Lord Roofing Review:
Our est. 1450 sq ft, one story, 1950's era, Marina, California house was last re-roofed with tar&gravel about 1993. Last winter, a little leaking had occurred during winter rains. It was time for a new roof.
I contacted about 5 roofing companies, asking for an estimate for a new roof. Several companies, the bigger ones, said they could send someone to take a look and give an estimate in 2 or 3 months. Two companies, Scudder Roofing and Lord Roofing, located closer, came by promptly to give estimates. Both professional and experienced outfits with top Yelp ratings (5 out of 5). Scudder Roofing had more customer reviews than did Lord Roofing. Scudder was a larger outfit. Lord Roofing smaller and only started in 2017 but by two partners with decades of roofing experience between them.
Both Scudder and Lord impressed me. Scudder gave a $17k estimate. Lord gave a $12k estimate. Our house roof wood had areas of dry rot and termites, missed by Planet Orange. Planet Orange is a very good pest control company but different areas of our roof were near impossible to reach. Scudder said the extra "carpenter" work, replacing bad wood found would be about $90 per hour per worker and replacement wood (plywood and beams of 2"x4" and 2"x6" would be cost plus 35%. Lord said the extra work, not found in the initial estimate would be about $65 per hour per worker and that they would charge only their cost for materials. This was for any bad wood discovered after the job was started and not found until the old roof was removed. Lord's cost estimate included some bad wood we found in the initial inspection. Scudder's cost estimate did not include bad wood replacement we found in the initial inspection that I could tell.
It was tempting to go with Scudder with their proven track record, but I ended up choosing Lord Roofing for the roof replacement job.
Why?
Despite both Roofing Companies giving me a very good impression during the initial inspection for purpose of giving me an estimate,
.1. Lord Roofing included a handful of areas of bad wood found in the initial inspection, in the price of the job estimate.
.2. Scudder's work crew would be experienced employees. But Lord's work crew would be Jim Lord, the Company owner and his partner (and Mr. Lord's adult son). In my experience, if the Company owner is there on the job, the owner makes sure the job is done well and with little wasted time. This was the case. Even our neighbors commented that the Lord Roofing crew (mostly the owner and his partner) worked very hard and quickly without wasting time. It became clear that Jim Lord and his partner were master roofers, who had wanted to stop being employees for bigger companies and to start their own roofing company.
.3. Lord Roofing's estimate of $12k was more affordable, than Scudder's at $17k.
So, in less than a week, we had a new roof of better grade shingles on the more sloping parts of our roof and composite on the more flat portions. Bad wood replacement (there was quite a bit) cost a bit over $2k. Also installed were rain gutters and drains and rain gutter protective screens to keep the gutters from getting clogged by the leaves of our tall, backyard trees. The gutters with the optional covers added another $1k.
I inspected the work and saw the workmanship was excellent. Edge matching was precise. I have worked in the area of quality control in my own field of employment, and Lord Roofing's work was indicative of master level roofers. Much to compliment. Nothing to criticize.
Every day, they cleaned up any mess before leaving. The job was done beautifully. I was impressed enough to tell them that they could use me as a reference.
I did screw up though. Although I had had the pest controllers Planet Orange, check and treat any pest-containing wood, some months prior. We missed one large dry-wood termite nest that was big. I found it and even though the roof was done, Lord Roofing came back, removed the roof where the termite-infested roof beam was, replaced the roof beam and area siding and plywood, and re-installed that part of the roof, in one day, for modest price.
I messed up in assuming pest control inspectors always find all the pests. 9 out of 10 is very good, but that missed #10 was a big enough nest, an entire roof beam had to be replaced, plus plywood 4'x8' paneling and facia wood. I thought it a 2 day job. Jim Lord and his partner (I forgot his name, I am embarrassed to admit, but the guy was VERY good at both roofing and carpentry), did it all in one.
If I have any future work, I plan to use Lord Roofing again. Outstanding outfit. Very impressive.
RH, Marina, Calif
Sept 2018
(partner is Ryan) read more