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Random Roofers - Chinese companies

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Feb 28, 2005
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Random Roofers - Chinese companies

Nothing racial here - I am Chinese Canadian and my parents are from Mainland China.

This has more to do with the unregulated roofing industry.

I've been looking for quotes and doing all the work for four units, we are town homes, so we are connected.

I've had quotes range from $2500 to 7K and up.

After a summer of getting quotes, doing research, I settled on Gitano roofing which gave us the lowest price with the best reputation online.

I was ready to present the contract to one of the neighbours and out of nowhere he tells me he is ready to go with a Chinese company which will charge them around 2K to do their 15 year townhome roof.
I warned them about the possible risks, etc... a few neighbours also had their roof done by a Chinese Company and the end result did not look good.

Anyone have had any experiences with roofing companies that have no websites, reviews... I've ask them to send me the contact for the roofing company, I would like to see references from them if they have done anything around the neighbourhood - all he knew was his name was Frank.

From my point of view, I would rather pay a little extra for some piece of mind with Gitano roofing since I know they won't disappear if anything goes wrong.
Damage due to RFD Since April 2013: $8758.00
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Jul 24, 2017
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There is the possibility of Frank offering only a tailgate warranty..

I would also pay a little extra for the piece of mind.
The picture of that company on homestars shows that they have a pretty big crew, so they probably aren't sub-contracting the work.
Was Gitano $2500 and Frank $2000?
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Feb 28, 2005
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dmangan wrote: There is the possibility of Frank offering only a tailgate warranty..

I would also pay a little extra for the piece of mind.
The picture of that company on homestars shows that they have a pretty big crew, so they probably aren't sub-contracting the work.
Was Gitano $2500 and Frank $2000?
Gitano was 4200+
Dropped to 3800k after neighbours got in as a group discount.

I got a quote from a Chinese company, whom I felt was scetchy, for around 2500 last year. Neighbour wants to go with unknown Chinese company.
Damage due to RFD Since April 2013: $8758.00
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Jul 24, 2017
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oh ok that's a considerable difference.
this is not an easy one. I have some roofing to do in a year or two and am still at a cross roads with this one.
the single crew companies do charge a heck of a lot less than the bigger companies with lots of overhead.
I'm hoping to find a smaller company that comes highly recommended.
just know the costs add up fast when you notice that water stain on your ceiling.
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Feb 28, 2005
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dmangan wrote: oh ok that's a considerable difference.
this is not an easy one. I have some roofing to do in a year or two and am still at a cross roads with this one.
the single crew companies do charge a heck of a lot less than the bigger companies with lots of overhead.
I'm hoping to find a smaller company that comes highly recommended.
just know the costs add up fast when you notice that water stain on your ceiling.
3800 isn't bad from a reputable company. When most others were around 7k. I've seen a few roofs done from these low cost companies, and they looked terrible. Shingles looked loose. The way it looked, I don't expect it to last long.

I need to know that the company doing my roof is one that I can trust. Although I'm a little sketched out by Gitano's near perfect reviews. It's still better than no reviews.
Damage due to RFD Since April 2013: $8758.00
Deal Guru
Jan 25, 2007
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Paris
My roofer from 5500 to do it "right" gave me 3 options each worth $500 to cheap out on (so would have been 4k). That's still GAF and the same guy doing the work. So there are lots of ways to cut corners.
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Dec 5, 2015
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blues45 wrote: Nothing racial here - I am Chinese Canadian and my parents are from Mainland China.

This has more to do with the unregulated roofing industry.

I've been looking for quotes and doing all the work for four units, we are town homes, so we are connected.

I've had quotes range from $2500 to 7K and up.

After a summer of getting quotes, doing research, I settled on Gitano roofing which gave us the lowest price with the best reputation online.

I was ready to present the contract to one of the neighbours and out of nowhere he tells me he is ready to go with a Chinese company which will charge them around 2K to do their 15 year townhome roof.
I warned them about the possible risks, etc... a few neighbours also had their roof done by a Chinese Company and the end result did not look good.

Anyone have had any experiences with roofing companies that have no websites, reviews... I've ask them to send me the contact for the roofing company, I would like to see references from them if they have done anything around the neighbourhood - all he knew was his name was Frank.

