Hi everybody! This is Tracy Bookman owner of Homestead Roofing and welcome to
today's weekly walk in the park we've got a bonus episode today in light of
what just happened in Colorado Springs yesterday. Anyway this is where we take
three minutes to answer your questions about roof repairs, roof replacements, and the
insurance claim process. So today's question very important one
again like I say in light of what happened in Colorado Springs yesterday
should I give a roofer any money up front?
So yesterday Colorado Springs got pounded with a pretty good hailstorm.
Some parts of town it was actually the third one this week and so you can
expect all of the canvassers to start hitting the neighborhoods they were
probably even out last night knocking on doors asking people if they want their
roofs inspected. And so here's what happens okay? The scams are that roofing
contractor will get a contract signed an agreement signed whatever you want to
call it with a homeowner and will ask for a deposit oftentimes if the
homeowner hasn't already filed an insurance claim
and hasn't received an insurance check they're gonna just wait until that
insurance check arrives but once that insurance check shows up the roofing
contractor asks for it and takes it basically takes the money and runs so a
few years ago there was a roofer here collected about five hundred thousand
dollars never did any work took off with the money nobody ever heard from him
again actually there is a roofer in town right now that has had his license
revoked and all kinds of things because just last year and the year before he
was doing the exact same thing and I still even see his ads show up on
Facebook so that's the kind of thing that you have to watch out for Colorado
in 2012 passed Senate Bill 38 which states that a roofer is not allowed to
collect a deposit unless he's going to hold those funds in trust until
materials have been delivered to the roof or to the property so basically the
answer the question and should I give a roof or any money upfront no and if a
roofer demands money up front you should ask him if he's going to hold it in
trust and if he's not definitely do not give a roofer any money up front
once materials are delivered to your property
and he has the right to ask for a deposit but not until that point so if
you don't have materials at your property yet
don't give the roofer any money or be sure that he stipulates that he's going
to hold that in trust and he's not going to deposit that into his general account
that's the answer if you can find a roofing contractor that doesn't even
require a deposit until materials are at your property
that's even better. Hopefully that answers your question about whether or
not you should give a roofer any money up front. If you've got any other
questions especially now that hail season has
started especially we've gotten this whopper hailstorm yesterday please give
us a call we actually have a trifold brochure that we can get you we can even
send you to a website that has the same information but we've got this trifold
brochure you see if I can pop that in here right here "The 12 mistakes Most
Colorado Homeowners Make After a Hailstorm and How to Avoid Them" it's
great information to have we'll be covering some of that information on our
weekly videos but you can also request this brochure and we'll get that to you
otherwise give us a call at our office at 4:33 right here 4 3 3 6 9 9 1 we'll
answer any of your questions. You can also go to our website right down here
HomesteadRoofingColorado.com where we've got tons of tips information and
education for homeowners and we will see you next week on our weekly walk in the
park.