Roofing contractor defined

TomB Said: Another had brought up the term authenticity, on another topic....I had never used that term, but he had hit the nail on the head, and got me thinking....Thats what we promote & pride ourselves on....Thanks, CIAK

I know this will offend a good number, however, I feel the majority of residential roofing contractors are merely salesmen/charlitons....The lack of state licensing seems to be a predominant factor.

My opinion of an authentic roofing contractor is a business which is owned & operated by, or has employed in an executive position, an experienced/technical knowledgeable & capable roofing professional. The primary roofing work is carried out by trained/qualified/U.S.legal employees, under appropriate supervision. Subcontracting is limitted to other, but related trades, (i.e., major structural carpenty, possible specialty sheet metal or the like, not normally carried out by the contractor, HVAC, etc.).

Your opinion doesn't offend me. If you tell me that the sky is orange and I look up and see that it's blue, should I be offended?

Everyone is entitled to personally define what they feel in an "authentic" roofing contractor. The only opinion that really counts is the judge's.

There is or should be no difference in paying by the job or paying an hourly rate but unfortunatly there is. I saw this when I was sales/salesmanager for a large national (storm chaser) company. I am a second generation roofer. I would get subbed the work for years when I was roofing by GC's and Builders or sell to the owners myself. Everyone who worked for me was an employee. I did jobs all over the US...copper shingles, decra, special or difficult tile jobs. Things had gotten slow and I was working for a builder and didnt have much else going on. Ike hit Houston and I looked for a company to work for. I found a job posting on this site and went to work for them. I had no experience with storm chasing other than when hail storms would hit where i was at. Never did any thing other than how i normally did business..they call and I give estimate ...no supplements or dealing with the insurance. Once i went to work selling for this company I saw some things that made sense and some that didnt. The thing that would frustrate me, and was ONE of the major reasons I stopped working for them, was lack of quality on the jobs. I had to stay at the job almost all the time to make sure it was done right and material wasnt stole or wasted. The thing they did was pay by the sq ...what ever was used. I was by far the most experienced ROOFER that was selling for them. I would adamently give my OPINION on what needed to change with QC but they didnt care. I quit them after 10 months and about 1.8 million in sales. Good thing with this company is even if they leave they do honor their warranties... They have alot of leaks but they pay local roofers to fix em. When I quit I waited about a year to start my own company back up but did things different than I used to but also different from them. I know pay by the JOB..not by whats used. that keeps em from wasting material or stealing it to get more sqs. (my crew i have wouldnt do that anyhow). They also carry their own insurance because if you 1099 your crew and you have insurance and they dont then the job isnt covered. I let them work for other companies and dont dictate what time they start or what time they leave. Thus they are true subs. I mainly use 1-2 crews. I have 5 I have used but try to keep my good one busy every day. (read my other post about my employees.) I am very hard on how things are done... I dont tolerate even the little things like improper nailing and detail work like flashings etc. The crew I mainly use needs no supervision. I do check on them but have never had a leak or any complaints. I feel that this way I am doing it is the best. I also agree with what you are saying ...but i think it is the way they do it and the fact most of them have never done any roofing. I still carry the battle scars and have callouses on the back of my knuckles. Being 44 years old I dont want to be on the roof full time ;). I feel that alot of contractors beat up their subs on pay or allow their inexperience to effect the quality of the job. I know for a fact crews will take advantage of inexperienced salesman or companies. After doing the experiment of hiring employees this last week ..I probably wont do it again. I will have a employee I use to check on jobs or do repairs etc but not whole crews. Its not even the job its the phone calls and drama. Ie no shows, arguing etc. I paid my "subs" $8,100 for 155 sq of 30 year with a few minor decking issues (5/12). Took them from thursday to early sunday. No drama, No stress, No issues!