From my point of view, I would rather pay a little extra for some piece of mind with Gitano roofing since I know they won't disappear if anything goes wrong.
There was someone who got a "name brand" company with a website that ended up with horrible results as well

Edit.. this one

edward-element-inc-disaster-roofing-job ... #p23491039
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Jun 12, 2007
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Some no name companies are so busy they are strictly "word of mouth". One guy I know of does no advertising, no office phone and has a 3 month waiting list

The other side of the coin, my buddy neighbor set up a group buy with a sketchy guy. About a year later, the police were at my buddy's door looking for the sketchy roofing guy cause there was outstanding arrest warrant for fraud related to home renovations.
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l69norm wrote: Some no name companies are so busy they are strictly "word of mouth". One guy I know of does no advertising, no office phone and has a 3 month waiting list

The other side of the coin, my buddy neighbor set up a group buy with a sketchy guy. About a year later, the police were at my buddy's door looking for the sketchy roofing guy cause there was outstanding arrest warrant for fraud related to home renovations.
I received some referrals from no name companies. Their quotes were very high. I get worried when a quote seems too good to be true. $2500 for a townhome roof seems too low to trust. Can't justify it.
Damage due to RFD Since April 2013: $8758.00
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Dec 6, 2008
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We're not there yet where every company has to have a website and reviews, it's 2017, not 2050.
Remember construction is a different kind of business, there are more skilled and great workers who do not have online presence then there are those who rely heavily on internet.
Don't kid yourself, you're the one that pays for adds, websites, reviews and stuff, it comes out of your pocket, they just add it to their quotes.

As long as you talk to contractor, he seems knowledgeable about their work, won't take deposit, go ahead and book.
If you want to pay for browsing website, fancy quotes, and reviews, add $1k+ and congratulate your roofer for good online presence while he takes your hard earned money for nothing.

I find it funny that people buy their houses, they're made with cheapest shingles, sometimes no starter underlay whatsoever, and you live in that house happily for 15 years.
But when it comes to changing roof after 15 years, all of a sudden you need to make a bunker out of it, drip edge, ice & water, synthetic underlay for whole roof, new metal valleys, new flashing, etc...
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Dec 5, 2015
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Thornhill, ON
blues45 wrote: I received some referrals from no name companies. Their quotes were very high. I get worried when a quote seems too good to be true. $2500 for a townhome roof seems too low to trust. Can't justify it.
2500 seems about slightly high for a townhouse roof actually based on what I know friends and others paid in gta
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Feb 11, 2007
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Whoever you hire make sure you verify they have their own liability insurance as you don't want your home insurance to pay for a chinese guy's broken neck.
If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.
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Mar 23, 2009
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Gitano appears to do stuff to code but don’t expect too much above code, as that would add cost. Also, they really, really promote the IKO brand. I went with Gitano but chose Certainteed instead. Despite the fact that they charge more for Certainteed, the sales guy was telling me that IKO was better and Certainteed was lousy etc. I suspect he was sensing he was losing out on a commission bonus for IKO and thus started making up crap.

I had no big issues with their workers/subcontractors though. Pretty professional. Large well equipped crew. Brought in a crane to move all the shingles.
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Doubleshot wrote: 2500 seems about slightly high for a townhouse roof actually based on what I know friends and others paid in gta
2500 is high for a townhouse roof?
How much should I expect to pay? Who did your friends use?
Damage due to RFD Since April 2013: $8758.00
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blues45 wrote: 2500 is high for a townhouse roof?
How much should I expect to pay? Who did your friends use?
Depends on the size of the roof, but 2500 is cheap. There are many fly by night companies that will do it for cheap but they may not do it to code and may have sub par work. And as mentioned, they may not be properly insured.
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Jan 25, 2007
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EugW wrote: Gitano appears to do stuff to code but don’t expect too much above code, as that would add cost. Also, they really, really promote the IKO brand. I went with Gitano but chose Certainteed instead. Despite the fact that they charge more for Certainteed, the sales guy was telling me that IKO was better and Certainteed was lousy etc. I suspect he was sensing he was losing out on a commission bonus for IKO and thus started making up crap.

I had no big issues with their workers/subcontractors though. Pretty professional. Large well equipped crew. Brought in a crane to move all the shingles.
I don't know anyone that likes IKO. I did my kids playhouse in them and regret it.
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Jerico wrote: I don't know anyone that likes IKO. I did my kids playhouse in them and regret it.
What is the issue?
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EugW wrote: Depends on the size of the roof, but 2500 is cheap. There are many fly by night companies that will do it for cheap but they may not do it to code and may have sub par work. And as mentioned, they may not be properly insured.
There is no code for replacing shingles..and a townhouse roof as op says he has isn't going to be big unless he has some sort of special 30' wide townhouse?

Point is high price doesn't mean high quality and vice versa.

It's not rocket science to replace shingles and for a townhouse or a small under 1800 sqft house it's not not suspiciously cheap to do it for 2500.
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Aug 29, 2011
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Doing it cheap often also means they won't pull off the old roof and just shingle over it. I'm guessing any new shingle manufacturer warranty would be void doing this.
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Doubleshot wrote: There is no code for replacing shingles..and a townhouse roof as op says he has isn't going to be big unless he has some sort of special 30' wide townhouse?

Point is high price doesn't mean high quality and vice versa.

It's not rocket science to replace shingles and for a townhouse or a small under 1800 sqft house it's not not suspiciously cheap to do it for 2500.
Uh, of course there are code requirements for replacing shingles.

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