If you’re ready to give your house a new roof, you can’t afford to waste time. The longer your unfit roof stays up, the more damage your home’s interior will have to suffer. If you view your home as a true investment, it’s crucial that you pay for high-quality work when it comes to roof repairs. Even if you think you’re investing in the best richmond roofing company around, if you find out your service isn’t licensed, you’re opening yourself up to a lot of trouble. Not only are you likely to get a poor result from choosing an unlicensed option, you could open yourself up to downright dangerous circumstances. When it comes to your home roof, you simply don’t want to take any chances with your safety. Before you choose a roofer who doesn’t know what he’s doing, here’s what you could gain by hiring someone with the proper credentials.
Licensed Roofers Can Get the Right Permits
Repairing or replacing your roof isn’t a simple or quick job, and anyone who tries to tell you that it is probably isn’t doing things by the book. While unlicensed roofers may well know what they’re doing, they probably aren’t up on the current statutes and laws about building in your neighborhood or area. Because of this, they might miss out on an important safety detail and cause you to pay thousands of dollars in fines on top of the cost of re-doing the roof work. This isn’t an ideal situation, especially if you just don’t have the money to spare. Fixing your roof is usually an expensive, long process that requires a lot of research and due diligence. If the roofer you hire isn’t licensed, they’re bound to try to conceal that fact by not going through the proper channels and not using the right procedures, materials or permits to get the job done. Don’t put yourself in a vulnerable position by hiring someone who simply doesn’t know what they’re doing.
They Won’t Cut Corners
When you hire a licensed professional for roof work, you’ll be able to know what they’re doing every step of the way. You’ll have a contract that will allow you to have some control over what materials get used and how your roof looks. If, at the end of a job, you discover that a roofer has cut corners and used cheaper or faulty materials to fix your roof instead of using the materials you agreed upon, you’ll be within your rights to sue or pursue damages. Your contract will protect you, and your roofer will have to complete the job as agreed upon or face you in court. When you hired a roofer who isn’t licensed, you could end up holding the bag for a poorly-executed job. You don’t want to risk putting yourself or your family in danger simply because you wanted to save a buck. Instead, pursue a licensed professional who will make sure the job is done right and on time.
Nothing Will Be “Under the Table”
It might be tempting to seek out an unlicensed professional if you don’t want to go through a lot of red tape or sign a contract. If you find a roofer who will accept an illegal or “under the table” payment for a lot less than you’d normally pay for such a job, you might think that it’s a better deal to just accept the offer and pay under the table. However, this could get you in trouble in a number of ways. First off, it’s illegal. Secondly, it could end up hurting your roof even worse if your roofer doesn’t know what he or she is doing. Finally, it means that you basically have no control over the situation should anything go wrong. While it’s always tempting to be able to pay less for something, it usually comes at a cost. That cost is either quality, safety, certainty, or all three. Don’t try to save a buck when it comes to your roof.
You’ll Have Insurance For Your Job
When you hire a licensed contractor, they’ll usually carry their own insurance. This allows you to not be personally on the hook for damages or hospital bills should anything go wrong on the job. If you hire a contractor who isn’t licensed, on the other hand, you could end up being held personally liable for any work-related injury that happens on your property. Even if the injury wasn’t your fault, the fact that the job doesn’t come with insurance means that you could be held liable in a court of law. Not only will your roofing project not be finished, you’ll have to deal with lengthy court battles and possibly a huge medical bill simply because you didn’t protect yourself by hiring a licensed worker.
