by all means, these are your people.
However my issue was that I had other estimates for my roof before these guys stopped by and did an inspection. I knew how much redoing my house and shed in architectural shingles would cost.
Empire will give you 25 year shingles for whatever your insurance pays out. They make it sound like a deal-except depending on what your insurance pays out, it might not be. My insurance money plus my deductible came to right under $8,000.00. That amount is $1200.00 more than any other company had quoted me for doing my roof in architectural shingles. Empire will never give a quote. When I realized how much money they would be getting, I asked if they could do architectural shingles because there was plenty of funds to cover them (you can Google the price of 25 year versus architectural shingles and see what I mean). I was given the run around and told that architectural shingles had to be paid out of pocket. So they wanted the money from my insurance company and my deductible, PLUS more money to cover the 'cost of architectural shingles' which is apparently super expensive for them because they are 'certified' which I assume means they're Certainteed Certified-like many.
Whenever I mentioned wanting architectural shingles to the sales guy (super hard worker) he always seemed to try to talk me out of it..but I didn't understand why until all of this happened. Anyway, after being told the architectural shingles would be out of my pocket, I told them not to order anything and put the job on hold. I went back to my previous estimates, even talked to my claims guy, and the numbers did not add up. These guys were going to make a KILLING off of me and my insurance company.
Then the owner Mike called. Mike decided it would be a good plan to talk to me like I was an idiot. He whispered over the phone that as long as I didn't tell my neighbors, he would make this *one* exception and do the architectural shingles-but only because he was trying to get into my neighborhood and wanted to get my roof done ASAP to show as an example of their work. I guess I was supposed to feel super special he was going to give me such a 'wonderful' deal and even risk 'not making any profit' on it, and I was also supposed to agree immediately because they were in a rush. If Mike had simply called and said 'Hey-I looked at the numbers again and we will be happy to do the architectural shingles like you want-not a problem.' then I would have said great-let's do this. But do not call me and talk to me like you're doing me a favor. I told Mike that his company had left a sour taste in my mouth and that I was meeting with another company and would call him after that meeting and let him know what I decided. Apparently Mike didn't think I could hear him say 'crap..' under his voice while still over the phone. The conversation was interesting to say the least.
I did as I promised and called Mike to inform his I would not be using his company. Then Mike got really, really needy. He went on for 10 minutes about how great his company was and how I should do my homework and read all of their reviews, Angie's list, and check the BBB, ect, ect (all of which I do before ever hiring a company, btw). He started back-peddling hard, saying he didn't understand why I would not go with them, didn't understand why I all of the sudden had a sour taste about them, asked me to reconsider. I explained I did not like their business practices and stated again that I would not be using them. Then Mike got really, really angry. Told me the only reason he could see me not using his company was if I was trying to commit insurance fraud, he got loud and ridiculous. Thankfully this time I had him on speakerphone so others in the room could hear just how ridiculous he was. So after he accused me of insurance fraud and threatened to report me, I offered him the number of my claims guy to do just that as I laughed, and asked if he wanted to continue arguing back and forth over the phone or if maybe he had something better to do with his time. We hung up, and he tried calling me the next day. Needless to say, I did not answer. We now have the new roof we wanted, done by a different company with a better guarantee. Empire-don't threaten or bully your customers, not a nice business practice. read more