Vague quotes, surprise costs, and a contractor who’s hard to reach once the check has cleared are worries we hear from homeowners often enough, and they show up in local reviews too.
Vague quotes, surprise costs, and a contractor who’s hard to reach once the check has cleared are worries we hear from homeowners often enough, and they show up in local reviews too. That doesn’t mean most contractors operate this way. It means the ones who do are common enough that it’s worth knowing what to check before you sign anything, regardless of who you end up hiring.
Ask to see proof of insurance, in writing, not just a verbal “yes, we’re insured.” If a contractor doesn’t carry their own liability insurance, an injury or property damage during the job can turn into a dispute over who pays for it, and an uninsured contractor doesn’t leave you many good options in that dispute. That’s worth confirming before anyone gets on your roof, not after.
Check the Better Business Bureau for the company’s actual profile: not just whether one exists, but what’s in it. How many complaints are on file, and did the company respond to them? A profile showing complaints that were answered and resolved is a very different signal than one showing a string of complaints with no response at all.
Deck rot under a roof, sheathing rot behind siding: either one can turn up once the old material comes off, and it’s not a red flag by itself. What matters is the answer: does the contractor stop and show you before doing the extra work and charging for it, or does it show up as a surprise on the final invoice?
Layering new material over old is usually faster and cheaper for the contractor to install, and it can bury whatever’s actually wrong underneath along with your ability to ever find out. If a contractor proposes going over the old material instead of a full tear-off, ask what happens to any moisture that’s already trapped behind it.
Ask this before the job starts, not after.
A verbal quote isn’t a contract. Under New York General Business Law §§770–771, a home improvement contract has to be in writing and signed by both parties once the job’s price is over $500, which covers essentially every real roofing or siding job. A contractor unwilling to put the job in writing before you commit isn’t following that law, whatever they tell you at the kitchen table.
A scope worth comparing against another company’s bid names the materials by brand and type, not just “shingles” or “siding.” It should specify underlayment, ice-and-water shield placement, flashing type, and cleanup terms. If two quotes are hard to compare, look at what’s missing from the vaguer one. That gap is worth asking about directly before you sign anything.
Want a scope you can actually compare against another bid? A Noble Edge estimate is free and comes with the details in writing.
Ask what the workmanship warranty actually covers, and ask to see it in writing before the job starts, not promised out loud, and not buried in paperwork you only see after you’ve paid. Our own workmanship warranty is written and comes with your product paperwork, and the commitment is plain: if something we installed isn’t right, we come back and put it right. That’s not a special offer. It’s what’s described on our own roofing and siding pages, and a fair thing to ask any contractor to match, in writing, before you decide.
Fully Insured. Rated 5.0 on Google. 20+ years of craftsmanship behind the work. A written scope before anything is signed. If we find damage once a roof or wall is open, we stop, show you in photographs, and give you the cost before we do the work, never on the final invoice. None of that means you should skip asking us the same questions you’d ask anyone else. Ask them. We’d rather you check.
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