We were referred to Jim. He did what he said he would do and exceeded that. We had some miscommunications and he honored our understanding of the agreement on those. That made a strong impression. So did coming home to find home personally cleaning up our yard and moving furniture out of harms way. Much respect. Thank you Jim. read more

Jim and his team have been great for our real estate business. They are flexible, offer great, easy to read reports and have gone above and beyond for our buyers and sellers! We even us them at our home and they have been fabulous! read more

We hired Jim to do "A", as a referral from our real estate agent. He showed up and talked, and talked, and talked a good game. He took my money, left, and delivered "B". Not only was it not what I paid for, it was late, and put me in a really bad spot, since I was selling my house and had to get it done by another roofer in a rush. Now he will not return my emails or calls. He is a CROOK, just like all the other reviews say he is. read more

New roof looks nice with 30yr warranty but roof failed and leaked after 11yrs and labor warranty only 5yrs so not a good deal. read more

Ideal Roofing Corporation - possible water leak from installed vent. - Roofing Near Me

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I will not use this business again. Owner is the nicest guy, totally personable, yet does not do what he says he's going to do when it comes to permits, insurance and guarantees. read more

Jim is incredibly professional, reason, reasonly price, and always give solid advice. I would highly recommend his company. He has helped to prepare our listings for properties that are listed for sale, and has always consistently come through on time, on budget, and was incredible professionalism. read more

I bought a house in Kensington last June and Ideal had re-roofed a section of the roof last March and failed to have a final inspection and obtain the permit. I am installing solar on the house and can't get the appropriate permit due to Ideal's failure to close out the pending permit for the work they did and were paid for. I have left Jim Merlone several messages to discuss and he has not returned any of my calls. Avoid using this company for any work. read more

Ideal Roofing completed my re-roofing project on budget and on time. I interviewed and got estimates from a half a dozen roofing companies before selecting Ideal Roofing. They didn't complete the project without any issues, but they fixed everything that I brought to their attention (e.g., painting with base of the pipes on the roof, etc.). Jim Merlone (President of Ideal Roofing) was recommended by a local realty company. After reading Yelp, I was a little skeptical about hiring Ideal Roofing, but Jim was very knowledgeable and very professional, so I decided to select them for my re-roofing. read more

I really wanted to give them a good review, and I've gone back and forth for months whether I should, but I now think I should let people know this is a business that doesn't keep appointments. At least three times I waited for them to fix my roof, and three times they promised to be there or to call, and then I'd waste my whole day waiting for nothing. Each time. They don't keep promises, and the damage only grew worse because they waited, making what would have been a simple repair into something much more costly. Thank god it was before the rain began. James talks a good game--maybe far too much at length--but it's empty. Look elsewhere. read more

I have tried to use Ideal Roofing three times. The first two times were amazing. We were given a fair quote, the work was done at a high quality and happened quickly. My Wife and I have tried to use them for a third time and it has been very difficult. I was told the work would get done the week after Thanksgiving. I assume due to rain it was not, but nobody communicated with me. Since then I have talked to multiple people on the phone who have each told me that someone would get back to me. Nobody has. I have sent multiple emails and left multiple voice messages without a response. I understand the weather lately can make this work difficult to complete but I just want communication. read more

Several years ago, Ideal Roofing did a good job on a couple of small patches on my roof, so I hired them to redo my tile roof in 2015. They redid the roof in September 2015. When I looked up, I found they had put a $10 plastic downspout extension (http://www.homedepot.com/p/InvisaFlow-StealthFlow-Low-Profile-Downspout-Extension-4600/202532737)as "custom drainage from outlet to gutter". In October, Jim promised to finish the work the following week. Fast forward to January--the plastic diversion was still in place. After another round of email, someone finally came out and installed a small metal extension that STILL didn't go to the gutter; it dumped water exactly where the first downspout had. I really want to like this business. Jim sounds like a nice guy, but he just didn't get the job done, and I still don't have what I payed for. read more

Ideal Roofing Corporation - "custom drainage" (i.e. $10 plastic downspout extender) installed by Ideal Roofing. I'm still waiting for the job to be finished to specs. - Roofing Near Me

Jim came highly recommended to me through my realtor. As I was doing more research, I was a bit concerned by the mediocre yelp reviews. I spoke to Jim some more and found him to be honest, responsible and knowledge. Despite my initial hesitation, I hired Jim anyway. It turned out to be a great decision. Jim finished my roof in 3 days, his crewed cleaned up everyday before I came home from work. They ran such a clean site that you couldn't tell someone was doing work there during the day. More importantly, the new roof looks great. He walked my roof with me, giving advise on how to weather proof my house for the rainy season. He educated me on what additional work could be done to seal my windows, exterior walls, etc. He left it up to me to have him do that work or hire my own handy man, zero pressure. My neighbors on both sides complimented Jim and his crew to me on speed and quality since they both had their roofs done earlier. As for the permit issue mentioned by an earlier review, I checked on that too. We are indeed permitted and passed our final inspection with the City of Piedmont. All is cleared. The city is known to be strict with codes and regulations. I would certainly recommend Jim to a friend. read more

