I have been catching up on my periodical reading and was proud to see an article about Black Roofing and be reminded of their work on the Denver Art Museum in July's issue of Professional Roofing Magazine. It is certainly inspiring to see what our industry is capable of achieving with hard work, dedication, and thinking outside the box. What an incredible project, congratulations guys.

Well executed projects like that make me proud to be in this industry. Conversely once a storm hits a lot of that pride is washed away by what transpires afterward when hail has ravaged an area. In the wake of the recent storm hitting approximately 18,000 homes in the Denver Metro Area it is nothing short of blood in the water and the sharks are pouncing before the last hail stone drops. The positive qualities demonstrated on projects like the Art Museum seem to be replaced with other qualities driven by greed or desperation. Yes, those are some broad strokes and I am not anti-storm chaser but in many cases the shoe fits. Storms seem to bring out the worst in our industry and here are just a few things our staff, previous/current clients, and other roofing companies have noticed in the areas recently hit by hail that negatively impacts consumers as well as the reputation of our industry.

In our company's recent experience meeting with potential clients in the affected area you immediately sense their apprehension after having had a plethora of people knocking on their door to try and close their business. The tactics are usually the same; instill fear, hard sell, and high pressure. People are being hassled on the way to their cars, doing gardening, or any other activity that may put them in the line of sight of a salesmen/door knocker. In a weird way, I almost admire their persistency but wonder if it could not be channeled in a better direction. I am sure after having had a ton of canvassers knock at their door repeatedly a Jehovah's Witness would be a welcomed sight.

After the initial accosting on behalf of the doorknocker/salesmen, the potential customer is typically promised a new roof with no money out of pocket, waiving the deductible, and possibly an upgrade to an impact resistant - regardless of rules and regulations. Just sign here______________, with no price, no scope of work, and a penalty if they terminate the contract. The customer immediately assumes a vulnerable position by signing such an undefined contract. Although I am sure they appreciate the fact there is no money out of pocket or at least that is how it initially appears. Does the consumer even know that technically they could be breaking a law by waiving the deductible?

Let's switch perspectives for a second from consumer to industry peer. By my calculation, waiving the deductible and upgrading is easily between $1,000 to $1,500 off the top for a job equating to a $7,000 sale. On the high end that is 20% off the job in an industry that is lucky to net profit between 5-10%. Obviously the math does not add up and reasoning would tell you something else must be going on. It could be any number or a combination of things but my guess would be the following; the contractor operates on a razor thin overhead putting questions in my mind about stability, quality, and longevity or inferior products are being used. Either way these practitioners are hurting our industry by creating unreasonable expectations from the unknowing customers to dabble in their shenanigans. But this type of thing has been going on for quite some time and I am sure will continue. What is becoming even more concerning nowadays is the insurance representative aspect of the storm industry.

Maybe I am being unfair to my hail chasing brethren and looking at things from the wrong perspective, let's assume that the door knocking is just good old fashioned hard work and dedication, let's assume there is some sort of gray area of waiving deductibles that does not break the law, and let's assume the extreme under cutting of pricing is just the natural evolution of business. I would say I can almost live with all that, but now I am seeing something I cannot tolerate. We are seeing insurance representatives who have a vested interest in a particular roofing company(s). I think one of my friends said it best when he referred to this partnership as "incestuous". It may be time for some of these individuals to brush up on the summary of 10-4-120, Colorado revised statute. To paraphrase one of the key components of this statute says the agent may not coerce the claimant into picking a specific company and they may select one of their choosing. It has become apparent there are insurance representatives out there who have either not read this information or choose to ignore it by not only recommending particular companies but even going as far to say they will have problems if they do not choose the representative's recommendation. I cannot see how there could be any gray area. It has also come to my attention there are agents calling roofing companies to see if they will absorb deductibles and pay for upgrades. If the company does not agree to these practices they hang up and call the next roofing company. This just crosses the line for me and I think it is time to address some of these issues. I am not sure the CRA can be of assistance but I can say for one I will be reporting this anytime it comes to my attention. I hope everyone adopts this reaction to make some examples of people and companies who willingly lie for their own benefit.

In a somewhat non-related storm content but highly related moral content I recently learned a somewhat newer roofing company is trying to drive consumers to their website by purchasing key words that have another more reputable company's name in their key words, I think I have that story correct if not exact you get the point. Using somebody else's hard earned reputation to benefit your own company, if karma exists I would be crapping my pants.

I have not even touched upon the negatives of the actual installation or post job warranty issues; this article could be ten pages long. Like almost any other industry there are going to be bright sides and dark sides to certain aspects. I may be jaded because I still think of ourselves as craftsmen to an extent and not just roof churning machines. I cannot help but wonder how some people sleep at night knowing they are using less than scrupulous ways of getting and doing business. Do they justify it by saying they need to make a living to put food on the table? Does it become such old hat there is no recognition of it? I have no idea, and if this article sounds condescending you may want to check yourself before you wreck yourself.

Kirk Tiley
Tiley Roofing, Inc.
CRA President