When getting work done on your roof, you should make certain that the contractor you hire is competent and has the ability to get the job done correctly. Sometimes, however, things don’t always go as you would’ve liked them to, and the individual you end up hiring might not be all that he or she claimed to be.
It’s your right as the customer and the homeowner to put a stop to any work that you think isn’t up to the standard of quality you were expecting to receive. To understand if you have engaged poor roofing contractors Adelaide residents should look for these 4 signs.
Seeking an Excessive Amount of Money Upfront
One fairly clear sign that the roofing contractor you hired wasn’t the best choice you could’ve made comes if they start asking you for an exorbitant amount of money upfront before they’ve even started on the roofing job. What this tends to suggest is two different things, both of which are red flags for any homeowner looking to get quality roof repairs/installation done.
Either they’re asking you for so much money right from the start because they barely have enough as it is to continue working, which would suggest that their previous contracts did not end so well, or they’ve simply run out of available credit and are hoping to keep themselves afloat with a customer they can take advantage of. Don’t let that customer be you. Any request higher than around 15% of the total cost is cause for concern.
Consistently Failing to Meet the Expectations Outlined in the Contract
Another sign of a bad roofing contractor is someone who consistently deviates from the expectations that were originally outlined in the contract agreed upon between the two of you. This doesn’t so much pertain to contractors that might make one mistake, identify it immediately afterward, and then go straight to work on correcting it, but to a contractor who simply shows a blatant disregard time after time for doing the work you hired them to do.
This disregard might take the form of work that’s done poorly, work that’s done differently from what was outlined in the contract, or work outlined in the contract that never gets completed at all. Once they get started, a genuinely bad contractor shouldn’t be able to hide their true qualities from you as long as you’re paying attention.
Inconsistent Hours Spent Actually on the Job Doing the Work
The hours your roofing contractor spends at your home actually working on the job at hand is an excellent way to grade their overall professionalism and level of concern for their customer. A bad contractor is someone who shows up at random hours throughout the week or is absent entirely for large chunks of a particular day.
Keeping such a schedule without any sort of explanation, or by giving excuses when you confront them about it, suggests someone who doesn’t have any professional integrity or regard for you as their customer. If they have a legitimate reason behind their absences/sporadic scheduling, any good roofing contractor will be able to provide that reason to you, but the bad ones will avoid directly addressing the issue at all costs.
Unable to Competently Manage Workers
No matter how great a particular roofing contractor might seem to you, once they display poor management of the workers under their direction, you should immediately be concerned. The very best contractors are those who can work with you, the customer, on a regular basis in a professional manner, and direct and manage all their sub-contractors just as well.
Constant disputes among workers and things being done improperly or unsafely are all direct reflections of the head contractor who’s in charge of the entire operation. It’s their job to make sure their work site runs as smoothly as possible at all times; they should solve disputes whenever they occur and keep everyone in line so that the job gets done on time.
A contractor unable to effectively manage those working for him or her is a contractor you probably don’t want on the job.
There are plenty of quality roofing contractors in Adelaide who are great at what they do, but, at the same time, there also exists plenty of lousy ones. The signs to look out for when it comes to a less than stellar contractor include those who ask for too much money upfront, consistently fail to meet the expectations of the contract, keep highly inconsistent working hours, and are unable to manage their employees in a professionally competent manner.
Someone who displays these qualities shouldn’t be trusted to complete any roofing job in a manner that will end up giving you exactly everything you paid for.