BUYER BEWARE. Do not trust Ideal Roofing (Oakland). Ideal Roofing never pulled permits, didn't finish the roofing job correctly and never put the siding back properly that they pulled away to replace the roof. As a result, siding was left open to the elements on a side of the house that we couldn't see. Flashing was not completed properly and because a permit was never pulled, a final inspection that would have caught all this never happened. A few years later when we discovered the issue, Jim (the owner) insisted that the permit and inspection had been done and would provide me a copy of the final sign-off. He never did. So I went and pulled all the permits for my house myself. Low and behold, that's when I discovered that the permit and inspection never happened. I had to call repeatedly and write letters to get them to come back and finish the job properly. They finally came back and did some work on the roof, and then took another few weeks of pestering them to come arrange for the inspection. When the city inspector finally showed up, he said that the work done "met minimum code requirements," but called it D-grade work. Avoid Ideal Roofing unless you are prepared to accept D-grade work. read more

I have had nothing but excellent service from Ideal Roofing and Jim Merlone. Starting in 1994 when they installed our first new roof, they maintained and repaired any problems that arose for these past many years. I always do my research before hiring professionals, contractors, etc. and they have lived up to their good recommendations. They have always been responsive any time I contacted them. I have referred them to colleagues and friends who have had similar good experiences with Ideal. Well done. read more

I recently bought a house in Oakland - it came with a roof report, paid for by the previous owner, and written up by Ideal Roofing. Jim Merlone recommended some minor work be done to bring it up to good repair. I did ask him to send someone out to do this work - paid him the $575 stated in his report and assumed that the work had been completed as described in his roof repair estimate. During the first rain of this year, I went up on the roof to see how everything was - two drains were clogged. The curb edges, which were to be repaired with 3 course flashing, had some smears of roofing cement on them but nothing more. A roof scupper that drains one level onto another was completely sealed so water was standing on the roof in that area. I also found a couple of bubbles under the roof membrane so called Jim to tell me what it would cost to fix these and to look at the other issues. We made a date - he didn't show up and has not returned my call since. I suggest that realtors be wary of using Ideal Roofing for roof estimates and that home owners look elsewhere for reliable service. 12/26/13 update: A few days after I posted this review, Jim called and said he wanted to come out and look at the work. He agreed that the work need to be redone and sent out someone a few days later. I appreciate his trying to make things right even though it took some effort on my part to get him to respond. So am adding two stars. read more

I used Ideal Roofing to repair my roof when I originally bought my home in June of 2015. They did a great job of repairing my roof but I noticed that there was an area that was overlooked and called them back immediately to be told that they were too busy. Then as time went on I was told that I needed to wait until the weather got better so I called and called, texted, emailed again and again and got no response. I was able to get Fran on the line once who said she'd have Jim return my call which he didn't then I eventually got Jim on the phone over 2 years later and he was extremely nice as usual. He can out looked at the issue and agreed that it needed to be repaired and that he get someone out the following week to repair it (I just needed to have the paint available) and guess what no response. Now its 3 month later and I still can't get a response. I have continuously tried to connect with them and no one will return my messages. I hate that I paid them up front!!! Don't pay up front until you have inspected all the work. Truly disappointed. read more

No show up for my appointment which James confirmed it through the phone. I waited on site for 1hr 15m, this company is in my blacklist.

We had four jobs performed by Ideal Roofing. Unfortunately one of the jobs was done incorrectly. We tried to have it updated, but Jim did not accept our phone calls or emails. I now have doubt as to the quality of the three other jobs performed by Ideal Roofing. Update: bumping to 3 stars from 2 stars. I had 35 days of no responses to my emails or phone calls, but within 18 hours of me posting this review, I finally got a reply! Two guys came out to fix the issue - once the next rain comes, we will see if it worked or not! read more

I hired Ideal Roofing to put a roof on my house in July 3.5 years ago. With the first winter rains, the roof leaked into my dining room. I immediately called Jim Merlone, the owner, and informed him. It took him 5 months to come back and repair it . The roof continues to leak and I found out that even though I was charged for a building permit, he never pulled one, hence no inspections either. BEWARE OF THIS COMPANY!!! read more

We had a very good experience with Ideal Roofing installing ventilation in the attic of our 100+ year old house. Jim was easy to work with, the price was fair, and the work was done in a day. The crew was careful to protect the attic from dust, and they left the work site tidy. read more

