Frequently asked questions

Most roofs that are under 400 square feet take one day unless it is late fall/winter and the days or shorter. That can also change due to steepness, complexity, if we have to change out decking; a whole host of issues. But, for the most part, your standard roof takes one day to complete.

Our workmanship warranty is five years and our materials carry a lifetime warranty which is a nice way of saying that the warranty pro rates in about 20 years. Pretty much all shingle manufacturers have the same warranty these days.

The roofers generally get there around 7 in the morning as long as they dont have another job to finish up. They will pull a trailer in your driveway where they will throw the debris. Your project manager will be there early-mid morning to make sure that the materials are correct and that the crew has a correct understanding of the scope of work. Your PM will be in and out all day. At the end of the project, your PM will do a full walkthrough to check the workmanship, cleanup, and to get the excess materials.

No you don’t. It is very messy and loud and we totally understand if you do not want to be there. Your project manager will be texting you pictures of the build and the progress we are making. It is up to you though, and I would say it is about 50/50 with people who want to be there and people who don’t.

The early summer and fall are the best times to roof, but you can roof most months on the front range as long as it is 40 degrees and rising. This is the minimum temperature needed for the warranty to take effect. We like it to be around 43-45 and going up.

No, unless you choose to add upgrades, there is rotted decking found, or you don’t have a Replacement Cost Value policy. RCV policies make up about 98% of insurance policies.

Our main crew has been working with us since the owner was a sales rep at another company which was 6 years ago. We know exactly what is expected of each other, and this has created a great, productive, long term working relationship. If we ever have to use other crews because of demand due to storms, we use heavily vetted crews who’s work we are already familiar with.

Roofs are put into classes by a non profit organization named Underwriters Laboratories to quantify a shingle’s hail resistance. Class 4 shingles have a 2’ steel ball dropped on them to simulate a hailstone and if the shingle does not rupture it is considered class 4.

The ones that we use do. There are two basic types of class 4 shingle. One has a white webbing on the back of it that prevents the hail from piercing the shingle. These are not very impact resistant, and while they will get you a discount with your insurance company, they will not stand up to hail. The class 4 shingles we use utilize SBS technology. SBS is a rubberized material that is engrained in the asphalt mix which allows hail to bounce off of the shingle as opposed to penetrate it.

That is the owner’s dog Ellie. She likes to walk around the job sites and is completely friendly.

Absolutely. We can provide this upon request.

We serve Loveland down to Northern Colorado Springs.

The RCV is the total figure that your adjuster estimated that it is going to take to do the repairs to your property.

The ACV is the amount of the claim or item when age is taken into account, similar to if you wrecked your car and they gave you the vehicle’s worth pre-wreck.

The difference between the Replacement Cost Value and the Actual Cash Value is called the depreciation. You can recover the depreciation as soon as your insurance company receives an invoice for the RCV and the work is complete.

No. The reason is because they will release that much less depreciation when they receive an invoice for less than the RCV. If a contractor were to bill the insurance company a different amount than the customer, you are getting into insurance fraud. Good contractors who have integrity and are proud of their work do not cover deductibles.

You are allowed to keep the ACV money from the first check for work that you do not complete as long as you understand that the item will not be insured anymore for the next storm and your mortgage company doesn’t withhold the funds until the work is complete.

Their name is most likely going to be on the check as well as you. Most of the time it is not a hard process getting the check endorsed. Very rarely though certain mortgage companies will withhold the funds until the work is complete.

We deal with all of this for you.

This happens on most claims. It is okay, and you can always supplement for items that they left off. The permit is a good example of something that is almost always supplemented for. It is important to note that your out of pocket remains your deductible no matter what items they do or do not pay for with a full roof replacement. If there are items that need to be addressed, we handle that for you.

A major component of a decent roof is drip edge. Drip edge is a 2 inch by either 2 or 4 inch piece of metal that goes along all of the edges of your roof. It goes under the drip edge on the peaks, and over the drip edge at the gutter line. The main purpose of it is to prevent water from curling under the shingle and down the fascia.

