In cases where you’re looking for emergency roof trapping Canton MI, it may be tempting to just go with the first company you can find near you on Google and beg them to come in the next 5 minutes, but this isn’t the best approach. Here’s a guide for what you can do to improve your situation the best way when you have storm damage Canton Mi.
Initial Reactions to Emergency Level Damage
It’s perfectly understandable to get highly worried when you have storm damage or any other kind to your roof or other parts of your house. It’s a disconcerting thing to know that you’re in a house that isn’t completely intact the way it was before.
The important thing is to stay calm and start thinking about what you need to do next. The first thing you need to do, without question, is to make sure that you’re safe where you are during the storm or other emergency. If you don’t feel safe, you definitely need to go somewhere that does make you feel secure, whether that’s at a hotel or with friends.
The second thing you need to do is wait for the storm or emergency situation to be over. You can technically schedule work or talk to people before the situation is over, but if the storm is bad enough it’s likely safer to wait until it’s finished.
Then, you can ask about temporary help like tarps or other aid like roof trapping.
Survey the Damage
Once whatever caused the problem is over, you need to take a look at what the damage is so you get a sense of what to do next. A good general guideline is to look up help from a contractor if you don’t feel good about the way that your house looks now at all. If there’s any doubt, go with the pro and don’t try doing it yourself since professionals will just have a much better bead on what needs to be done immediately in terms of preserving the roof with a tarp or other materials, and the particulars about how to fix the situation.
Once you’ve figured out what’s wrong, you’ll need to get some help handling that. It can help to write down exactly what you need, whether that’s roof trapping Canton MI, emergency roofing repairs of whatever kind, tarping, or anything else.
Check for Quality Companies
Here are some ways that you can quickly get a sense of whether a company has the best qualities to help you in emergency situations-
- Location-You obviously don’t want to travel halfway across the world to find a company that can help. It’s best if it’s directly in the Canton MI and surrounding areas. This is the case for a few reasons. For one thing, only local contractors who are right in the are going to know the best way to respond to storms and other roof-damaging problems that require tarps and other measures. For another, you definitely don’t want to tax yourself too much with driving. Plus, finally, in an emergency situation the closer you are to your chosen contractor, the more quickly they can help you out, generally.
- Emergency Experience-A contractor that knows how to repair roofing in a general situation may not be as ideal as a company that has a lot of experience with emergency repairs and tarps directly. If at all possible, you’re going to want to go with those that have handled emergencies after storms many times before and know exactly what to do. Ideally, it would help if they have 15 or more years of experience with this sort of situation since storms are a frequent issue in this area.
- Ratings-Make sure to check what different review sites like Yahoo, Google, or Yelp say about a particular company. Remember that you want to get the right company by specifying the exact location since there could be various different locations with the same name. In general, you’re going to want to go with a company that has something like 4.5 stars. This is because if a company has more than a few hundred ratings and still 5 stars, this is often a sign that some of the reviews may not be genuine. However, if the reviews are high and the rating is over 4, this often means an emergency roofing company is going to do a great job.
- The Better Business Bureau (A+) If you’ve never heard of this organization before, they help to rate companies as well as handle disputes between companies like roof contractors and their customers. They give such companies a letter grade from F to A. You can first see whether a roofing contractor is signed up with the BBB at all. They call this “accredited.” Then, you should see their letter grade. If a roofing contractor has a high rating like “A+’, it generally means that they have the experience, they are transparent about all of their business practices, and they do well with disputes. High ratings mean there weren’t too many disputes and complaints to begin with given how long they’ve been in business, and those that did come in were resolved in a reasonable way where the company at least tried to come to an accommodation with their client.
The BBB is generally continually updating its ratings as well, so a high rating should also indicate that the company continues to maintain a good relationship with their customers.
In other words, they should be doing a solid job with helping those who are sending out the call for emergency roofing help.
The BBB also allows customers to post their own ratings out of 5, although these are separate from the letter grade from the BBB.
