When To Replace My Roof: An Honest Opinion

As most of our community is well aware, Knoxville was hit by a size-able hailstorm in the spring of 2011. In the aftermath, it took close to two years for the community to fully recover. During that time, a vast majority of area roofs were replaced; some good, some bad, and some downright frightening stories! If you’ve lived in the community for any length of time, you’ve undoubtably heard a few “fly-by-night contractor stories.” Fast-forward a little over a decade and our community is now seeing the results of insurance-based roof replacements in bulk. Today we will dive into what happened, where we’re at now, and what we can do moving forward!

The Past

The hailstorm of 2011 took everyone by surprise, including our local roofing community! At the time the Knoxville-based roofing contractor market was adequately sized to meet the normal demands of a city of its size. Since I’ve been in the Knoxville area (going on 36 years) I have never seen anything like what we experienced, and neither had the local roofing contractors! Overnight our community was flooded with out of state contractors looking for the proverbial “piece of the pie.”

Local roofing contractors suddenly got a crash-course in “insurance based roofing”, as Knoxville and the surrounding areas have historically been a “retail sales” market. Insurance restoration is quite different that retail sales, and with that has its own nuances. The goal of an insurance restoration is to adequately replace with a like roof system plus any applicable code required upgrades. With the sheer volume of claims, the goal for all contractors, both local and out of state was simple; get as much done as humanly possible before the next guy get’s it! This is where things went sideways: shortcuts were taken, and homeowners weren’t given the pertinent information needed to safeguard their property.

The Present

Any roofer will tell you “Even a bad install won’t immediately leak.” By and large, that is where Knoxville is today; the bad roofs are suddenly starting to show themselves! Area roofers have seen a large uptick of repair calls come in over the last three years, and it’s only getting worse. The thing that almost all of these calls have in common, the leaks are a direct result of shortcuts taken during the 2011 hailstorm! Leaking valleys where the roofer didn’t install a leak barrier, leaking walls where the roofer didn’t replace flashing, and leaking chimneys where the roofer slapped some caulk on 10 year old metal and called it a day: this a sample of what area roofers get called to inspect on a daily basis! The unfortunate part is that most homeowners weren’t advised of the long-term issues caused by not replacing these items. It was a simple decision made by the contractor “if the insurance company wouldn’t pay for it to be replaced, they simply wouldn’t replace it.”

The Future

I get asked almost daily, “Jordan, what’s my next move? Do I get my roof replaced, or do I simply fix what was neglected from 2011?” There is no simple one size fits all answer; it is a combination of factors, unique to every home, that we use to advise to the best of our ability suitable next steps. Common things that we take into consideration: is this a minor miscue or a widespread issue, estimated remaining lifespan of the roof system, and the overall expected repair costs over time vs. a roof replacement.

This is where things get interesting, and the answers get subjective. If you’ve experienced a roofing issue in the past few years and reached out for estimates, I’m certain you’ve gotten conflicting stories from company to company. Company (a.) may say “absolutely we can make this repair”, and a few hours later companies (b.) and (c.) have scared you in to making an immediate investment into a roof replacement. The worst part, they all claim to be “the best in Knoxville!”

My Recommendations

First and foremost, ALWAYS get multiple opinions and estimates: I cannot stress this enough! Any roofing contractor wanting an answer TODAY, or offering you a “today only deal” is almost certainly hiding something. The reason behind these tactics is simple, they don’t want you to shop around for fear that their amazing deal won’t be so amazing once you’ve received other bids.

If your finances allow it, NEVER make a decision based on price alone! There are many ways in which roofing contractors can offer you an “unbeatable” price; but in general, their methods include a reduction in quality.

“Does the cheap toilet paper work as well as the good stuff…NO, and the same goes for roofing!”

If you’ve followed me on social media for any length of time, I’ve always been a big proponent of giving insight for how roofer cheat, how you can avoid a pitfall, and ways to get to the truth!

Lastly, never feel embarrassed or afraid to ask questions! You will find that roofing contractors whose focus is on quality truly enjoy talking about their trade. Watch how quickly the phone and tablet come out to show a few cool pictures/videos of projects they are PROUD to have been a part of. To the contrary, contractors that are focused on “pitching” their product will tend to want to stay on track and not deviate from how they’ve mapped out getting to a signature.