Do you know any example of a roofing scams? If you do, please post it in this thread, We will use it in creating a list for the knowledge area page for reference for new roofers and homeowners to avoid getting tricked by them.

There was a story on the local news A guy up in cleveland took deposit money from several people including a church inwitch they gave him $4200 and there roof is still leaking

Well I gave an estimate to a customer on a roof and he wanted me to fax it to his insurance company so I did that. They approved it and I was set to start the job. He wouldnt sign a contract till he had the money from them. A week later I get a call he found someone cheaper wouldn't tell me who or how much they were doing it for. Now I dont know if that is a roofing scam or not.
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Ski Construction Company

One more sorry...haha. There was a shingler in my area that bid on a residential tear off with no insurance or license or bond. It had shakes under neath 2 layers of shingles. He gave them a bid of 8000 not knowing about the shakes and then after he opened it up he said it had shakes and had to be resheeted. He told the customer that that would cost 50 dollars a sheet extra. then the customer said but you gave me a price of 8000 and he said well pay it or I am gonna leave it wide open. and the customer did and it was definitely a shoddy job I saw it.
He knew how much it was gonna cost he just wanted low bid. that is dirty
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Ski Construction Company

I feel it is a scam when roofers say they are going to do something and they do the opposite. Reusing items that should be replaced flashing, soil stacks vents and so on. I feel there are alot of honest companies that get left behind with corner cutting people. Yes you hear it alot but the customer gets what he pays for. I think reusing items is a scam to the customer.

Not sure how you want to define 'scam' but I looks like we have someone pretending to be an official inspector commenting how good 310-roof

@ Skiconstr,

If you do deal with any more people who want you to give them an estimate for thier insurance company, don't do it. You'll get used every time. Visit my site and look under the section, do business with us. Ah screw below is a direct link. We make every one sign this agreement if they want us to deal with thier insurance company, and return they agree to allow us to replace the roof as well.

http://www.restoremyhome.com/PDF/GA%202008%20REP%20AGREE%20NEW.pdf

Learned my lesson the hard way, when I had a Church pastors word that if I got his roof approved for replacement from hail damage I'd get the job. I got his roof approved, which had marginal damage anyways. Next thing I know I'm being called to meet the board to give a bid with three other contractors. End of story a roofer in the church got the job and I used my professional expertice in dealing with hail damage and insurance adjusters for free. 13 hours of work for a lesson well taught.

Feel free to use the wording my agreement, just make sure you put the home owners deductible amount, otherwise it's not as binding.

Here in St. Louis the State government doesn't take to kindly to scam companys. The attorney general nails em to the wall every time! There was just something on the news about 3 days ago where some guy took a bunch of down checks from people and never started the work. The guy is looking at jail time now. That's what he gets for trying to screw people.

Some customers are quick to try to pull it over on ya. I have had a few try to scam there way into free wood, free tuckpointing work or what ever they could get for free. When I worked for a different company I had customers come out and say that we were supposed to put ice and water in certain places where they didn't agree to pay for it to go. The guy I worked for then always gave us good paperwork on what needed to be done and what was agreed upon by him and the customer. I had a diagram of where the ice and water was supposed to go, with the customers signature on it. Good thing they invented copy machines!

I have had customers lie about how much wood was replaced on a few jobs but again you can't argue with ink on paper. I have also seen subs lie about how much wood was replaced so u gotta for sure watch the wood used on any roof.

I think the biggest scam of all is when you are the "Employee" of the "Sub" and you are working for his check and he don't even know how to run a backdown (countback).

