How to Choose a Roofing Contractor

Verify these before anything else

1. A physical shop address

Not a PO box, not just a phone number. Ask for it and put it into Google Maps. After a hail event, out-of-state crews work a region for a season and leave, and your workmanship warranty leaves with them.

2. State contractor registration

North Dakota requires contractor registration for work over $4,000. Ask for the number and verify it with the Secretary of State. It takes two minutes and almost nobody does it.

3. Insurance certificates sent by the insurer, not the contractor

General liability and workers compensation. Ask for the certificate to be sent to you directly by their insurance agent. A PDF forwarded by the contractor can be expired or edited. If a roofer is injured on an uninsured job, the homeowner can end up carrying it.

4. Three local references older than two years

Anyone can produce three happy customers from last month. Two years tells you whether the roof held and whether they answered the phone when something needed fixing. A storm chaser cannot produce these, because they were not here.

Read the quote, not the price

Three quotes only helps if they describe the same job. A good quote states all of this:

• Square count and pitch. Everything else scales from this number.
• Number of existing layers coming off, and whether it is a full tear-off.
• Ice and water shield coverage, with the actual width at eaves and valleys.
• Underlayment type. Synthetic across the full deck, not felt.
• Shingle brand, line and wind rating. "Architectural shingle" is not a spec.
• Flashing: new or reused. Reused flashing is the most common hidden cut.
• Ventilation. Ridge vent footage, and whether soffit intake is being corrected.
• Per-sheet decking rate for rot found after tear-off.
• Dumpster, permit, cleanup and magnetic sweep.
• Workmanship warranty length, in writing, separate from the manufacturer warranty.

Hand two quotes to someone who knows neither contractor. They should be able to tell you which one is the bigger job. If they cannot, at least one quote is too vague to compare.

Five answers that should end the conversation

"We can cover your deductible"

Insurance fraud in North Dakota, and it exposes you as the homeowner, not just them. It also tells you how they handle everything else.

"We need a large deposit before we start"

Materials get delivered, then you pay. A big cash deposit before anything arrives is funding someone else's job with your money.

"Sign today for this price"

A real quote is valid for 30 days. Urgency at the door is a sales tactic, and after a storm it is often attached to a contract that assigns your insurance claim.

"We'll just go over the existing shingles"

Cheaper for them, and it traps moisture, hides the deck, and inherits whatever is already failing underneath.

"We'll caulk that flashing"

Caulk is not flashing. It is a two-year fix on a thirty-year roof.

Reading reviews properly

• Read the Google Business Profile, not testimonials printed on their own website. Those are typed by the contractor.
• Look at how they respond to negative reviews. Everyone gets one eventually. A calm, specific response tells you more than fifty five-star ratings.
• Check the dates. Forty reviews all inside one month is a campaign, not a history.
• Be suspicious of a profile with a perfect 5.0 across hundreds of reviews. Real businesses have a 4.6 and an explanation.

After a storm, specifically

A significant hail event brings door knockers within days. The filter that catches nearly all of them is one question: what is your shop address, and can you give me three customers in this county from more than two years ago?

Also, do not sign an "authorization to inspect" without reading it. Some are contingency contracts that assign your claim to the contractor and are difficult to get out of.

The order to do this in

1. Get the roof inspected and documented, ideally before calling your insurer.
2. Collect three written quotes with the line items above.
3. Verify registration and insurance on your shortlist.
4. Call the older references.
5. Choose on scope and verifiability, not on the lowest number.

Questions we get asked