From The Detroit News | By Ken Calverley and Chuck Breidenstein
DETROIT, August 8, 2024 ~ It’s been a great ride.
These past several years have seen an explosion in requests for the services of building contractors.
Pent-up demand for everything from roof replacement to windows has been driven by the desire of boomers to stay in their homes, home value appreciation, the housing shortage and the aging housing stock.
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This same dynamic has driven up costs and pricing for suppliers, installers and owners and, predictably, has also increased the number of people being taken advantage of by unscrupulous businesses.
We’ve seen it before. After events like a devastating hurricane, it is common for everyone that owns a toolbox to flood the damaged area with promises of fast repairs.
When the dust settles, many homeowners discover they were the unwitting victim of bad work that either did not last or was not up to the standards they should have received.
A call for repairs turns to frustration when the homeowner discovers there is either no local company still around to do the work, or there was no written warranty on the work done.
The lesson to be learned here is simple; hire local people that are experts verified by years of growth and experience and companies that come to be known by strong and trusted referrals.
These providers will not only do things correctly, but they will also provide a written warranty to expedite any claim situation.
Because our industry is what we call a “high-touch business,” there will be mistakes caused by varying degrees of human error.
The license laws in Michigan, as they apply to builders, do not provide for any mandated warranty or guarantee.
We often hear of the federal Magnusson Moss Act as a warranty requirement, but that body of law only speaks to the form and format of a warranty when it is provided.
You also may be told of an 18-month stipulation in the law that acts as a guarantee regarding a licensee’s work. That, too, is a fallacy as the referenced clause speaks only to a time limit on issuing a complaint against the license of a builder or contractor.
One measure of a great company is how they handle the occasional call for warranty.
In order to get a written promise by the professional you hire to work on your home, you must contract with a reputable firm that incorporates such language into their standard proposal.
This is a criterion the Guys look for in our referrals.
A company should be willing to warrant workmanship, materials and miscellaneous costs to repair or replace, at their discretion, failed or sub-par installations.
Additionally, a referred business should offer this as a “first-person” promise indicating that a consumer need only call the original installing retailer to obtain service.
There is little more frustrating to an owner than having an issue with a leaky new roof when the call for repairs turns into a finger pointing contest between the original retailer, the installer, and the manufacturer.
That is one of the reasons you often hear us ask a company if they have a dedicated relationship with their main product manufacturer. If there is any kind of issue with an installation, we want the company you dealt with, in this case the roofing contractor, to be the only company you have to call. We also want that business to have the full authority to pursue a satisfactory resolution on your behalf.
In our experience, this relationship is a powerful tool. We’ve seen siding, shingle and roofing replacements completed under warranty on the sole authority of the installing retailer.
For the consumer, this ability is huge and can minimize a lot of angst and stress in a warranty claim situation.
This provides yet another great reason to use the contractors you can find every day at InsideOutsideGuys.com.
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For more advice, listen to “The Inside Outside Guys” every Saturday and Sunday on 760 WJR from 10 a.m. to noon or contact them at InsideOutsideGuys.com.
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