Debra J. says, "The problem:
10 years ago my nephew's friend redid my roof on the manufactured home I'd bought 2 years prior as a bank repo. It turns out his friend did not know as much about roofing as he claimed, and I started having trouble with leaks within 2 years. Last winter, 10 years after it was done, a 3rd leak started dropping water inside my window - that was covered by a carport! The water had to travel a ways to get there, so I knew I was in trouble and couldn't put off dealing with it any longer.
The estimate & selection of contractor:
I requested estimates from 3 companies, and 3 more that contacted me through Thumbtack asking to do an estimate. There was a wide difference between the estimates - they went from $8,500 all the way up to $26,000. When Dale of TGR came to meet with me, he was looking to fill in some specific dates due to a large project they had on the schedule that was delayed, so he could keep his crew working steady. He made a very fair offer to do my roof. He was not the cheapest, but his price was reasonable based on what I'd gotten from others, and a long way from the highest estimate. The cheapest one was so much lower, that it made me nervous that it was too good to be true. Dale
explained that their shingles were from a company that used recycled materials in their shingles, and had granules with antibacterial stuff on them that would reduce the growth of the bacteria that attracts moss. Knowing I'd need quite a few pieces of the roof decking replaced, he included a few extra at no charge along with the 3 sheets that were already incl in the price, which helped keep the costs down, because we used them all plus a couple more.
In addition, I had asked every company I spoke with if they were interested in sinking 4 twelve foot posts 2-3 feet into the ground for me. TGR was the only company that was willing to do it from the start, and at a very reasonable price. One other company, after I told them I was going with TGR, said they would've done it if they'd known it was a deal breaker for me. It wasn't, but finding someone who agreed to include it from the start did influence my decision. He also discounted the price by what it would cost me to have Dish come out and reinstall my satellite dish once the roof was finished. I would have assumed they would put it back up, if he hadn't mentioned it. They don't have the tools to calibrate them, so they don't. By the time we finished talking through the contract, I'd also decided to ask them to do my gutters so I wouldn't have to worry about the top of the house other than basic maintenance for a long while. I also liked that their gutters don't have spikes showing on the face, leaving a cleaner look.
The progress:
This company has a good crew, who told me they have all worked together for quite a while. Low turnover says something about how the company treats its people. They worked well together, and many of them are able to do multiple things well, such as roofing, gutters, carpentry, etc. Being completely honest, before they got started, sometimes their communication was a bit last minute because someone was on vacation and others were trying to cover - such as when they had to delay starting by a day and didn't notify me till the night before, but forgot to tell me materials would still be delivered that day. However, I want to make it clear that I WOULD still use them again because the overall experience and result was worth that little inconvenience. Plus, once they started - the communication was great. When they started the tear off of the old roof, Martin (on site project lead) kept me informed with pictures of any issues they ran into. I never questioned if I was being hustled for work that wasn't needed. They determined the sources of the leaks we'd been having inside the house to make sure those were addressed. They treated areas that didn't need to be replaced to make sure no dry rot would continue to happen. They used ice shield barrier for all the valleys and other higher risk areas for leaks. They repaired a vent pipe that was too short and the cover had been improperly installed on, which was causing water damage to the ceiling.
The crew even asked what my plan was for the posts they were putting in, and paid attention to the fact that I planned to tie in a new porch cover from the fascia to the posts. As soon as they heard that, they double checked that the fascia had no dry rot, and would be strong enough to provide that support I'd need. If they hadn't asked what I was planning and paid attention, my new porch cover could've come down this winter, because the bolts would've gone into an area that wasn't as strong as it needed to be.
The completion:
They were always friendly and polite, and even worked on Saturday to make up the 1 day late start. Kept me informed, responded to my questions, and even helped me to get up on the roof to see the finished product. Thanks to TGR and it's crew, I won't be worried about leaks this winter, clogged gutters creating waterfalls over the side of the house and the repairs I had to do to my porch because of one of the leaks causing massive dry rot there will not need to be done again.
They laid out tarps during tear off to protect my freshly stained deck, and cleaned up behind themselves when they were finished. You should expect to find occasional nails, etc. even after they leave. This is almost impossible to avoid - they went over the property twice with a magnetic roller, and I even did it again with my own and my teen went out with his magnets after that. I still find the occasional nail or staple that even the magnet couldn't find because I have a lot of landscaping. I know they did their best.
Overall result:
I have no regrets about hiring these guys, and would use them again. I referred them to my daughter, who had her gutters replaced by them as well, and they look great.
Before and after photos:
I've included photos for you to see how bad it was. The first 5 are "before" pics, the rest are "after" photos including one I took of the posts they sunk for me, which are now doing their job holding up my 30 foot porch cover!
Thanks TGR for your hard work!"See more
