We needed a new roof and a friend referred Husband's Helpers. I will start off by acknowledging my…read morehusband and I clearly didn't do our research and missed some serious red flags. That's on us and we learned an expensive lesson. But I want to write this review to warn others of our experience. All of these pictures were taken after they said the work was done.
We initially agreed to shingling over our old shingles because this is what Ken recommended since it's cheaper. We signed a contract (which I felt he really pushed us to do when we first met in person). But this didn't sit right with me, and after doing some research I reached out and said we'd rather this be a full tear and replacement. We never signed a new contract, so we never discussed flashing (I now know this is a red flag). I'll admit I just assumed that when you're paying $12,500 to replace a roof, this would include new flashing. You can see in the pictures I've attached that they did not replace the old flashing, and instead nailed it in between the new shingles even though it stuck out past the shingle on top of it since the old flashing was installed with a different shaped shingle. Based on my research, this violates Pennsylvania construction code because these shingles can't properly seal to each other. Ken's proposed fix was installing "beauty" shingles on top of the original work, also pictured. When we didn't like this option, he suggested painting the metal flashing to help it blend in. He never recommended a repair to bring this up to code. I had to do the homework and research PA's roofing codes and GAF's shingle installation instructions to show him this is just wrong.
Also pictured are our valleys, which were installed overlapped in the wrong direction making this a huge weak spot for leaks. They're also crooked and for some reason they decided to add these lines of sealant?
Upon further inspection, another roofer noticed they used a different color shingle for part of our roof, didn't rip the adhesive strip off of a few shingles (that we noticed), and caulked the vent cap (which is already starting to come off). To add insult to injury, we were charged for a 2,000 sq ft roof and our roofing inspector said our roof isn't actually this big.
Unfortunately, we originally thought this roof was repairable and agreed to call it a day if Ken refunded us $3,000. Because we understandably didn't trust him or his crew to make it right. But as another roofer began repairs, it became clear that so much was done incorrectly that we need a full replacement.
Another frustrating aspect of this is we told Ken multiple times we were in no rush for a replacement because our old roof wasn't leaking. And when we changed our minds to a full replacement, we said it's ok if we're bumped back behind other clients because we understand this is more work. He claimed it should only take his small crew 4-5 days, which turned into almost 2 weeks. And then when we were arguing about the quality of the finished roof, he said they had to rush since we changed our minds. We did not rush him. Oh, and they left a lot of nails but that's the least of our problems right now.
Ken said the shingles have a 25 year warranty. We later learned this is only true if the roofer installing them is certified by GAF. He's not. And even if he was and we tried to file a claim, it would be denied if this roof isn't up to code.
Finally, I posted my original review on Google and Facebook about 3 weeks ago. Within hours of posting, Ken texted me saying he'd get his attorney involved unless I took these reviews down. To date I've received nothing from any attorneys. I find it interesting that publicly and privately he emphasizes legal/contractual matters while never defending his workmanship pictured in my review. We've had 3 roofing companies inspect our roof and they all agree that over half of the roof needs repaired based only on what they can see. All of them cautioned the repair work would possibly be greater once they ripped up shingles based on how botched the visible work is. One roofer noticed the base layer of shingles on our roof is actually a different kind of shingle installed upside down. To add insult to injury, we were quoted as having a 2,000 sq ft roof but the roofers confirmed our roof is actually about 1,600 ft. We've signed a contract with a different company to have our roof completely replaced. What a nightmare.
