In today’s article we will do a deep diveon roofing contractors. Yes, by the name you can probably gather that they workon roofs however in this article you will learn that roofing contractors areactually responsible for a lot more tasks on your property than you think.
What do Roofing contractors do?
A roofing contractor is responsible forinstalling, maintaining, and repairing roofs on residential and commercialproperties.
When it comes to being a roofing contractormost work under two systems either they are self employed meaning they work forthemselves and are essentially their own business.
The other system is that they are employedby a larger building contractor and will usually work in a team with otherroofers and generally take on larger projects than their self-employedcounterparts.
Roofing contractors will work year-round regardless of the weather the reason for this being thatthe roof is arguably the most crucial component when it comes to keeping aproperty weather tight. If the roof was to fail, then this can lead to anunthinkable amount of damage to the property therefore rest assured thatregardless of the weather there will be a roofing contractor available to come to your aid.
How can someone become a roofing contractor?
Normally the individuals that becomeroofing contractors come from two avenues:
Builders
More often than not experienced housebuilders opt to become roofers. The reason for this is that after having workedbuilding properties for a number of years they will have learned and masteredall the skills required to be a successful roofer.
This also becomes a specialized route thatbuilders tend to use when they want to become more independent and set up theirown business.
Being a stand-alone builder is extremelydifficult if not impossible however an individual can take on minor roofingprojects on their own without too much trouble this leads to a higher earningpotential for the builder turned roofer and allows him to work un aideddepending on the project size of course.
Apprenticeships
The other route is to start as anapprentice roofer. This route involves a young individual typically a schoolleaver working alongside an experienced roofing contractor to learn all the necessaryskills to become a roofer.
While working alongside the experiencedroofer the apprentice will also attend a local college to gain the necessaryvocational qualifications required to be a roofing contractor.
When would I need to hire a roofing contractor?
Typically, homeowners would normally onlyengage a roofing contractor to carry out repairs or maintenance.
The exception to this rule is if you arebuilding your own house from scratch then you would likely hire a roofingcontractor to put the roof on your building.
Roofing contractors tend to be needed afterlarge natural events such as storms or fires this is because these type of eventscan cause no end of damage to the roof of the building and if the roof isdamaged it’s a matter of time before the rest of the building follows suit.
As the bulk of a roofer’s work ismaintenance and repair, they all tend to follow a similar process when theyarrive at any property.
What do Roofing contractors do when they arrive?
When a roofing contractor arrives at anyproperty the first thing, they will do is inspect the roof both externally andinternally.
This is to determine two things the extentof the work required and to establish if the property is safe or not.
Once they have completed their inspection,they will then provide an estimated cost for the repairs. This estimate willinclude a cost for materials labor and any specialist equipment they may needto hire to complete the repairs.
They will also provide a projected timelineof how long it will take to complete the work. This can be particularlyimportant because depending on the extent of the damage you may have to vacatethe property until the work is completed.
This is not always the case and isdetermined on a case by case basis. Of course, this can be inconvenient forhomes with young families this is why when the roofing contractor inspects thehome one of the first things, they do is to check that it is still safe.
This allows for time for you to make thenecessary arrangement to leave the property if required so do not be afraid toagree a time that works for you and the roofer at the end of the day they arethere to help get your home back to working order asap.
