Western Roofing Specialists

The bidding and estimation part completed by Jeff Carsons was excellent. The execution and communications was less than average. My roof, siding, and deck had hail damage. There were multiple contractors subbed out to do the work and we rarely got a fore notice until I sent an email to someone to get some kind of status. Now we have bill and I'm not sure if this is the final invoice of or if it's meant for the insurance company. The level of miscommunication is that high. What they need is a very good project manager that doesn't even need to know the product but just knows customer service. Jim Gelsomini RESPONSE FROM Western Roofing Specialists: What can we say? They were correct. We did seem to have issues with communications from our non-roof contractors this time and are reviewing possible ways to keep this from happening again. Here is our emailed response to our customer: "First, we want to thank you for giving a review to Customer Lobby. We do appreciate the feedback and will most certainly use it to refine our processes and improve our services. We apologize that we failed to communicate thoroughly and in a timely manner. This is such a big aspect of any project, and it's key to giving great customer service. Besides the obvious need to make more phone calls, is there anything else you can specifically suggest that we could have done to have made your project one that would have earned a glowing review? We plan to take your suggestions to heart and discuss them in our next sales/production meeting. As for the final invoice, it is the final that was also sent to [your insurance company}. They are one and the same. Please feel free to contact us with any questions. Thank you for giving Western Roofing Specialists the opportunity to serve you! " more

Uses estimates for everything which is something I feel is very important in an economy like today. Kept lines of communication open at all times. All staff were friendly. more

Western Roofing put on our roof for us. I really enjoyed working with Jeff. They told use they would be done in 3 days but were done in just 1 day. Everything turned out great. They accidentally damaged some ran gutters but they replaced them with brand new rain gutters without me even knowing. I thought that was very professional. more

Western Roofing Specialists did excellent work on the roof. They also provided an excellent product. The outcome was great, but there were extremely long delays and some misinformation with the calendaring. RESPONSE FROM Western Roofing Specialists: We are happy that our customer is happy with the work and result! They do have a beautiful, impact resistant roof and the best warranty ever (a true fifteen-year workmanship warranty against leaks which includes interior repair). Although the delays were unavoidable due to the necessary wrangling with their insurance company, our full production schedule and the weather, we do apologize for allowing a perception that the project could be worked through on a more rapid timeline. It is our policy to inform our customers on what to expect, as best we can given that roofing is an outdoor construction project, and we drill this policy into our excellent sales team on a regular basis. However, the lament over delays comes up fairly often and is worth addressing here. We face stiff competition from roofing companies that are here today and gone tomorrow and who can take a project from sales to final walk-through fairly quickly. Yet, these are companies that are not local, usually, often fail to honor any warranty they might promise. They hire big crews that all live in hotel rooms together and who are not held to the standards of quality to which we hold our crews. We are all too familiar with the problems homeowners face down the road when they prefer a quick execution to a solid, thorough, long-lasting partnership. Insurance adjustment prices are often lower than what a high-quality company can accept and still expect to be in business next year. The process of working out the details with the insurance company to make sure the homeowner is allowed the funds to hire a good company can take a great deal of time, especially if there has been a recent disaster which has the field representatives tied up with huge reconstruction projects. Next, the details of the contract must be worked out so that we all know what the expectations are for the project. We would rather have and provide clear expectations than have a legal battle after-the-fact. This attention to detail also requires time, but is well worth it. Then comes production, the actual build. We test our crews hard and keep only the best. The best isn't necessarily the biggest or the fastest. But they all have homes in the area, have families here and will be around to hold them to our warranty expectations. They are the reason we can offer such terrific warranties. This means that what might take a big, travelling crew one day to build may take our guys 2 or 3. But, if our crew runs short on underlayment, they won't just shingle to the bare deck to get the job done immediately (as one example of what often happens). They'll go get what they need or wait for it to be delivered by our production team, because they want your roof to perform every bit as much as you do. As we all know, "good help is hard find." A pool of talented labor is a small pool, indeed. All of these things are important elements of doing business right, of earning and keeping our A+ BBB rating, but can contribute to the perception that the project is suffering from unnecessary delays. Any long-time local roofing company worth hiring will have a lot of work in the queue and can seem to be taking too long. While we would love to be able to move projects along at lightning speed for our customers, too, we prefer exceptional quality above all else. more

Western Roofing was very reliable, they set up the various appointments and stuck to the schedule. I also really appreciated their friendly and honest attitude. more

Good Job more

We had some snow that backed up the process, but otherwise I think Western Roofing Specialists were quite attentive. They called and kept me informed on what people would be doing as far as painting, gutters, decking, and air conditioning. We have more work to schedule with them. more