Any competent roofing estimator or salesperson should always go into the customer's attic to inspect the plywood whenever possible. most of the time you will find mold. if this problem is not brought to the homeowner's attention. the roofing contractor may become liable. it takes a lot of extra work and time but you should make the homeowner aware of all possibilities. if you are more expensive than other contractors, this will most likely get you the job
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the sweet taste of a cheap price is quickly forgotten after the bitter taste of poor quality is realized!

out here in Mass., the biggest scammers are the gypsy Sealcoaters/ Pavers. Gotta watch out for those guys. Ive seen them scratch the gravel off tar and gravel roofs and pour a solution of kerosene and bulldog over entire surface and call it a day. In my opinion, homeowners are better off doing it themselves than hiring these guys because they have no idea what theyre doing. I have done scratch and patch repairs on tar and gravel roofs, cement membraning the cracks and then poured roof sealant over it, but I've never warranteed those and now have eliminated them altogether as I've found that even if you get the leak, you're walking on the roof and you pop a blister somewhere else while youre up there walking around. I will give a warrantee of a couple of years on a baldie BUR system for sealcoating if its in good shape, but even then there is still a lot of prep work before you seal it and I don't think it's worth the money when I could just rubber it and be done with it.
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Slate and copper roofing is not a job, it is a hobby and an artform.

I hear alot of talk about companies taking deposits and not doing or completing the work. I do know that in Ohio if a contractor takes a deposit and doesn't do the work it is a felony offense and almost always involves jail time. Ohio is also very strict on companies doing what we call "spiking jobs." This is usually done by those companies who have just salesman who sell the work and then they sub it out. What they do is when the customer signs the contract they send out a crew to start right away. The crew works for a couple of hours and then leaves to return weeks and sometimes months later. They do this so the customer can't use the 3 day right of recision or back out of the contract. An employee of mine worked as a sub for one of those companies. He said they gave him 4 addresses one day for vinyl siding and told him to go start each job that day spend at least an hour at each house and then leave and go to the next one. The next day he was to go back and do which ever one he could complete first. In that situation the funny thing was one of the adresses they gave him was wrong. He started putting on starter strip and a few pieces on the back side of this house. About 2 weeks later he returned to finish the job and met an angry homeowner who had filed a police report not knowing who started putting siding on there house. They then removed the siding and the homeowner was unhappy with the nail holes and broken concrete/asbestos tiles that were the existing exterior of the house. So my friend then had to replace those. Of course the color didn't match so then they had to vinyl the whole house for free. Then the customer who did sign the contract called the company because they had been waiting for over 2 months and hadn't heard anything when the salesman told them they would start right away. That customer ended up living one block down on the same street as for the first number of the address was wrong on the work order. They ended up getting a big discount because they waited over 2 months. Just goes to show you...... In the end it all circles round!!!!!!!!

You have to be careful in some areas of the US, Illinois, and FLorida for sure, You can't represent a homeowner unless you are a public adjuster, In florida it is a 3 degree felony. So be very careful

Most roofing scams I see happen after a natural disaster such as a tornadoe or hurricane. Heck, sometimes after a Thunderstorm!

Guys driving through subdivisions looking for their next victim. The scam usually involves a low bid and a deposit that the homeowner will never see again.

Bob
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I'm Bob, my friends call me PlumbBob, you can call me Mr. Tallyn =)

BobT wrote:

Most roofing scams I see happen after a natural disaster such as a tornadoe or hurricane. Heck, sometimes after a Thunderstorm! Guys driving through subdivisions looking for their next victim. The scam usually involves a low bid and a deposit that the homeowner will never see again. Bob

thats also called targeting and some legit companies do it as well. except we actually do the work. best way to beat that scam is check references and only hire local established companies.

the biggest scam I heard of was a contractor started about 10 very large projects ( 3 super walmarts, 2 albertsons + shopping center, 1 wal-mart dist. center, 3 safeways) within about 3 months, all the material was bought on credit and the work was very poor, well he never paid his suppliers and they ended up filing leins, well the property owners needed to lease or leverage and couldn't so they ended up paying the suppliers, what was even worse is the roofer talked someone in the credit dept. to sign off on a lein release for $20,000. he filed bankrupcy and reopened his company under a new name. he still gets jobs, don't these people learn!!!