Why I hate roofing, again!

I have lived in my neighborhood for 36 years. 30 years ago I roofed the house next door. That's not bad performance for a 20-year 3 tab. The people living there now have been there 10 years. We are cordial but not real friends or anything. A small leak developed some time back. The few conversations we have had through the years have revealed that I had roofed that house and if he ever had a problem to let me know. He told me about the leak and I told him to call his insurance company.

Two weeks ago he asked me how much to roof his house and that his insurance was going to pay for it but he hadn't gotten the paper work as yet. I told him the only thing he would have to pay is his deductible unless he wanted to upgrade to a laminate shingle. I figured the insurance would adjust at least $4600 for his 20 sq roof and to let me know when he got the exactimate.

Well, yesterday, a Saturday at about 1pm, 8 day labor looking fools show up with a trailer and work into the dark. They ran 2 coil nailers off a gas compressor and blasted Tejano music the entire time from their car speaker. They didn't take up the old felt or pull any staples-just pounded them in. No new metal edge or new vent base flash/caps were installed, and they replaced the lead boots with the cheap plastic crap. I saw some atlas mixed with Owens-Corning oakridge (the kind you buy from lowes), so my guess is that they used extra shingles they had left over from other jobs. In short, I would never hire them if they were the last roofers on earth.

Yet, what we have here is another ignorant homeowner trying to game the system who would rather hire idiots than take the word of a 40 year veteran of the trade with a proven record and piss away insurance money and ruin the neighborhood.

I have no sympathy for the people who grab a low bid price and expect a first rate job. I feel for the ones who went with a high price expecting a good job and ended up with problems.