Journeyman Roofers

A roofing contractor in my area posted this wild text and it bears review. Although similar in name,

IT IS NOT ME!!!

No other Roofing Contractor in Northern California inspects more roofs, solves more roof leak problems, repairs more roofs, or issues roof certification on more homes than ROOF DOCTORS. Roof repairs on your home are professionally performed by our license-quality repairmen who must exceed our rigorous roof-repair-quality standards before they are allowed to work on your roof. ROOF DOCTORS never uses any untrained, inexperienced, or unsupervised laborers, nor any apprentice or journeyman roofers to work on the roof of your home which is the common practice among other roofing companies.

And we should be thankful that it is a common practice. As far back as I can remember, my Dad and my Uncles all spoke of journeymen card holders with the deepest respect. As I grew up, I learned that it was actually easier to become a licensed contractor than a journeyman tradesman.  At any rate, being a contractor and operations manager, whenever I was lucky enough to run across an actual journeyman roofer I hired them instantly because they are so rare and valuable.

But don’t take my word for it.

Journeyman Status Part 2 or: "I have a bridge for sale?"

 PART TWO:

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

In modern apprenticeship systems, a journeyman is a man who has a tradesman certificate that required completion of an apprenticeship. In many countries this is the highest formal rank (that of master having been eliminated) and allows them to perform all the tasks of the trade within the area where they are certified, to supervise apprentices and to become self-employed.

In the United States, employment in the building trades, such as an electrician or plumber or carpenter, usually requires that a person holds a state or local (city or county) license as a journeyman or master. The journeyman license certifies that the craftsman has met the requirements of time in the field (usually a minimum of 8000 hours) and time in an approved classroom setting (usually 700 hours). A journeyman has the responsibility of supervising workers of lesser experience and training them, in addition to having the qualifications (knowledge and skills) to work unsupervised himself. A journeyman is commonly expected to have a wide range of experience, covering most fields of his trade. For example, a non journeyman worker of some 20 or 30 years experience may have most or all of his experience in only residential, commercial or industrial applications. A journeyman however, has a broad field of experience in residential, commercial, and industrial applications.

And so for these reasons, I do not comprehend the pride the above individual seems to take in not working with any journeyman people.

The only plausible explanation would have to be that he does not know what the term means.

While we are on the topic terminology,  what precisely is a “license-quality repairman”?  If this is not a made up classification, It would be really astonishing. As a matter of fact, I will bet $500.00 right now that this person could not show credentials for 5 journeyman roofers in his employ let alone countless "license quality repairmen."

 And where do all of these people come from? This would mean that this company has gained access to an endless supply of people that could have a contractor’s license if they wanted but would rather work for someone else. An amazing accomplishment that no other roofing company anywhere has ever been  able to attain.

And in addition, please send me a copy of the "rigorous repair standards" manual, handbook or guide, by which all of your licensed quality repairmen are so strictly bound since by definition there must be one otherwise they are not standards. And how could so many rigorous standards possibly be enforced without one when after all: "No other Roofing Contractor in Northern California inspects more roofs, solves more roof leak problems, or repairs more roofs."

That sure seems like a lot to swallow from a three sentence paragraph. What do you think?

Uh Oh, the grammar police are out again! No, and not the physical address police either as was so eloquently put in a reply to me when I mentioned all of the vacant properties they are advertising as their business locations.

I am just pointing out that words have meaning and when the meaning is not in alignment with reality..... you tell me.

VISIT ROOF DOCTOR

Are Sole Proprietors Incompetent?

I recently saw this writing on a publication and could not resist a comment.

First there is this:
"The business has always been built on a foundation of honesty and integrity.
We have no need to insult our competitors"

Then proceeds to insult the majority of the contractors in the state of California with the following:

LIMITATIONS OF SOLE PROPRIOTER ROOFING COMPANIES

The limitations of some sole-proprietor Roofing Companies are: answers their own phones; does what little marketing they can; criticizes their competitors who they know nothing about; has to perform their own inspections because they don't have anyone else in their company competent enough to do them; performs their own roof repair estimates; prepares their own paper work; buys their own roofing supplies; oversees any office staff; directs their roof repair crews or roof replacement crews; completes their own repairs; hires workers with little or no experience; has to be onsite to manage every job because they can't leave their inexperienced workers unsupervised for fear they will make mistakes; deals with customer complaints and relations; follows up on leaky roofs that they had repaired; comes to rely upon the roof inspection fee, which they charge up to $100 or more for, as their primary source of income since they perform very few actual roof repairs; and, the list goes on and on.