You should definitely get an estimate from Western Roofing Specialists and give them an opportunity to do the work. We had our roof totally redone by them, and they were very prompt with the estimate. When it came down to doing the work, they were very prompt with that also. They did a very good job! more

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the only comment I have is that Angel said he never had the right phone number for us, or he'd call and we didn't answer. My husband will go up on roof when weather gets better to check out the work. Other then that everything was ok. more

Western Roofing Specialists installed a roof for me that looks pretty good. I did have issues with the salesmen. They told me that they would be here on a certain day to install my roof and this message ended up getting mixed up between many workers. The whole process ended up taking up five weeks. There were about 10-15 workers on the job and a couple of them decided to hang off of my basketball hoop, causing damage to it. Although I'm satisfied with the roof itself, the workers didn't clean up the area after the job. It generally could have been a better experience. RESPONSE FROM Western Roofing Specialists: We are very sorry that our customer feels his experience with us was not to his satisfaction. We would like to address his issues here. First, once a roof is under contract, we are all very eager to get started as soon as possible. Our customer believed that the salesman gave him a specific start date; however, as roofing is outside work that depends on many different people and the weather to all come together, our contracts state that all start times are tentative. All of our salesmen know that they cannot promise specific dates. Even date ranges are subject to weather conditions and crew availability, at the least, and cannot be contractually promised. As luck would have it, we did have a week or so of sub-freezing temperatures in December that kept our crews off the roofs. Of course, when it warms up and the snow melts, the crews still have to finish the jobs that were interrupted before they can move on to new jobs. The fact that we were able to start this roof within a month of receiving the signed contract into the office shows that it was not delayed much. We are often 6 to 8 weeks out (or more) on tentative start times after hail storms, even without bad weather holding up the schedule. Also, in reviewing the notes in the file, it appears that much of the pre-contract and gutter installation delays were due to our salesman and the gutter installers having difficulty receiving return phone calls and emails from our customer. So, for now, we believe we did not promise a specific start date, nor were there any unaccountable delays on our part. Our customer claimed to us that he has email evidence of a promised start date. If he permits us to review the email thread between him and our salesman, we will find out for sure whether his complaint is valid. If so, we will certainly issue an apology. Second, as for our crew's clean-up work, our Senior Job Supervisor inspects the crews' work after each job and checking for quality of clean-up is a big part of that. The crew will not be paid until the job is cleaned up well. Our SJS reported that he did not find debris on the roof or in the gutters and that very few nails were missed in the yard. He policed around the house with a powerful magnet and found only a few missed nails. As nails are small and yards are big, there will always be a few left here and there. That just can't be helped. The crew absolutely cleaned up after the job and actually did a very good job of it. We aren't sure why our customer feels they did no clean up. Third, our salesman took pictures of the house and roof the day he first inspected for damage. These pictures were loaded into our electronic file on the date he took them. As the program we use, Acculynx, is a subscription software, we are unable to alter notes and time stamps after they have been posted. A picture of the basketball hoop was uploaded and it clearly shows that the hoop was damaged before our salesman ever arrived at our customer's house. If our customer would like to see the photo, we would be most happy to provide it. We know that we get used to our home environments to the point of forgetting where the flaws exist. It is entirely possible that our customer paid no attention to the hoop prior to the roof work that he did not know it was already damaged. We would like to think that is the case. We would very much like to think that our customer would not try to cheat us out of repairs we are not responsible for, so we will give him the benefit of the doubt here. Our customer had the benefit of working with a terrific salesman and one of the best, most professional roofing crew in town. We are glad he is satisfied with the roof itself. After all, that is the bottom line. more

Western Roofing Specialists replaced my roof after it had gotten some hail damage. It took them about a day to complete. They sent a professional crew and used good quality materials. They were very courteous, as well. I experienced some water leakage around the chimney, so I called them back for that. On another occasion, too, I found water damage coming in from where the chimney had leaked. They were prompt to respond to me each time I called them back. After they inspected the interior of my home one final time, they concluded that they would completely replace the flashing around the chimney. They were also committed to repairing all of the interior damage, so they sent in a professional and competent contractor to repair the internal wall and ceiling. To me, this indicated that they stood behind their warranty and their work, and I was very impressed by this. Western Roofing Specialists is a very reputable company that provides quality work. Although there may be instances when they may need to follow up, you can rest assured that they WILL respond, and they WILL take care of it promptly. more

