The roof saga continues,
After my earlier experience discovering that my “intended” roofer didn’t think a starter strip was necessary just as i was about to sign a contract, I decided that I should get a few more quotes. 2 more bids came in – both reasonable and both appearing to be quality operations. I’m intrigued by the roofer who was touting his status as a GAF “certified Master Elite” contractor and his ability to give (through GAF) a full, non-prorated 50-yr warranty on materials and labor for all roof components. Sounds almost too good to be true.
Does anybody have experience with this arrangement? Is there real value here, or is it mostly marketing? Does the warranty fine-print spoil the deal? I understand that I would need to use the GAF roofing system, but that’s no big deal. On the face of it this sounds like good insurance that I won’t be stuck with the after-effects of poor workmanship (or the fate of my defective Horizon shingles) several years down the road.
What is the view of those who know better than I?
Thanks!!!
Rob
Replies
his ability to give (through GAF) a full, non-prorated 50-yr warranty on materials and labor for all roof components.
Think you'll be able to find the guy in 48.5 years? Will you be in the house in 20 years?
IMO Most of those warranties are great marketing gimicks and worthless, but who knows, do you have a link to to the actual warranty and it's limitations?
"Think you'll be able to find the guy in 48.5 years? "It doesn't matter if the guy is pushing up daiseys or waiting them in forty or fifty years. If he is indeed certified, the warranty is with the company. GAF.I agree it is mostly marketing and that a lot of companies try to sidestep honoring them ( after all, you are supposed to lose the paperwork, sell the house and move on in ten years) but in general, to become certified and keep that certification, you need to be pretty good, and do business practice in business-like ways, which are things that set you apart from 90% of the roofers in the country.
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is it transferable?
most home owners move after about 5-10 yrs.
and your warranty gimmick is gone
http://www.roofery.com/shingles/brands/gaf.html
Check out his pitch at the above site.
dave
I don't know if I have much relevant information to share, but I've been on quite a few roof warranty inspections with various manufacturer's reps (none in 20 years or so). It seemed that the manufacturer started with the premise (perhaps accurate) that their product was without defect and so any problem was either the fault of installation, or in the imagination of the homeowner.
Basically, they'd keep looking until they found a misplaced fastener or some such, and then try to shunt the whole deal to us, the builder. Unable to find any problem with nail-down? Well then look at venting or sheathing, and try to get the builder to prove that invisible stuff was done correctly. I once had a GAF rep point out several sheathing nails that missed trusses, and based denial of a claim on indications of poor quality control in the sheathing process. Obviously, no-one was going to tear things apart to see whether fasteners had been added to compensate for the misses.
The onus was then on us to prove whether or not this had any direct bearing on the complaint. Meanwille, the homeowner was becoming unhappy at what seemed to be a pissing contest that bore little on their interests. Guess who had the most at stake in resolving that. My involvement in these things met with near 100% failure, though we were one of the better builders around. I did learn a little about quality control, or maybe just CYA, and we started tapping-up any missed sheathing nails, even in blind attics, to assure that we really did cover all the misses.
It sounds as if I'm making a case against the shingle manufacturers, but in reality almost all roof problems really are the fault of installation or underlying factors. One exception was when shingles were not meeting their warranted life expectation in the American Southwest due to high UV. The manufacturers pushed back hard on that, so we had to be absolutely sure that venting & such was appropriate, and we eventaully won.
I never dealt with a roofer that was certified by the manufacturer, so I wonder how that relationship would work from the homeowner's perspective. This should quash one round of the blame ping-pong game, but I (perhaps too cynically) suspect that the framers & sheathers wouldn't then just get double-teamed and the homeowner would still be frustrated until the GC stepped up.
}}}}
I never dealt with a roofer that was certified by the manufacturer,
In most cases the only guy certified is the one back in the office in the A/C. At one time (probably 12-15 years ago), I had a Certainteed Master Installer Certificate. It was pretty much a joke - lots of good info in the book for someone that's never shingled before, but nothing that a guy that's been on the roof for a year shouldn't know inside and out. Nobody seemed to give a crap that I had it, so I never renewed.
View Imagehttp://grantlogan.net/
I'm wearing Mr. T's pants.
I was a GAF way back when.
Had to be insured and licensed where required, sit through a day or two of classes, let a comapny rep inspect your first job after that, submit a pile of paperwork, etc,etc,etc,I was getting listed with J_M too, but decided to get out of roofing before following up on all the foo-foo
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
One guy told me he had his 7 year old daughter take some of these tests and pass to be grand master poo paas but at least the guy took the time to read it.
Maybe I could hire her.
So the general consensus is that it's largely a marketing ploy and the GAF "certification" and warranty deal shouldn't be the deciding factor. Still, I don't see a downside as long as the roofer is solid. It seems like it gives me at least marginally more protection against defect and workmanship issues - we're replacing Certainteed Horizon shingles, so I can appreciate the idea of a non-prorated warranty. Do any of the roofers have recent experience with the GAF warranty program?
One additional twist that caught my eye - the "super-duper" warranty option ("Golden Pledge") includes a post-installation roofing inspection by a GAF rep and 20-yr workmanship warranty (100% replacement, removal and installation costs covered) backed by GAF, not the roofer. I think there's about a $250 upcharge for that option. Generally I avoid paying extra for an "extended warranty," but extra peace-of-mind with a $9,000 roof is a bigger deal than a $100 microwave. Am I just a sucker for a sales pitch?
Here's a link to the warranty info if anyone's interested.
http://www.gaf.com/General/GafMain.asp?Silo=RES1&WS=GAF
I think that extra inspection fee would be worthwhile,especially if the roofer knows the company is going to be checking his work for this purpose. He'll be making darn sure to do it right because that can jeopardize his certification for future jobs if he botches things.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
I would pay the $250 extra if the post-install inspection were truly done by a GAF employee. And if the final payment tothe installer were dependent on passing that inspection.
Or should that be "final payment to the installer was dependent" ?
"Put your creed in your deed." Emerson
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Edited 7/12/2007 8:30 am ET by FastEddie