Extreme weather, animals, leaves, falling debris, satellite or cable work, accidents can cause immediate and serious damage to a roof – even a new one. The National Roofing Contractor’s Association recommends that roof inspection and maintenance be performed regularly to help avoid future problems. Read more
Insurance companies use a program to estimate damages to your property called Xactimate. This program is owned by Verisk Analytics whose parent companies include Travelers, AIG, & The Hartford. In other words, the insurance companies own the software program for which their adjusters write estimates for claims. While there could be many conflicts of interests involved here, we are going to focus on a big one that affects the roofing industry.
Xactimate’s default for removal of any trade is under the category code Demolition (DMO). Demolition requires the utilization of a separate crew of non-specialized laborers for removal. Non-specialized laborers would be considered day laborers who are uninsured. Xactimate assumes roofing companies use two different crews throughout the process. This is an incorrect assumption.
Roofing companies do not use two separate crews when replacing the roof. They do not use uninsured day laborers to remove the existing roof and then another skilled labor insured crew to install the new materials. It is the law to have workers compensation. The same insured skilled labor crew is used for both the removal and installation. Xactimate list skilled insured labor as (RFG) as a trade.
So, why does Xactimate default to demolition day laborers (DMO) when insurance companies know the truth? The answer is simple. Money.
Here is a screenshot of the line item for 3 tab 25-year shingles where they have it defaulted to DMO. The unit price for removal using their default day laborers is $44.73.
When the removal trade is changed from DMO to RFG the price increases significantly to account for using skilled labor with general liability and worker’s compensation. Here is what that looks like. The unit price for removal changes from $44.73 to $108.36. That is a difference of $63.63 on this one line item.
To put this into perspective, if you have a 4,000 square foot roof that needs to be removed, by the default being DMO it saves the insurance $2,545.20 on this one line item. This is just one line item where it defaults to DMO. On the average claim, there are five to six line items where it defaults to DMO.
Academy Roofing has discussed this issue at great length with our insurance agent and there are a couple issues that they have stated.
“Concerning General Liability: Most policies for a general contractor do NOT provide coverage for any sub-contractor that does not have workers comp and general liability insurance. It’s a requirement of the general liability contract for any and all sub-contractors to carry coverage.
Concerning Workers Comp: Workers comp auditors count as roofing any person as a roofer if they are on a roof at any time during their occupational duties. You cannot count them a demolition because of the height issue, which you cannot avoid or ignore. Furthermore, by trying to get a contractor to classify roofing as demolition is tantamount to FRAUD because this contractor will have to LIE to an auditor to have this work rated as demolition instead of roofing. The rate for Roofing is 103.74 compared to 29.41 for debris removal. This is sticking a contractor with an additional charge of $74.33 for every $100 they pay to these laborers.”
Have your contractor submit a supplement to the insurance company requesting they change the default DMO to RFG along with a letter from their insurance agent.
This might take multiple attempts talking to your insurance adjuster or their superior as many adjusters aren’t aware of the conflict of Xactimate defaulting to DMO does to the claim. However, be resilient and don’t let up. Hopefully, in time, they will correct this error within Xactimate and stop defaulting to demolition day laborers.
Based on our uncompromising commitment to the highest standards in sales, services, and installation, they have pledged to ensure that each customer receives their “best choice” in roofing.
Academy Roofing is committed to GAF’s Master Elite standards. We will continue having our team receive the best training from GAF so that we can provide our customers with the best products and warranties available.
Academy Roofing’s mission will remain to bring truth, professionalism, and reliability to the roofing industry. We will do this with the help of partners like GAF who provide quality products and are leading the way in the manufacturing of roof shingles.
It was a typical Spring day in Atlanta, Georgia when we looked at the upcoming weather forecast to schedule a roof. Like so many days, the forecast changes hourly. One day it will show 80% chance of thunderstorms only to then be sunny or cloudy the whole day. Outside of meteorologists, roofing contractors are the second most professionals to monitor the weather so when we schedule a roof it means we believe we can do it successfully without getting water in the home.
We checked again the Intellicast.com forecast the morning of production and it looked clear to begin replacing the roof. As normal, we walked around and moved items away from the house that could be in harm’s way for falling debris. We then set up tarps around the house to catch the falling torn off nails and existing roof debris.
Our team then began to set up their ladders, secure ropes, and secure them to the harnesses. Each man started tearing off a section and within a few hours they successfully tore off the whole roof. The plywood was inspected and any rotten areas were replaced. We then installed GAF’s weather watch ice & water shield underlayment in all the valleys and began installing GAF’s synthetic underlayment when off in the distance a rolling thunderous sound was heard. Another quick check of the radar showed a small rain cell developed suddenly which wasn’t forecasted and was headed our way within 30 minutes.
Our foreman on site continued to instruct our team to go about drying in the roof with GAF’s synthetic underlayment and making sure all hips, ridges, and the field was covered head to toe. The 30 minutes passed before the first mist was felt. The mist turned into a spitting rain and then a steady rain before the bottom dropped out.
Thankfully, GAF’s synthetic underlayment is slip resistant and is designed for high traction so when the rain started pouring, our team was able to safely walk down off the roof with using the ropes and harnesses. Our foreman knocked on the door to gain access to check for any signs of internal infiltration from the rain and the ceilings were dry.
It is our professional view that had we not had installed GAF’s weather watch ice & water shield in the valleys and used GAF’s synthetic underlayment, the roof would have leaked severely when the rain popped up unexpectedly. We also believe that our team was able to safely get down off the roof as the synthetic underlayment is slip resistant and has high traction.
There are many technological advances today in the roofing industry and we are big advocates of GAF’s synthetic underlayment and ice & water shield.
Download the FeltBuster Brochure Here.
I’m sure you’ve had a few knocks on your door if you have a Chalet shingle on your roof. Here’s why roofing contractors are targeting Atlas Chalet shingles for replacement or repairs around Atlanta.
In 2010, Atlas Roofing Corporation announced their Chalet line of shingles would be discontinued.
• The Atlas Chalet shingle had a 30-year Limited Warranty when it was being produced.
• This would now equate to a limited lifetime warranty for a similar shingle today.
The Chalet shingle had been a very successful shingle product for many years. The design of the Chalet was to mirror that of an architectural shingle except it was a three tab shingle. The shingle’s granules were distributed to give the shingle a raised area which made it appear dimensional. However, the long-term durability of the shingle proved to be a major issue.
Many Chalet roofs had severe cracking, blistering, and early granule loss. Cracks can be seen on this Chalet shingle picture.
Bad News – The Chalet can’t be purchased so if you need a repair done, it cannot be matched.
Good News – If you need a repair as a result of storm damage, your homeowner’s insurance would pay for a complete replacement as they recognize these shingles are discontinued. Unless you have Allstate as they state that a Chalet roof can be repaired. This is, of course, illogical as the Chalet is discontinued, defective, unavailable, and a different size shingle than any comparable shingle today.
Any attempt of repairing the shingles would do more damage and cause the roof to look like a checkerboard. No reputable contractor would warrant such a repair.
See Consumer Reports ranking of homeowner’s insurance companies.
A few times a year, we will receive a phone call where occasionally an air conditioner contractor will have installed the refrigerant piping too close to the underside of a roof deck. When the roof is replaced, a nail happens to puncture the line which causes freon to leak and your air conditioner to stop blowing cool air.
Congratulations to our team on receiving the 2017 Yelp Award! This is huge as Yelp reviews are only from real people.
Thank you to all of our customers for taking time to share your experience.