These roofers do not have the financial resources to hire competent workers to whom they can delegate responsibility or leave unsupervised. Therefore, it isn't any wonder that when it gets just a little bit busy, that these roofing companies are: unable to answer their phones; will never return phone messages; will return a phone call days or weeks later; they don't show up when they had promised; they can't take on any more work because they are scheduled out for weeks in advance; and, when they do show up, they charge up to $100 or more for roof reports that contain expensive or unneeded repairs, or they call for an immediate roof replacement. These types of companies do such a low business volume, have such inexperienced workers, and are so understaffed that they become overwhelmed when there is even a slight increase in business demand. As a result, they become unreliable and are unable to properly assist their customers that are in need of immediate service.

Are you serious? If you are a sole proprietor you cant afford competent help?
Do you actually believe this? Better yet, do you actually think anyone else does?.
Second when did it become a negative to :

Do you own inspections

Oversee your office staff

Direct your crew

Manage your jobs

Deal with customer complaints and relations

And, if you do not do any of these things yourself...what do you do?


And while all of us lowly sole proprioterships in California may not possess the honesty or integrity or the vast corporate recources that you do, as for my company, we do manage to have our own name on the door at both of our shops and list our home address as well. We are not listing any vacant properties, other peoples offices or mail box stores as our big time corporate offices.

VISIT ROOF DOCTOR

Insurance Fraud, Be an Educated Consumer

Be an educated consumer, please take a few minutes and read this article.

Paying for deductibles, even partially, is illegal in Texas.

Paying for placing a sign in an insured’s yard is in fact considered a rebate since the insured receive a betterment from their loss.  When you submit an invoice to the insurance company to recover the depreciation do you show that you paid the insured?  Do you show that you collected the FULL and required dollar figure?  If not, and you stated that you collected hundreds or even thousands less than the correct deductible, the insurance company would reduce the recoverable depreciation by the amount you discounted the deductible.

I’m seeing language on claim summaries now that address this issue informing insured’s that it’s illegal for them not to pay their fully required deductible.

Examples:

1. Insurance claim for a roof is estimated by insurance at $10,000.
2. Insured (homeowner) has a deductible for $1,500.
3. This means the insurance company’s portion of “buying the roof” is $8,500.
4. However, along comes Roofer X who only charges the home owner/insured $500 and not the full amount.
5. Roofer X is telling the insurance company they should send out the balance of the claim (the rest of the amount due) and the insurance company now things they have satisfied their part.
6. If, on the other hand, Roofer X were to send in an invoice with the dollar figure of $500 paid by homeowner/insured and NOT $1,500, then the insurance company would then back off their final check by the amount that Roofer X did NOT collect.
7. Homeowner/insured is happy, however, because they just paid less than they were supposed to (“hey, it’s OK; everyone does it, right”).

WRONG.

Fact: The very moment Roofer X sends off a false invoice showing a higher dollar amount collected from homeowner/insured, then Roofer X has committed fraud.

Fact: If Roofer X provided an invoice to the homeowner/insured and they (not the roofer) then forward this off to insurance, both parties have now committed insurance fraud, however the homeowner has also committed wire fraud and they are also committing collusion (conspiring to perform an illegal act)…. How nice; Roofer X has just dragged the homeowner down right along with them.

It’s really quite simple:

Find a roofing contractor (DK Haney Roofing) that has good references and one that you think will provide you with the highest level of service and do the best quality job.  Pay your full and legally required deductible.

If you have a problem with your deductible, then maybe you need to rethink your premiums.  A higher premium will mean a lower deductible, but you, the consumer, are the one who makes that choice.

Now, one scam (“on the behalf of the homeowner/insured”) is that Roofer X could pay to place a sign in someone’s yard that they are not re-roofing, that’s legal but it’s also not very likely.

Since roofing is by its very nature dangerous and potentially deadly these kickbacks can be considered a first degree felony offence.  At the minimum it’s a state jail felony.  If you get caught doing it multiple times they will aggregate the charges.

All it takes is an insurance company’s SIU Department to audit an insured.  Or the Texas Department of Insurance to investigate.  See Chapter 35 Insurance Fraud Section 35.02(7)(B).

*Information provided by the North Texas Roofing Contractors Associate.

With DK Haney Roofing…

You don’t have to worry about insurance fraud.  We will never ask our customers to do anything illegal.  Our job is to provide you with quality service at an affordable rate. 

If you feel like you are being pressured by Roofer X, call DK Haney Roofing and we’ll help solve your roofing problem today!