Warranties

An industry fact is that almost all roofing contractors don’t fully understand the power of an extended warranty from the manufacturer.

Our Monterey Peninsula climate goes about 6 or 7 months with little to no rain.  That means many clients who put on a new roof in May, June or July must wait until the December rains to have their roofing dollars proven good.  Not only is choosing the right roofing contractor critically important, but also choosing the right roofing product with the right materials and workmanship warranty is crucial.  Warranty, particularly the manufacturer’s extended warranty option, is often misunderstood and overlooked.  Most roofers do not even talk about extended warranty.  A secret in the roofing warranty industry is that many of the basic roofing warranty are worthless to the consumer. Most are prorated with a nebulous “reduction figure” for today’s dollars to protect the manufacturer.  For example: if you paid $5000 for a roofing shingle product today, and 11-15 years later the product failed, the manufacturer might only pay out the prorated amount of 1/600 per month left on the warranty tied to an allotted dollar figure.

For a typical 3000 sf home with basic product, you might get back a couple hundred dollars!

The problem is that basic warranty does not cover “Labor costs, roof tear-off, metal work, flashing and disposal expenses”. (CertainTeed 2011 warranty pg 2.).  The costs to remove and replace the defective materials can add up to several thousands of dollars.  Another problem is that, due to inflation and increasing oil prices, the replacement shingles will cost much more as time goes on.

What if only a few shingles fail?  It happens!  The rebate on the shingles will be a few dollars … but the cost to remove and replace the shingles can be hundreds of dollars.  You can see that the manufacturer wins hands down.

You need to know that the basic material warranty protects the manufacturer far more than the homeowner.

There is a simple solution to all this.

Extended Platinum Warranties are a good example for consumer protection.  An extended Platinum warranty costs only $300 for a typical 3000 sf house.  There is no nebulous “reduction figure” and they are NOT prorated.  Furthermore, all labor, roof tear off costs, material, disposal fees, roof removal, and installation of materials are completely covered at no cost to the building owner! It even goes one step further.  If the roof leaks for any reason due to faulty workmanship, that leak will also be repaired at no cost to the homeowner.

How long does this warranty last, you ask?  25 years in most cases!

If you are in the market for a new roof, please ask your contractor to explain your warranty options.  They can be complex and confusing, but a good roofing contractor who is an expert in his field will be able to help you make perfect sense of every facet of your warranty options.