Throughout most of Colorado drip edge is required by building code. It definitely should be, although you find that in a lot of other states it is not required at all. Where I grew up in Alabama for instance, instead of using drip edge contractors overlap the shingles at the gutter line and bend them down to create a kind of waterfall into the gutter.

The drip edge that we prefer to use is 2 inches by 4 inches around the whole perimeter of the roof. The standard practice is to use 2 x 2 inches on the peaks and 2 x 4 inches in the gutter. Although slightly more expensive, when you put 2 x 4 around the peaks too, you are increasing that metals protection by 2 more inches which adds a lot more value to the project than the money you would save using 2 x 2.

**** Sidenote: If you are having your roof replaced, ask the contractor to paint the drip edge on the peaks to match the fascia if the color is not close. It looks much, much better this way.

A chimney cricket looks like a small, elevated roof behind a chimney which prevents waster from hitting the back of it dead on and causing leaks over time. The general standard for when to install one is when the chimney is wider than 30″ where the water is hitting it. This enables the water to flow around the chimney instead of running directly into it.

Step flashing is a type of flashing that goes where a roof meets a sidewalk and stops water from penetrating the roof as it rolls down into the gutter. The gap between the roof and sidewalks are a very common area for leaking, especially when the flashing is re-used and has holes in it. A lot of times insurance companies do not pay for this initially, but it must always be done and they will typically pay for it when they see the holes in it from where the shingles used to lay. We ALWAYS replace step flashing when you do a roof. This is one of the first corners cut by a low bidding contractor.

Asphalt shingles were first manufactured in the early 1900’s. By the 1950’s they had evolved into single layer strips of rolled asphalt with 3 tabs cut into them. This is what you see in the picture on the left. This is the standard 3 tab shingle. These were once the most common asphalt shingles in the marketplace.

As time went on and technology advanced, companies started to layer multiple strips of asphalt together and cutting the tabs in the top layer to give the roof a more dimensional look. This made the shingles much more attractive, and also resistant to things like age and weather. The thicker, more durable shingle was rated for much higher wind speeds, and also faired better with hail.

These days most companies in Colorado use architectural shingles across the board. If a roofing contractor is ever even offering 3 tab shingles, I would think twice about the quality of work that company does. Because they are so thin and blow off so easily, a lot of cities such as Longmont and Erie have banned them all together. One thing is for sure: if you are getting asphalt shingles, make sure the company that is installing them are not installing 3 tab shingles.

There is a great deal of variance in peoples preferences for having their valleys built in a way that exposes the metal called an “open valley”, or choosing to use a California Cut valleys where you cannot see the metal, if there is metal at all.

Here’s our opinion:

Open valleys: Some people prefer the way they look. Thats really about it.

Closed valleys: Most of the roofs that we put on use class 4 hail rated shingles. The valley metal will dent much easier than the shingles that we put on. So in the event of a huge hailstorm, the shingles might be fine but the metal will be dimpled and will not look good anymore.

The choice is pretty clear us: Closed valleys all day with metal, and ice and water beneath it for asphalt shingles unless the manufacture doesn’t recommend it.

One of the most important things to look into when choosing a roofing contractor is that they are licensed. Licensing allows you to pull a permit and have a roof inspected and the results documented for future records. Licensing works differently across the country. A lot of places have state-wide licensing. Some places have licensing by each different municipality. Some places have both.

Licensing in Colorado is done by each different municipality, either by city or county. This means that for every different part of the state your contractor has to get a license for that specific area, whether by city or county. This is a reason why some contractors try to fly under the radar and not obtain every different license in cities that they build a roof in.

Some places also have very, very stringent requirements for contractors to get licensed. Denver is a great example. In order to get a license, you must provide a list of 24 different jobs from 24 different months that you physically performed roofing work on notorized by either the property owners or the company that you were working for. You must also provide proof of insurance, have an insurance certificate with the city of Denver as a certificate holder, and a long list of other forms, documents, and requirements.

The important thing to take away here is that if you are hiring a contractor, especially in Denver, make sure that you check that they are licensed.