The overall experience with Western Roofing is a positive one - the installers did an EXCELLENT job - not only installing the shingles, but keeping the work area clean and leaving it in the same condition as when they arrived. I was very impressed with the crew. They answered questions, worked hard, and were honest - I didn't realize that the job wasn't completely done, until I came home a couple of days later and saw two guys on the roof with spray paint. I pointed out that one of the caps wasn't replaced and was told it wasn't on the work order. I showed that it WAS on the insurance quote - and the workman (sorry, don't remember his name!) didn't argue, but went to Home Depot for the part. Western Roofing, and the salesman, Rick Bailey, were recommended by a neighbor. Rick was very easy to work with - he returned calls and email in a timely manner. I was impressed that he came to the house the day the insurance adjuster came, and answered questions. When I didn't like the one product that Rick quoted, he quickly got me information about other options, but, ultimately, we decided to splurge and get the Class 4 Impact Resistant shingles which has high reviews on various websites. The work was to start in a couple of weeks, from the date the contract was approved - and we received a call about delivery of materials. Unfortunately, I hung around the house all day (appointment was scheduled for 1:00-1:30 with Paul) because he was to come by for the deposit and verify all the materials were delivered. A call to Paul at 5:00 confirmed my suspicion: he had forgotten our appointment, but apologized and said he'd be there the next (installation) day. On the day the roof installed, we had some surprises. So, my negative comments have to do with these issues. We have these two “funky” roof vents – maybe exhaust vents – one is T-shaped and the other has an elbow. Anyway, the caps wouldn't slide over these pipes, so they had to be cut down, and re-glued, and the T-shaped PVC pipe needed to be replaced. It cost an additional $350 for "service engineering to cut and replace the vent pipe for pipe jack installation." The other surprise was being told that our gutters were installed incorrectly. Paul said the gutters would have to be removed to install a new drip edge, and a gutter company would have to come back to re-install the gutters. Paul called a gutter company who quoted $183 to re-install the gutters. We were surprised that these two items weren't caught when the initial inspection was done and quoted by Rick. Thankfully, this has a happy ending. We couldn't stop the work (rain was predicted for the next day) to get the insurance company to approve these charges, so we took our chance. Paul's crew was able to gently pry the gutters away to install the drip edge without removing the gutters completely. And, we just got word from the insurance company that they WILL pay the additional $350. So, overall: we are quite pleased! more

We were quite happy with Western Roofing Specialists. It did take a while for them to get here, but once they came they did a fantastic job. We have no complaints and would recommend their service. I don't know how we found out about them. We constantly have workmen coming and going. We called them when one of our skylights blew out all over the kitchen. Luckily no one was standing underneath it when it happened. But bits of glass were continuing to fall after it happened, and I was concerned because we have dogs. I didn't want them to get glass in their paws. Western Roofing came and installed a new skylight. They said they had never heard of a skylight breaking like that, and they couldn't identify why it broke. Our house is old and we moved in about four years ago, so we don't know the history of the skylights. more

Western Roofing Specialists was recommended to us by our real estate agent when we wanted to put a new roof on our house. While the work itself was done in a day and a half and looks beautiful, we had so much trouble with the salesperson, Jeff. Our real estate agent recommended Western Roofing Specialists to us because he heard Jeff had experience with, and was knowledgeable about, insurance as well. But Jeff was not responsive. I had a lot of trouble communicating and getting responses from him. He's really nice, but I think he makes too many promises to do things that never get done. It got to be really frustrating. On the day that I decided to go with someone else, Jeff called. If he hadn't called I was going to go with another company. He got on the phone and said he would come over, but he didn't. I told him that if he didn't want to do it, he just had to tell me. It was really bad, and I was crying. But he said he would do this and that. In the end, it was really frustrating, and there were a lot of promises that didn't happen. The workers who put the roof on were great. They were friendly and cleaned up so well after themselves you would never have known they were here. That part of the project went really well, and the time that I spoke with Paul was really nice. In the end it was a good job that was professionally done, but one that got derailed one day after another. But it's the first impressions that really represent a company. RESPONSE FROM Western Roofing Specialists: Thank you, Jeanne for the review! We are sorry for the issues with Jeff, who otherwise is an outstanding salesman. In discussing your review with him, we learned that a great deal of the delay was due to his negotiations with your insurance company as he submitted supplements to make sure you received a fair pay-out on your claim. With the late-season hail storm, all the insurance companies were as swamped as all the roofing companies were. While we wish we could get faster responses from them, too, we are really at their mercy when their adjustments fall short of the real cost of the work. However, a fair warning to you at the beginning that the process could be lengthy would have been in order, for sure. We apologize for not making you aware of that possibility at the outset. From what we understand now, the promises that Jeff made for things that were not on our contract were offers from him on a personal level to help you save money on items the insurance did not cover. That they seemed to be empty promises is as disappointing to us as it is to you. We very much prefer to not get caught in the middle of such things, because our own reputation suffers. Since it is very difficult to control what our salesmen pledge to do on their time off, we can only take this as a lesson and require that neither Jeff, nor any other salesman here, ever offer "side contracts" or personal services while they are representing Western Roofing Specialists. That way, the rest of the Western Roofing Specialists team will know what is expected of us by contract every time. Thank you for your candid review. We appreciate the opportunity to grow as a company. more

