Picking the cheapest roofing company for your business can cause big problems later. We explain why you shouldn’t choose the lowest-cost roofing contractor for your commercial roofing job.
You’ve heard the saying before: You get what you pay for. Here are the major risks you face when choosing cut-rate contractors.
Materials Bait-and-Switch
What You See Is Not What You Get
When a roofing contractor gives you a low price, they will need to save money in other ways. The easiest way for a contractor to lower their costs is to use subpar materials.
But commercial roofing customers are smart. They want to know that their commercial roof uses the best materials available.
Unfortunately, less scrupulous roofing contractors will say they are using the best materials. They may even show you the top-of-the-line materials they use. But when the work actually starts, the high-quality materials are nowhere to be found.
Not only does this give you a weaker roof, but it can even ruin your ability to stay protected by warranties.
Compromised Roofing Warranties
Many factory warranties demand the use of certain products in the roofing installation. If you need to use the warranty and find out the roofer did not use the right stuff, you might have to pay a lot of money.
Inexperienced Labor
The second easiest way for a contractor to save money is to pay their workers less. The only way to get enough crew for the job while paying as little as possible is to hire workers with little or no experience.
Using Your Roof For Practice
Why would someone agree to work for less pay? Because they want to use your commercial roofing project to learn the trade.
Cut-rate roofing contractors can pay low rates because they offer ‘on-the-job’ training to inexperienced crew. Sure you get a lower quote, but now your roofing project has become a guinea pig.
Unreliable Timelines and Estimates
Low-cost contractors are less likely to invest in high-quality project management systems and the staff that they require. That means they rarely deliver accurate estimates or timelines for your roofing project.
Beware The Elevator Ride
That quote might have looked good, but the cheap contractor keeps reporting delays and unexpected expenses. Your timeline gets longer and longer, and your bill keeps getting higher and higher.
Whether it’s from poor management systems or outright dishonesty, you are more likely to face this elevator ride when using cheap contractors.
Worker Pull
Cheap contractors are also far more likely to face cash flow constraints. What does that mean for you?
If the cheap contractor is halfway through your job and runs out of cash on hand, they will pull workers from your site to finish up other smaller jobs in the hopes of bringing in some quick cash.
At best, your timeline gets extended. At worst, your workers get replaced with inexperienced labor that compromises your roof’s integrity.
Risk of Property Damage and Customer Injury
Most important of all is the risk of damage or injury. Long after your cheap contractor has cashed their check, their corner cutting is still hurting your business.
When your roof suffers a sudden, premature failure due to their shortcuts, you pay the price.
Choose Reliable Professionals
In the end, the choice is simple. Choose professionals with years of experience and tons of satisfied customers.
Research your roofing contractors on Facebook and Google. Look for photos of completed projects. Read customer reviews.
Ignoring this advice and going with the lowest quote will only lead to more headaches and more expense down the road.
Check Us Out
At Perry Roofing Contractors, we’ve been installing commercial roofing systems for more than 40 years. We’ve racked up a lot of happy customers over that time.
(Take a look at our commercial roofing projects to see some of our most recent work!)
Give us a call today and see how our professional roofing experience can solve your commercial roofing problems!