7 Types of Roofing Scams to Avoid. For so many years and still, homeowners fall victim to roofing scams. These schemes leave trusting families short on money and stuck with a shoddy roof on their homes. Scammers usually target those homeowners who are trying to manage home repairs without having a burden on their budget.
These con-artists will often seek out neighborhoods with a high percentage of senior citizens. Areas such as older housing stock and places that are prone to or are damaged by major storms are the target of these artists. Moreover, they also prey on the fear of people that their home is in danger and that the reputable home improvements companies are too expensive to get anything done from there.
The scammers will do the work fast with low-quality material and equipment and they also do not have the skill set to perform that work. Unethical roofers can be hard to spot but some clear warning signs should set off alarms in your head. Some of the common types of roof scams are listed below.
Storm Chasers
People who just encountered a storm would be the easiest prey for all these scammers. These scammers are also known as storm chasers because they follow bad weather events in different areas in search of damaged roofs. They would even travel from door to door to provide their pamphlets to the homeowners to get their attention. They would even convince you for a roof repair if your roof is not that much damaged for replacing.
The storm chasers would convince you that the insurance company can easily pay for replacing your roof but that is not the case always. Moreover, these storm chasers are often poor and they hit multiple homes at one time to gather as much money as they could for this purpose. They replace the roof with such low-quality material that it only lasts few years as compared to the high-quality roofing material which would have lasted more than a decade.
The Low Starting Bid
Some contractors offer such a low price that you feel surprised. Their price is way lower than any other contractor in the town. Your gut feeling would be telling you that this is wrong than believe it. However, once the work starts, the price could go up because of the lack of experience of these people and the tools they have to perform the task. Moreover, these contractors also use poor quality material which only costs you more in the longer run.
Mystery Damage
One day you get a knock on your door from a roofer and he tells you that after the storm he was visiting a house nearby and he noticed your house’s roof is damaged too. But in reality, it won’t be damaged. The roofer will tell such damages which would not be comprehensible and he will even take a closer look at the issue and then will tell you it needs to be done urgently.
As you do not have the experience of the roofs, you will fall into his trap and you will ask him to do. At this point, you will fall into his trap very easily.
Insurance Fraud
There is a way through which the contractor can commit insurance fraud by giving a low amount of bill to the homeowner and another high-value invoice to the insurance company to get more money from them.
High-Pressure Sales
Some contractors would show up suddenly to a consultation or sales presentation and would offer a one-day special deal for the homeowners to get their roofing started. The contractor will make false claims to the homeowner and they would start the work without any initial research,
Cheap Materials
Some contractors will even charge you for every single penny and they would even charge you for the poor material that they are bringing to your roof. When that roofing material gets damage, they would ask you to pay more to get more material. They will repair the roof with low-quality material and this will again cause you long-term cost damage.
Large Down Payment
One of the clear signs of a roof replacement scam is that the contractor would ask for a good amount of down payment to purchase the material and all that. Those con-artists take the homeowners’ money and you would never see them again.
Don’t get scammed by a scammer. If your home was damaged by hail and wind storms call Legend Roofs today in Norman, Shawnee, and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma at 405-352-7307.