The Contractor Vetting Matrix
After a storm, your neighborhood becomes a goldmine for out-of-state hustlers and predatory sales teams. Run any prospective contractor through our algorithm before letting them on your property.
The Vetting Index
Hiring the first roofer that knocks on your door is financial suicide. The roofing industry is heavily populated by “Storm Chasers”—highly trained sales organizations that follow severe weather, drain insurance policies, and vanish before the warranties expire.
1. The “Local” Illusion (Burner LLCs)
Storm chasers know you want to hire local. So, three days after a massive hail storm, they will register a new LLC in your state, rent a temporary office space, and buy local phone numbers. They will put a magnetic sign on their truck that says “Serving [Your City].”
The Secretary of State Test
Do not trust their website. Go to your state’s official Secretary of State website and do a Business Entity Search for their legal LLC name. Look at the Formation Date. If the company was formed a few weeks after the storm, or if the “Registered Agent” has an out-of-state address, they are a burner LLC. They will dissolve the company in 12 months, taking your 10-year workmanship warranty with them.
2. Why You Can’t Trust Online Reviews
We are conditioned to trust star ratings on platforms like Yelp, Angi (formerly Angie’s List), and HomeAdvisor. This is a mistake. Many of these platforms are essentially “pay-to-play” lead generation networks. Contractors pay massive fees to be featured at the top, and negative reviews can often be contested or buried.
Furthermore, storm chasers solicit 5-star Google reviews immediately after the roof is installed, before the homeowner realizes the flashings leak or the yard is full of nails.
The Fix: Ignore the 5-star reviews. Filter by the 1-star and 2-star reviews. Look for patterns: “They didn’t pay the supplier and a lien was put on my house,” or “It leaked after 6 months and they disconnected their phone number.”
3. The 50% Upfront Warning
A legitimate roofing contractor with a strong local history has a multi-million dollar line of credit with their local supply houses (like ABC Supply or SRS Distribution). They can order your shingles and pay for them 30 to 60 days later.
If a contractor demands 50% upfront, or demands that you sign over your entire first ACV (Actual Cash Value) insurance check before materials are even delivered to your driveway, it means they have no credit. They are operating cash-to-cash. This is the exact profile of a company that will take your deposit to pay off their last job, and leave you with a tarped roof.
Rule of Thumb: Never pay more than 10% to 20% down, and only release the bulk of the funds when the shingles are physically sitting on your property.
4. Never Show Them Your Policy
A predatory salesman’s first goal is to find out exactly how much money your insurance company is willing to pay. They will ask, “Can I see your adjuster’s paperwork to make sure they didn’t miss anything?”
The moment they see that your insurance company approved $22,000 for the roof, their “custom estimate” will magically come out to exactly $22,000. They will manipulate their software line items to match the maximum allowable payout, destroying any chance you had of keeping the excess funds or finding a better price.
“I am collecting three independent bids. I will not be sharing my insurance adjuster’s estimate with anyone. I need you to measure the roof and provide your company’s actual retail price for this replacement. If your retail price is fair and you can provide an active Certificate of Insurance (COI) directly from your broker, we can do business.”