Western Roofing Specialists did a great job in laying the shingles and cleaning up their mess. They called us afterwards to make sure everything was okay. June Parker more

We had two problems that needed to be addressed by Western Roofing Specialists. First, we have a skylight that is cracked clear across. Thankfully it isn't leaking, but we need it replaced. The second problem was a leak over our breakfast room. We got a price from Adam, and they came out to install the skylight. It was wrong. Adam had ordered the wrong kind, so they took the skylight back. The roofers who determined what kind of roofing material would match for our breakfast room leak were actually great. They fixed the leak beautifully and used the perfect material. After that was done, though, we still had the skylight issue. Adam called us to say the skylight had to be reworked to make it fit. He wanted to charge us another $150 for his mistake. We felt we were kind of held hostage there, so we said okay. Well, they brought another skylight that was too small. They wanted to go ahead and use the too-small one and just put crown molding around the inside edge so that we wouldn't see it was too small. We rejected that idea, of course. They have since called us again and said that another new skylight that is the correct size would cost $150 more. They also upped the price of repairing the roof to $180 dollars. They have hopefully ordered the right size by now. RESPONSE FROM Western Roofing Specialists: First, we want to thank our customers for the honest review. We are very sorry for the confusion and that Clayton and Norma feel taken to the cleaners. Our office assistant mistakenly sent the invoice for the job out not knowing that it isn't finished yet. That's definitely our mistake. Here's the history of the job as it stands right now: The original estimate was only for the skylight replacement. Adam did inform the customers that changing out their style of skylight could interfere with the established interior drywall in the skylight well, and he recommended a very good drywall company in case that problem arose. The additional $180 came once we discovered what was causing the leak and were approved to make the repair. Normal leak repairs are charged at $400 dollars and up, depending on the complexity of the repair, but because this was added to the skylight repair job, we gave a steep discount, charging pretty much for the labor and materials only and nothing else, no overhead or profit. We're glad our customers were happy with that stage of the work, but are sorry they feel the price was not fair. We feel it was more than fair. The problem with the skylight: The broken one was an Oldach flat glass unit that appeared to Adam, by its height above the deck and low profile, to be mounted directly to the roof decking rather than to a curb attached to the deck and rising a little bit above it. Until the old skylight was removed, there was no way to know that the unit did, in fact, have a factory-integrated curb. This was discovered when the crew brought out the new skylight and removed the old one. The integrated curb meant the dimensions on the new skylight would not fit the opening correctly, something Adam couldn't have known until that moment came. So, he called our skylight manufacturer to see if they could integrate a curb onto the new skylight. They said they could and it would cost $150. Adam simply passed that cost along again, rather than adding our usual mark-up for overhead and profit. What Adam didn't know, though, was that integrating a curb to the first new skylight would alter its dimensions relative to the interior drywall. How frustrating for everyone! When this problem came to light, Adam, the crew and another manager discussed the possible remedies, and one suggestion was to see if the customers would like to keep the skylight as is but add the crown molding at the top of the drywall to visually cover the poor fit. With this option, at least there would be no damaged drywall to repair. Otherwise, a new skylight would simply have to be ordered. Adam offered the solutions, but he did not insist on the crown molding idea. Unfortunately, the skylight manufacturer told us the cost to build an all-new skylight is the cost of the old plus another $151. We don't know if they would have charged that extra $151 if we had simply asked for a whole new skylight with curb the first time around, but we do know they won't sell the new one to us for less. Either way, we now own the first new skylight at our expense. We can't return it, so we're out that entire cost. Fair enough. That is by no means the fault of our customers. As it stands now, Adam has the new skylight with all the proper measurements and curb on order. Once the new unit is installed, we will revise the invoice appropriately. They are aware that they owe nothing until all the skylight work is done. And when it's all said and done, we hope they will be happy and not feel like we took them to the cleaners. more

Great job Very responsive Reasonably priced Cleaned up following completion Would gladly recommend more

Western Roofing Specialists replaced the roof on my house and shed. They treated me respect, answered all my questions, and explained everything that they were going to do even up to the billing. They were very, very good. more

When Western Roofing Specialists first started, they looked at my roof and they were the ones who recommended that I can get a new roof. I thought they were fine. Dorothy W. more