Tampa Roofing Company is an approved applicator for most major manufacturers and has many different styles and life expectancies to choose from. Generally speaking, if you have seen it, we can install it.
We ask for a 30% down payment, but the final payment is not due until you’ve done a walk through with our sales representative and are fully satisfied. We want to make sure that you are happy with the work before we ask you for the complete payment. If you purchase an extremely expensive roof, we may have to ask for weekly draws, but most residential roofs can be completed in less than a week. Our procedure is to ask the homeowner to walk around the house and inspect the roof and the premises. Once they are completely satisfied with the work, they pay the bill.
The replacement of the roof on your home is one of the largest investments you will make to protect your belongings in most peoples’ lifetime. This process can be a miserable experience, but we will do everything in our power to make the inconvenience as painless and as positive an experience as possible. The following are some, but not all of the procedures we follow to make sure that happens.
All trash will be removed from the premises daily, and the equipment will be removed daily to give you full access every night. We will try to give you the feeling that we have never been there. It will be necessary to install a dry-in felt overnight, but all debris and large equipment will be removed daily.
Tampa Roofing will never rent a dumpster and park it in front of your garage for a couple of days during the installation of your roof. This eliminates scuffs and scrapes on your drives or sidewalks frequently caused by dumpsters.
At Tampa Roofing Company, we understand that when your roof is replaced, you have to place your trust in us to provide you with the best roof replacement possible. Code requires that all decks are nailed every 8-inches, as opposed to the every 12- inches the code used to call for, because of higher wind standards. While it is important that we do not cover any deteriorated or unsecured decking, it is not always possible for you to be there and personally see the work that is done. It is also important to know that we are not charging you for work that was not done. Our crew leaders take digital pictures before and after so that you can verify any and all work that was completed on your property. The Chinese nails are also a problem in sheeting nails, so we special order the stainless-steel deck nails when necessary.
30 lb. asphalt, the most common shingle underlayment that has been used in North America for the last 100 years, is still our preferred underlayment. However, the insurance industry does not recognize 30lb. felt for a discount, even though the test results show that it outperforms other approved underlayment’s and have performed well when properly secured according to current State of Florida codes. After hurricane Andrew, Miami Dade required that you only use 30lb. felt in the high-velocity wind uplift area. Unfortunately, there have been some manufacturers that have gotten their asphalt felt approved when it is so thin it doesn’t even meet the 15lb. standard. We won't use those substandard products, and we only use the heavy 30lb. felt.
Miami Dade also requires you to use the old-style nails and tin caps that Morris Swope originally specified when he wrote the original southern standard building code. Additionally, they require you to use hot-dip galvanized nails and a tin cap, and throughout the process, Miami requires you to tear the roof off, dry it in, and have it inspected. If you do not use the proper nails or cap, they will make you replace them. We special order the tin caps from Miami because we have the same standards they do.
In the last four years, there has been a major problem with nails rusting out prematurely. Most of the American steel manufacturers have been closed or cannot manufacture roofing nails competitively. Because of this, all of our nails now come from China. Unfortunately, the inspections in China are not as advertised, and when tested for ASTM standards, the ASTM-approved Chinese nails do not meet the ASTM standards and start falling apart prematurely. For this reason, we only use stainless steel nails during both roofing and sheeting.
At this time, Tampa Roofing Company will not install synthetic underlayment’s.
The building code allows new products to have temporary approval for 1 year until all the testing can be done. Unfortunately, the synthetics have been working under this temporary basis for almost 20 years. To our understanding, the test has never been done, and we find it hard to believe they can pass for a few reasons:
If you check our founders, you see our Vice President currently sits on Florida Building Commission. It has been brought to their attention that there is a serious problem with the current fasteners used to install asphalt shingles. When Morris Swope wrote the original code, he required the use of hot-dip galvanized nails as a minimum fastener. He always rejected the use of electro-galvanized and coated nails. So for 20 years, operating under the Southern Standard Building code, he was able to stop it. A few years back, State of Florida adopted the International Building code which allows pretty much every fastener known to man as long as it meets basic code requirements.
