BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

I suggest hiring a drummer instead. He might not show up, but at least your roof won't leak worse when he's done.

The State attorney general started a crack down on rip off contractors a few years ago. The state passed a law that requires all contractors be registered. Verify the person is registered before you hire them, ask for references, and ask if you can talk to a former customer that had a roof replaced.

Here is the list of registered contractors in PA:

http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/hicsearch/

Get an estimate from Kenyon Roofing right over in your area on Ohio River Blvd, we have used them repeatedly for work for years. Very responsible, good work, registered, insured, and we have found their prices competitive.

Not Craigslist, but Angie's list. I've used Angie's List for minor site development work, electrical and a clutch replacement. Excellent tool if you wish to measure twice to cut once.

Angie's List rules.

We just used New Horizons to do our roof and siding and they did an awesome job. Matched a cheaper price and gave us more in the end. We referred them to our friends and they gave them a great deal as well.

If you end up with New Horizons PM me, we do get a referral but it's not why I am suggesting them. They are on Angies List as well.

We use Hoolahan Roofing - he's busy, so there's some lead time, but they're really good. Our roof is 120 years old and slate, so we're really cautious about who is allowed to go up there. The only complaint I've heard is that they're busy this year.

ok, scary as they sound, EZ Contracting did my roof, and did an ok job. They actually have 2 roofing crews they sub out to, the guy that did mine... well, they lost money (my roof is more a 1-14 than a 14-1 rise) on my job but got it done.

People I don't recommend did some other work on my house, Allstate Builders and Remodelers on Verona Rd in Penn Hills. They glued up vinyl siding so I couldn't have insullation blown in under it, and sections fallen down twice, the second time was about a year ago and they STILL haven't come back to fix it. That reminds me I should start harassing them via phone again. Well, I guess the roofing portion of that job did ok.

Oh, and David Hood and Sons Roofing in Wilkins Twp - when I asked them for an estimate for a roof on a house I didn't own, they sent me a bill and no estimate, and got irate on the phone with me when I demanded a written estimate before I gave them any money. Their estimate then consisted of "it doesn't need a new roof" (it was leaking at the time). I finally paid when they sent an estimate for $15k (the roofing job was $4k, they just didn't want it).

The yellow pages sucks. EZ guy cold knocked on my door. Hood came highly recommended. Allstate came up in a google search. The best way to deal with a roofer is to ask what tools he'll use, buy the shingles yourself, and watch them put it up (knowing a little about what they're supposed to be doing).

OR - if it's not too harrowing a roof (unlike mine), get a bunch of friends and do it yourself. It's not hard, just annoying and tedious.

@ejwme - sounds like you've BEEN through what I am going through. Everything sounds great, until I think about handing them the half down to start the work.....

The guy I really liked gave me the weirdest references, for example. I have a steep residential roof. One of the two references was for a flat roofed commercial building. That building is in a community 20 miles from where I live, yet I found a website that supposedly has a positive "experience" from a homeowner in my own one square mile borough. And that posting was dated about a week ago. Why would he not use THAT as a reference. (Can you tell I have since discarded him from consideration?)

I've started contacting folks recommended here. I had tried to use Angie's list, but for the second time, find that I really don't like it and don't think it gives helpful information, unless you really want to dig. With soemthing like 1000 roofers listed, it was too daunting a task.

Thanks to all who have responded, either via post or via PM. I really, really appreciate your input.

Funny how I have come to view the Pgh Bike Community as a real community.....not just a people who share my interest in cycling. That's a good thing -- right?