Frequently Asked Questions
The average sized roof (2000 – 3000sf) costs $9,000-$13,000 depending on the required roof details and the product selected for installation.
Homeowners insurance covers a variety of “perils”. If your roof has been damaged by one of these “perils insured against” homeowners insurance will cover the majority of the replacement costs, depending on the terms and conditions of the Homeowners insurance policy. In Colorado insurance deductibles have increased dramatically, as the costs of real estate have increased. It’s best to check with your insurance provider and make sure you know what your deductible will be on a homeowner policy claim, and what the limits of the claim will be. If you think your property has been subject to high wind damage or hail, contact Sonners Contracting Inc. first for a free inspection, and then call your insurance company. You don’t want to open a claim if you don’t have to as this will increase your annual premium.
Almost all shingle manufacturers are now offering a limited lifetime warranty on their products. The expected lifetime of an architectural shingle in laboratory conditions is about 30 years. In Colorado however, this lifetime is significantly reduced. Given the extreme temperature changes we experience here in Colorado, many shingles develop thermal expansion cracks. We also enjoy an average of 300 days of sunlight here in Colorado and we sit a mile higher than other cities. Both of these factors contribute to significantly increased ultra violet radiation exposure which is a major cause of deterioration in all building products. And lastly, the front range experiences convective thunderstorms all summer year long, as warm moist air moves up the mountain range from the south and rises into the cold air coming from the west over the mountains. This is the perfect recipe for hail and a lot of it. That being said the average roof life span in the front range area is about 7-15 years. There are however new advancements in roofing technology that can expand that time frame. Ask your Sonners Contracting Inc. representative about upgrading your shingles to an impact resistant shingle!
Most municipalities and county building departments across the front range have moved away from allowing shingle overlays. There are a few that will allow up to 2 layers of shingles on a roof but for the most part, they expect contractors to remove the roofing products completely to the sub straight.
Yes. And it’s also important to make sure the contractors licenses are in good standing and have been for a few years. This guarantees you as the customer are protected from fly by night companies who show up for a storm and then disappear after the storm. The majority of roof work must be permitted, and in order to pull a permit a contractor must be licensed. If a homeowner permits the project, they are accepting the liability for the correct installation of the roof and are responsible for making any roofing corrections in order to get an approved building inspection. If the contractor pulls the permit, we are responsible for those corrections, and we are responsible for making sure our permits are completed and approved in order to keep our license in the municipality. This ensures that your roof is installed correctly and to code.
You can look up a roofing contractor in your municipalities public record and see how long they have been licensed, the condition of the standing of the license and usually you can find record of previous permits pulled by the contractor and the standing of those permits. Or if you just ask the contractor for this information, they should offer this information freely to you.
There are typically two types of roof warranty, a labor warranty and the product warranty. The labor warranty is typically provided by the contractor to cover the proper installation of the roofing materials for a given amount of time. If there is a problem with a roof installation, it will present itself with in the first few seasonal cycles here in Colorado. The Sonners Contracting Inc. labor warranty is valid for 2 years from the date of installation. We keep our records for a minimum of 7 years as is required by the U.S. Tax code, and as such all we need is the address of the property to look up the installation date in our system. Our warranty is associated with the property not the owner and as such we honor our warranty regardless of who owns the home. The product warranty is provided by the manufacturer of the roofing product you choose and is typically also tied to the property not the owner of the property.
A product warranty covers any defect in the shingle not caused by improper installation, or an act of God.
The process from initial roof inspection to roof completion and permit finalization is dependent on a few different factors. Sonners Contracting Inc. typically tries to get a roof inspection completed within 48 hours. From there, if a home is located within a Home Owners Association or Covenant, the HOA must be contacted prior to ordering any materials for the project. They may have guidelines on product accepted for installation and product color. This process can take more than a month but is usually resolved within a couple weeks. If the project is being covered by a roofing claim, it can take a few days to as long as a couple weeks for the adjuster from the insurance company to get out to the property, depending on how busy they are. Once a contract is signed with Sonners Contracting Inc., we hold the contract for 72 hours, as Colorado Law allows any consumer to back out of any contract for any reason with out penalty during those first 72 hours. Once that time frame has elapsed we pull your permit and order your materials. Our suppliers typically deliver within 48 hours but if they cannot, we have a flatbed truck and we will go and pick up the materials. We typically try to have the crew there on the day of delivery for installation, and as soon as they are finished we schedule the final inspection. Some municipalities require mid roof inspections and we do our best to make sure that happens the day of install so there are no delays in project completion. All in all this process typically takes about 2 weeks, and then it typically takes another 2 weeks for the insurance companies to pay our final invoices.
Roof replacement is dependent on roof size, complexity, and dwelling proximity to dumpster access and other buildings. A standard sized roof (2,000-3,000sf) with and average roof pitch of 4/12”, having only one layer of roofing product and access for a dump trailer, typically can be replaced in 1-2 days.
Yes, you can stay home during the re-roof process. We ask customers to keep in mind that re-roofing is heavy construction, it is loud work, and there is a danger of falling debris and loose nails around the perimeter of the home during tear off. We recommend that all customers park their cars in the street for easy access and be cautious when entering and exiting the dwelling and while walking around the perimeter of the dwelling during the installation process.