Unfortunately, the Chinese have put most of the U.S. manufacturer’s out of business and now we are facing a Chinese fastener problem equal to or worse than the Chinese drywall issue.
Our studies have shown that after the nails have been hammered into the roof the coatings break down the fasteners decompose, and the heads pop off. Which is great if you purchase an extended warranty shingle and the manufacturer will still warranty the shingles that are laying in your yard to be in good shape but not watertight.
Tampa Roofing Company has a complete sheet metal shop with computerized break and shear equipment. This allows us to make a factory detail for the special areas of your house instead of purchasing a pre-made flashing which must be trimmed and formed in order to fit your house.
We have the ability to form standing seam or flat metal valleys for your house. However, we have found that most people like closed weave or half woven valleys. We do not advise burying a galvanized metal valley under the shingles. We have seen many instances where the galvanized valleys will rust in 10 to 12 years.
We have been installing a commercial roofing product called modified bitumen under the closed valleys. We have been using this application since 1985, and have yet to have a leak from this application.
When you purchase an extended warranty, there are 2 basic types. One is a 50-year “lifetime” warranty that covers 100% of the cost to replace a roof for the first 20 years. Most of the heavy-duty shingles will last 18-19 years and if need be, the manufacturer can push them for 20 years.
At 20 years and 1 day that warranty changes form a lifetime labor and material warranty to a depreciated material warranty.
We have found through my grandfather, my father and my own experience the cost of shingle roofs double usually every 12 years. So, if you purchase a roof today, and the manufacturer’s deprecating material warranty only covers the shingles, not the felt, nails, flashings, tear off, etc. The cost of the shingles is historically 25% of the cost of the roof. And if your roof goes 20 years that’s 40% of the 50-year lifetime warranty. So, if the manufacturer gives you 60% of the 25%, that’s 15% of the original cost of the roof.
For example, if you buy a 10k roof today and you purchase this 50-year lifetime warranty, 20 years from now, they will pay you $1500 to replace it.
Unfortunately, the 10k roof today, will cost you approximately 20k in 12 years and 30k in 18 years.
So, with this warranty, you get 1500 to replace your 30k roof in 20 years.
We have been able to work with Tamko on an exclusive partner basis that allows us to offer a 30-year labor and material warranty that does not depreciate at all.
If your roof goes bad within the 30-year period, I understand they cover the whole cost of labor and material, 100%. I guess it’s possible for them to have a shingle last 30 years somewhere in the U.S., but I’ve never seen one last longer than 21 years in Florida. It’s 100% transferable within the first 10 years, this is the best warranty going and we suggest it on every roof.
The majority of the roofs done in our area are done with roofing surplus. Most of those workers are illegal, and they cannot be run through the normal payroll. Because of this, it can only accomplished by the sub crews running their employees to employee leasing (day labor) services. These services provide general workers compensation and will cover the men for everything except roofing, electrical and other dangerous occupations. Most of these sub crews provide their own worker’s compensation. Be sure that the company you’re doing business with has the ability to cover a 1 million dollar lawsuit, because when their normal insurance turns them down, they look after the homeowner to cover their cost.
Most small companies have a minimum insurance policy of $10,000. However, if the crew tears a large area of your roof off and a storm comes, it may be difficult to recover losses. We have found damages can explode faster than you can possibly imagine, so we carry a 1 million dollar liability insurance policy. This policy also covers someone stepping on an old roofing nail that we missed, tripping, falling, and hitting their head -especially if it’s a neighbor you don’t get along with.
When you research the amount of roofing material that is bought annually in the Tampa Bay area and you compare that with the amount of permits, you’ll find that a lot more houses are done without permits than done with permits. The permit is not a guarantee that you will get a good job, but without a permit, you are pretty much guaranteed that you won’t. Codes are a minimum standard, and if your roofer is not willing to do the job to minimum standards, you may have a serious problem.