It also helps to look at what customers post themselves about a company. For example, they may have also had storm damage and situations where tarp emergency tarp was needed. You may even be able to find people who are posting about damage from the same storm as you or one that is similar, from the same area.
Additionally, it can certainly make you feel better about what kind of experience you’re going to have with the company if you find a customer with the same situation as yours who had everything go smoothly since it could be like looking into the future.
You can always check the reviews on the actual site itself for information on what customers think, but it’s important to just make sure you get third-party sites for their perspective too.
Review the Paperwork
It’s always good to double-check that a company has full insurance and the proper licenses. If they have a preferred contractor status with a place like Owens Cornering and others related, then that is often a big win as well.
Make Some Calls
Once you have a sense of who you want to try out, you can call them to see what you think. It helps to either ask them about their experience or check their website for signs that they can do more even than just the emergency situation that you’re asking about. After all, you never know what else might have been damaged from the storm and where else you may need help.
You’ll want a company that can commiserate about the cold and the freezing rain or snow and knows how important it is for you to get basic help like from tarps as quickly as possible.
No Substitute for Customer Service
Calling a company can give you a lot of information about what it’s going to be like to worth with them in all likelihood, just in the few minutes. If you have an emergency with your roof that requires attention, it’s true that you shouldn’t wait too long with it at all to get it fixed, but it’s also true that you should make sure that you’re comfortable with the company you’re going to for relief.
The last thing you want to have happen is that you end up unhappy with the company you’re going to for emergency help and eventually fixing your roof right in the middle of a stormy season.
As a result, you should ask yourself some questions as you get going with the company after making a call. These include how quickly they respond to you, how friendly and comfortable they were on the phone, and how you felt about the experience all in all after the fact.
You can also test this both on the phone or in a chat window if the company has that option as well, which is always nice and tends to lend itself towards a certain professionalism on behalf of the contractor trying to help you out with problems after a storm.
Other Factors to Consider
In order to cover all of your bases when making your decision, you should look at some other characteristics for the contractors you are considering as well.
Free Quotes or Estimates
Considering the fact that you’re going to have to get considerable repairs done if the damage is severe enough for an emergency, the last thing you’re going to want to do is spend extra money on just having someone look at the damage in the first place. The best emergency roofing contractors are going to be the ones that are confident enough in what they do to offer you a free quote or estimate on the situation.
Speed
You may want to consider how quickly a company can get out to you in the first place when you’re evaluating them either on the phone or online. The longer you have to wait even for an estimate, the longer you’re roof is going to be exposed to the elements, and the longer you’re going to have to either just deal with being in a house that’s uncomfortable due to the damage, or living somewhere else.
No one wants to wait too long in a situation like this, and just about everyone needs a house they feel comfortable in order to have that all-important sense of security.
Financing
It’s important to take a moment to think about how you’re going to pay for all of this before you rush into anything, regardless of the level of damage.
In general, you’re going to be getting the best deal around if you make sure to find a company that can offer $0 down for financing. Not everyone has huge caches of extra money lying around in case of disasters, and companies that understand this and help you out with making sure you cover the cost in a reasonable amount of time are definitely worth a look.
Plus, it’s also always good when you can get the financing down to under $100 a month, especially if you can get it under $70 when it comes to making the affordability a lot easier.
Get a Quote
Once you have a good sense of what you want to do, then you should go ahead and get a quote from the company that you want. After all, getting your house back into working order as quickly as possible is the point of everything you’ve done.
Don’t wait too long, once you’ve done a little research and talked to a few people about the situation, it’s often a good idea to trust your instincts. You don’t want to end up in a situation where you’re stuck between different choices or between doing anything at all.
Check what you need to check and then go for it. A free quote can often go a long way in making you feel better that you’ve made the right choice, plus it will give you the opportunity to speak more with the company in question in case you have any other questions or concerns about the project.
You’ll fill up with relief once those initial steps have been taken and you’re on your way to having everything back the way you want it again.
