Joe Fallon is a homeowner in Utah. He has owned his home for ten years and has always maintained and up kept his home. When he noticed that his roof was leaking he logged onto his local search engine and found some local roofing companies. Joe obtained four separate bids from different roofing companies. He then looked over all the bids and decided to go with the cheapest. Joe called the company with the cheapest bid and they scheduled the work to be done.

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A year later Joe noticed his roof was leaking again. The company that had put on the roof offered him a warranty so he decided to give them a call to get it fixed. When Joe called the number on the business card he found out the number had been disconnected. With a leaky roof Joe had no choice but to call another contractor out to come fix the problem. It happened to be that the valleys on his roof needed to be tore out and reinstalled. There had been no step flashing installed on the chimney or along any roof to wall connections. This ended up costing Joe an additional three thousand dollars.

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If Joe had taken the time to research all the bids and companies again, he would have discovered that the company in which he selected was not licensed. Joe could have saved a lot of money and headache by a simple license search.

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It is becoming more and more frequent in the roofing industry to see unlicensed contractors and unqualified individuals doing work on homes. These individuals can offer their services at a much cheaper cost and promise to do the same quality of work. They will offer warranties, draw up contracts, and even advertise in your trusted local business listings. On the surface they can appear completely legitimate as a business and will make the homeowner feel at ease that they are getting it done right.

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What these companies or individuals don't tell you as a homeowner is what happens if something goes wrong. Since these companies are not licensed as contractors they are not able to obtain liability insurance or worker's compensation insurance. What does this mean to you as a homeowner? If you hire or obtain services from one of these companies you stand to be held liable for any mistake that these companies make. If a member of the crew doing work is hurt while working on your home, the compensation for medical or loss wages may come from your pocket. Any mistakes that are made on the roof will not be warrantied and any corners that were cut may end up costing you thousands.

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So when the time comes to have repairs done, make sure you take the time and double check the company you are about to trust your home with. Reference check, and get a good feel of the companies past work experience and find a company that is honest in all their dealing and will provide you with the best work and the most reasonable price.