October 11, 2007 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

Nightmare in Mt. Airy Here’s a word to the wise …before the roof caves in
by SALLY COHEN

The names in this story have been changed to protect the foolish and avoid further conflict. But the intent stays true:  To share my maladventures in contracting for a new roof in hopes that the readers of this paper can make smarter decisions than I made.

Several years ago, it became clear that the flat roof on the multi-unit residential building I own in Mt. Airy needed replacement. It had been at least 15 years since the last one was installed , perhaps 20, and small leaks were beginning to show up in the building.

A preliminary bid from a well-known local company came in around $20,000 — not exactly pocket change. Then a pleasant and patient young roofer with his own one-man company came by and offered up almost the same deal, but for about $11,000.

Mr. OneManShow had done the roofs at two prestigious educational institutions in the area, one in Germantown and one near Roxborough. One of my friends, in East Mt. Airy, worked at the Germantown facility and had hired him to replace her home’s roof. Mr. OMS had worked for one of the established roofing companies in the neighborhood, another plus. When he threw in copper gutters, the deal was clinched.

I later learned that one of those educational institutions successfully sued him for  the failure of his $30,000 installation there. (“He was in over his head,” I was told. “We’re still having problems with the installation three years later.”)  My East Mt. Airy friend later discontinued this fellow’s services, mid-stream, on her home project, but I didn’t know that then.

And imagine my surprise when a friend who lives in East Falls mentioned her problems with a roofer one day; it turned out to be the same guy! The roofs on both our buildings were installed without being completed. But we wouldn’t know for another season  that the “flashing” hadn’t been installed. (“Flashing” is  metal or other material  that weatherproofs the junctures where the edges and protrusions on the roof meet the rubber roof material.) That’s like selling someone a dress without sewing the seams. Roofing is not “just” a project for the best deal.

Allow me to digress:  During the installation, I was sympathetic that the project was taking longer than we were told it would, and would likely be costlier . With work dragging, Mr. OMS hired several assistants. I found this because he gave a copy of my car keys — borrowed to move my car from the driveway — to a short-term worker.  Oops! The fellow disappeared the next day with the keys (which also opened the garage and house). A little drug problem, I was told. Oh. The roofer insisted that he economize by replacing the locks to my house and garage, which he did himself but with cheap, junky metal devices.

A great storm came up during the installation. Our roofer blamed his A.D.D. when he forgot to batten down the sheeting that covered the wide-open building. Actually that happened twice. When it rained outside, it poured inside.

Some interior walls were now moist if not wet, but the roofer insisted on having “his people” re-paint, because this had been such an expensive job for him. Well, his people weren’t very professional either.  They didn’t see the need to wait for the walls to be bone dry before starting. Well, I won’t go into all of the details except to say that I agreed to pay for part of the restoration of one room, thinking myself very fair, but then they ended up demanding immediate payment due to the threat of re-jailing one of the members of this troupe for non-payment of child support. That sort of thing.

In the past several years, I’ve repainted the ceilings of several rooms three times, essentially doubling the cost of the initial roofing job. The roof is not now warranteed, because Team B (another roofer) did the patch-up job but couldn’t guarantee the underlying work. And it still ain’t right. Time for another ceiling paint job; what is it now, every 18 months? The asphalt in the driveway has been torn to shreds by the water pouring off the roofline cornice during storms.  Mr. OneManShow still advertises on the net and occasional bus benches.

He said that after my project, he changed his contracts so that he wouldn’t be responsible for subsequent interior damage. A roof warranty is only going to be as good as the person giving it.  One rule-of-thumb people say is to double the number of years that the company has been in business, to estimate how long a warranty can really be relied on.

So here’s my advice, learned the hard way:

•ONLY use a roofer who provides a certificate of insurance. Their initial proposal must state:  Certificate of Insurance Available Upon Request. Request it. To get a contractor’s license in Philadelphia, they must provide proof to L&I that they have insurance.

•USE a roofer whom several neighbors can endorse.

•FAVOR local roofers.

•DON’T COUNT on the City of Philadelphia to enforce licensing regulations, even after you’ve been had. Sometimes they can help after 10 phone calls. Sometimes, not. This roofer turned out not to have a contractor’s license in Philly.

•NEVER hire anyone who uses a Post Office Box for his business address. Why are they reluctant to provide a real address?

•CALL former customers. Don’t just rely on an impressive list of references.

Now in the process of re-doing the re-do on this roof, I’ve begun to interview several local established companies. Once burned, twice shy, I expect to pay more with the expectation of higher service.

To that end, I’ll share my conversation with Mike Mulhern, for 20 years the owner of Apple Roofing in Mt. Airy, which along with Hopkins, Kurtz, C & C Family Roofing and several other respected local roofers dominate the community’s market here.

About 85 percent of Apple’s work is conducted within a five-mile radius of Mt. Airy, Chestnut Hill and Germantown. With a dozen full-time employees, he sends out two five-man crews. The company does not advertise but relies on word-of-mouth and lawn signs during installation.

Mulhern’s modulation was reinforced after a tragedy  during his second year in business.  His partner, Richard Riling, also in his 30s and the father of three sons, fell off a roof and died. Mulhern resolved to keep safety and respect for workers paramount in guiding the future of the company.

“I could hire 10 more guys tomorrow because we have the work. We sometimes lose work now because people don’t want to wait 6-8 weeks. But the company is as big as I want to be. I don’t want to be working all over the city. I want to sleep through the night. When I was younger, I once had 18 guys. It wasn’t worth it.

“Besides, you are working on a person’s castle. You break that little plant that that woman planted from seed, it doesn’t matter if you are a good roofer.”