Much like Scrooge, I’ve been visited by three spirits.
– I refer to the roof salesmen as spirits because I’m not sure how I’m going to conjure the money, but whatevers, right?   It needs to be done.

The first guy was named Jared from Company A.

– Out of the three, he was the best salesman.
Tall, blonde, and moderately built, he provided me with details that the other salesmen glossed over or forgot like changing out the do-hickeys that are on the roof.    You know, like the vents and stuff.
Promoting GAF shingles, he swore that his crew works rain or shine and would take at least two days on the house.  They’d actually have a dump truck as opposed to a bin that would remove the old roof.

It would be inspected thoroughly and meet Miami-Dade standards – whatever that means.  I should really look that up.

Price:
$6890

Pros:
–  Local company
–  Two weeks out
–  Has a cash discount, if I can come up with the cash.
–  Offers to finance
–  Warranties labor for 10 years and parts for 5 years.  Pro-rated.
–  Was very personable and made direct eye contact.

Cons:
–  Charges extra for wind mitigation report
–  Found out GAF shingles have a couple of class-action lawsuits.

Personal cons:
–  Told me my favorite part would be picking out the new color
–  Stated women trust the ‘Good Housekeeping’ endorsement.   I think we do, but there isn’t any reason why men wouldn’t appreciate it either.
–  Attempted to upsell me a skylight multiple times.

Company B was promoted by Josh.

Josh was a fairly skinny dark-haired man.  He seemed knowledgable but lacked the selling charisma Jared had.
He really didn’t go into details about what would happen and when they could be out.   I’m guessing he was a little off his game or found me really distracting for some reason since he had difficulty making eye contact.

Championing Oren Corning shingles, he stated that they’re superior to GAF because they’re lighter and have less modules on them.  I’m guessing modules are the rough texture that singles have.   But, I’m not sure why that’s a benefit because he didn’t exactly into detail.  When I asked him why less is better, he said there wasn’t any proof that more modules were better.   So… ?

He either didn’t know or didn’t think I’d understand.    Non-answers are exceedingly irritating to me.

Price:
$6000

Pros:
– Local company
– Two weeks out
– Warranties labor for five years and materials for twenty.  Pro-rated.
—   Which is a lot worse than the other guy, but I needed something to put in the pro column.
–  I was able to persuade him to take $500 off the price.  Originally, it was around $6500.

Cons:
–  Doesn’t offer to finance
–  Had difficulty giving me straight answers.
–  Kinda meh concerning his knowledge of the materials and didn’t seem to have a lot of faith what he’s selling.

—  I know better than anyone that there’s a lot of different sales tactics and salespeople in the world, but most have some sort of hard sell or soft sell technique.    This guy really didn’t have either.

Bob represented Company C.

Bob was older and thick.   He wasn’t fat but had some chunks here and there.   He also praised Owen Corning shingles and was the one who clued me in about the GAF lawsuit.   He talked quickly and was a little difficult to follow.   I called him on it and asked if he had somewhere else to be.

Which, of course, he didn’t, but continued to talk pretty quickly compared to the other two.   Me being me, I spoke a little more slowly and made him go into detail with everything.   After being educated by the other two, I could easily follow what he was saying, but that’s not an excuse to be an auctioneer.  If he was the first guy to come in, I probably would have been fairly confused.

He mostly kept eye contact and it felt like I was being talked down to a little bit but, by the end, he seemed more friendly.   So friendly in fact that he started to bad-mouth a couple of the other local companies and other shingle companies.    That’s something the other two didn’t do at all.

Price:
$7600

Pros:
–  local company
–  Fifty-year warranty on parts – and – labor. Not pro-rated
– Multiple financing options
– Two weeks out
– Roof vent would be six inches instead of three

Big selling points the other companies didn’t have or would have cost extra:

–  Will contact the insurance company once the roof is completed in an effort to lower insurance.   I’m sure the other companies would provide me a wind report at an extra cost.   I would have had to contact the insurance company.
—  But, I’m kinda lazy and not really too sure how to contact the insurance company since everything is escrowed.   Besides, it might be better coming from the company instead of me.

——   The warranty is through Owen Corning, not the roofing company.   So, if the roofing company goes out of business, the warranty would still be in place.

–   The warranty is transferable.   I’m not sure if the other companies allow that.   Neither one of them mentioned it and I didn’t think to ask.

–  They use a kit.    That means that all of the materials they use are meant to be compatible with only Owen Corning.  They don’t cut corners and use substitutes to reduce cost… which is pretty obvious since they’re higher than the other two.

Cons:
–   Didn’t tell me that Owen Corning is also facing a class-action lawsuit
–  Costs more
–  Really picked up that he didn’t think I’d understand some things.
–  Showed up about fifteen minutes late to the appointment

Construction is a male-oriented business, but still.  It upsets me when mechanics act like I don’t have brain one.   While this guy seemed less obvious than most, it was still there.

—   Right now, it’s pretty undecided which company to go with or if I should call in a fourth guy for an estimate.

I wasn’t expecting the varying prices.   They’re all at least $500 apart, if not more.
It’s been really educational.   I didn’t know a lot about roofs but I think I got a good introductory course between the three men.

I interviewed them solo as Jason was at work or had to help his mom.   It would have been interesting if he was able to join.   I would have liked to see who the salesmen would speak to – me or him.  It would have just made for an interesting observation concerning the #metoo movement or whatnot.

So… that’s it so far.