Ideal has handled two roofing jobs for me. Jim and his crew know what they are doing and solved some difficult issues created by prior roofers. I will be calling them again. read more

I had to sue this company to correct serious deficiencies in the roofing job they performed for my residence. We mediated a settlement in court and they agreed to the court to correct the deficiencies in the roof. They showed up, swept the roof, left two large containers on the roof and then disappeared. In short, they reneged on their agreement with the court to remedy the roof problem. I would not recommend this company and must provide a low rating. read more

Jim and his crew did an excellent job replacing our roof. The job was done in four day and the crew cleaned up thoroughly. My nonprofessional observation is that Ideal does high quality work and doesn't take shortcuts, all at a competitive price. Jim is very conscientious about explaining the work and taking care of small details. I must admit though that I was tempted to give Ideal a four instead of a five because of the difficulty getting hold of Jim when I needed to talk with him. Once we got his attention, it all worked out well. read more

Worth getting a quote. Recommended by several realtors and home inspection companies. Company has been in business for several years. That is important. They will be around if you need them to make good on the warranty. read more

When we bought our house, the roof was leaking during the open house. It was clear to every inspector we needed a new roof. Our inspector recommended Jim Merlone, and I got bids from two other roofing contractors. Jim's pricing was the most reasonable and his knowledge and recommendations were quite detailed. He also gave me the most reasonable bid to have some cedar shingle siding replaced. I didn't have any major difficulty with communication--if anything he had a harder time getting ahold of me. We'll have him back for all our shingling needs. read more

horrible crooks! stay away from this company. first, they are very flacky and not responsive. second, they give estimates for very sloppy jobs and really do the minimum. third, they are very not responsive. even the owner or something like this, jim merlon, is not responsive to emails and phone calls. i heard people lost a lot of money because of their lack of responsiveness and this company is going to get a class action lawsuit one day. i know several people lost value because of it, and we plan to meet with an attorney. in sum, watch out from this mafia and sloppy workers. there are many other, much better companies in the bay area. read more

I've used Ideal a couple of times on different properties. Jim and his crew are solid, quick and professional. I limit five stars to those who deserve it and they have earned it each and every effort. read more

Began the job quickly but follow up to complete the job was frustrating. After 6 weeks of calling weekly, someone finally got back to me. They completed the roof job but I still have a leak. Called again due to the same leak and they never returned my call. I gave up. Would not recommend!!! read more

Ideal Roofing did a very good job on our roof. I updated this review and upgraded to 5 stars. Jim and Frances have been a pleasure to deal with every time I spoke to them. read more

As a realtor, its important to have a great roofer to recommend to clients - Ideal Roofing is who I recommend (and use on my personal home). Jim and Ideal are professional, knowledgeable and do great work. read more

I was very eager to get a roof leak repaired, so I hired Ideal on the recommendation of a friend. Jim quoted me $900-$1000 for the repair, and I decided, because of my friend's high opinion, to trust that was fair for the job. Jim said he thought he could do the job on the following Thursday and that he would call to let me know. I never heard from him. When the written estimate that was emailed to me was for $1190, I called to find out why it was so much higher than the estimate. Desperate to get the leak fixed, I agreed to the higher rate, but asked his wife Frances to have him call me. Never heard from him. I happened to be home on that Thursday morning, which is the ONLY way I know that workers showed up and climbed onto the roof. I have no idea what they did up there or if Jim ever came by to check their work. I called again to ask Jim about the higher price and about what the guys had found when they were fixing my leak. You guessed it -- no return phone call. Maybe they did a great job, maybe a lousy one. Maybe $1190 was fair; maybe I was ripped off. I have no idea. All I know is that when it's time to get a new roof -- in a few years, he told me -- I definitely WON'T be calling Ideal Roofing. I recommend you take your business elsewhere, because this place is far FAR from "Ideal." read more

Jim Merlone has been repairing and replacing our roofs (we have several properties) for years. He has been a remarkably good resource, has built several excellent roofs, one that was very complex (radiant heat barrier, 2 layers of fireproofing, a layer of waterproofing and a layer of extra thick wood shingles on the bulk of the roof, dibitin on the flat part of the roof). His price was exactly 1/2 of the competing top bid for that roof. He has a small shop and does all the estimating and job planning himself, so you have to be patient and wait sometimes to get things done. If you have an emergency, as in a leak, his crew will get to it right away, but a new roof might have to wait til he has time available. Unfortunately, sometimes he doesn't get around to telling you that, but he does a great job once he starts. The property is cleaned every day at the end of work, all trash is hauled away, and he finishes the job, not leaving pieces of it til some far away down-stream date, which a lot of contractors do. He's a nice man. Fair, conscientious, efficient, once he gets rolling. If you need further recommendations, ask your realtor. He does a lot of work for the real estate community in Montclair. read more