It’s that time of the year again when we can experience bad storms, with hail or heavy rain. These storms can sometimes damage our roofs. More and more frequently, shortly after these storms come the ‘fly by night’ roofing contractors who knock on your door and offer to examine your roof for damage, at little or no charge. After a quick inspection, they convince you that your roof is damaged and either needs to be repaired or replaced. These ‘contractors’ tell you that your insurance will probably cover the repairs or replacement of the roof. You just need to put in a claim, and you can get a brand new roof.

   Except that, once they have your insurance money,  you may wait months and months for the new roof or in some cases you may never see the roofing contractor again. Now you’ve lost your insurance money, and in addition to that, the companies from whom the contractor ordered supplies may file a lien against your home because they were never paid for those supplies.

   Here are some basic tips to avoid roofing scams:

• Never allow an uninvited contractor to inspect your roof or to contact your insurance company directly.
• Say NO to contractors using high-pressure sales tactics or demanding that you make an immediate decision.
• Before you spend any significant amount of money on a new roof, contact your insurance company yourself and arrange to have an authorized adjuster come out and inspect your roof.
• Obtain bids from at least three different contractors and check each one with organizations like your local Better Business Bureau or look for Google Reviews. After a big storm, local roofing contractors can be backlogged due to high demand. If you look for roofing contractors in other areas, first check to see how long the company has been in business, are they local and how long have they been doing in business in that area.

Colorado law requires that a roofing contractor MUST provide a written contract which includes the following information:

• The approximate dates of service;
• The approximate costs of the services;
• The roofing contractor’s contact information;
• Identification of the roofing contractor’s surety and liability converage insurer;
• Information regarding your right to rescind the contract within seventy two hours if you insurance company denies Your claim.

A roofing contractor MUST include, ON THE FACE OF THE CONTRACT, in BOLD-FACED TYPE, a statement indicating that the roofing contractor SHALL HOLD IN TRUST any payment from the property owner until the roofing contractor has delivered the roofing materials at the residential property site or has performed a majority of the roofing work on the residential property.

Information taken from Stop Fraud Colorado