Help needed. Metal roof flashing installed wrong. What do I do?

Homeowner here who just got a metal roof installed for the first time. I hope I am in the right place to get advice on what to do. As soon as I saw how the flashing on my new metal roof was installed, I knew it couldn’t be right. The shingles and siding were covered by around 8 inches of flashing, and caulked against the vinyl siding. To me, it appears that the flashing should be installed behind my siding and shingles. When I asked the contractors why they did that, they said that pulling out the siding and the shingles was not included in the quote, because I didn’t ask for this.

I asked for a new metal roof, expecting it to be installed properly and improve the look of my house. This, you would think, would include putting the flashing on properly. Please help me out someone! I am a first-time home owner and was so excited to get a roof on my house, and now I do not know what to do. I have told them I cannot pay until the work is done right, but I need to be able to articulate myself right when speaking to these guys again. And I need to be educated on just how they should’ve done it, and how they can fix it. I am assuming that my shingles and siding will have holes from screwing into it (obviously), so what should I ask for? New siding? Please help. Since it seems I can’t attach images because I am new here, here is a link to a folder with the roof photos: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BznuwAgyS6goMlRmcnRpUTZUV0U&usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HLGAE4j-zD-uDR2eFMgZmNuQdB2HpEk_4Q/view?usp=sharing

Whitney,

The attached video links about half way through shows your situation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBYjjLHDTMU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0LvP9O42KU

These represent sidewall and endwall flashing methods.

As long as you still have control of the money you still have a chance of getting it done correctly. Does your city require building permits? Do you have a signed contract? If your answer is NO to both of these questions, your only option is keep the money until your satisfied he has repaired it correctly. If you have a contract email me and I will see if it gives you any leverage in getting the work redone. rmayo@rlmengineers.com

:shock: WOW

Ha, I agree…WOW. Somebody should have discussed that with the owner. That is not how you add flashings to architectural siding.

That’s terrible. Take Randy up on his offer.

Really sad that contractors are out there doing this. Homeowner should not have to “ask” for it to be done right.

In my state you could take this up with the Maryland Home Improvement Commission.
If the contractors do shoddy work and don’t correct it the homeowners can receive compensation from a state fund. And they’d go after the contractors too.

Does your State have something similar?

Randy’s offer is good.

Do you have the manufacturer? They may have a rep that can look at it and the local Building Code Official may be able to help also and, if there is licensing in your state, that department could have some clout.

Sorry for your troubles…:frowning:

Watch Inside Edition sometime.
http://www.insideedition.com/headlines/12810-hidden-camera-investigation-reveals-technician-charging-700-for-easy-air-vent-fix

Yep. I’m glad they are exposing guys like this.

I’m sorry that you became victim to a shoddy contractor. It was wise of you to withhold the final payment.

Contacting the manufacturer is a good option. Roofing manufacturers do not like it when their products are installed incorrectly, because the product often gets blamed. Ask them to document the deficiencies. Also ask them for their documented installation standards.

Also, consider hiring a local home inspector (carefully vetted by you, with a satisfaction guarantee of course) to do a walkover inspection and provide you with full documentation of the defects in the installation. I’m sure that there is more than just the flashing at we see.

As suggested, you may want to contact your local building authority. If roofers are required to be licensed in your state, you will want to contact the state agency that controls their license.

For future consideration, because Home Inspectors see so many poor installations, they are often knowledgeable of the most common “shortcuts” that are likely to be taken by bad contractors. Some will be willing to coach you in what to stipulate in your work order/contract with the contractor, such as: “All work is to be done in full compliance with current building codes and manufacturer documented best practice installation standards.” Low price bidders often leave important things out or perform shoddy work, as you have experienced, then blame you for not being an expert in the contractor’s field. For major projects, such as a roof, stipulate that the work is to be inspected by your own independent inspector for compliance to standards, before final payment is made. This will scare off the shoddy contractors.

May I have permission to use your photos (without publishing your name) in an online post?

Apologies for being silent on this thread since posting. I’ve wanted to update, but have wanted more so to put this experience behind me once it was finally taken care of. I feel obligated to respond though, as much of the advice here helped tremendously. I appreciate all the help.

In response to some of you who believe I hired these guys because they were cheap: Not the case. The quote on this job was not cheap by a long shot, and they supposedly have a good reputation; recommended to me by my own mother. However, there were tons of issues from the beginning with the installers particularly that you guys haven’t heard yet (Yes, there is much more to the story. Get your popcorn ready)…

  • The two installers (man and woman. We’ll call them Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum) seemed to not be dependable from the beginning.

  • Tweedle Dee and Dum didn’t show at all some days, when they said they would be here at 9:00 AM.

  • Were hours late when they did show. Their supervisor (the subcontractor. We’ll call him Billy Bob.) only made rare appearances, which I assumed was normal. — Side note: The main contractor/head guy/whatever you call him was whom I hired in the beginning. I will call him The Invisible Man

  • Billy Bob showed up once to deliver some large boards for the Tweedles and left them in front of my fence at the road and said they’d be here shortly. Billy Bob left. They didn’t show for several hours. And I ended up having FOUR different people pull up to ask if I was giving the boards away.

Note: I was told over and over “That’s just how these guys work.” and “If you fire them now, they will want a significant amount of money even if they’ve done next to nothing.” Thinking I know nothing about this kind of thing, I trusted their judgement and proceeded. I have no one to really blame but myself though, I know.

  • When Dee and Dum were here they only worked for an hour or two.

  • The Tweedles seemed to be in a relationship and yelled at each other about non roof-related stuff frequently. I work from home, so I heard everything.

  • When I felt helpless about the job I decided to call the head guy, The Invisible Man, to ask what’s up (more than once), he acted as if he was too busy. And he said he subcontracted this to another guy who is supposed to be taking care of everything.

  • The worst part: Dee and Dum didn’t patch one area and said they’d be back the next day (a sunny day) to do a lot more work. Didn’t show the next day at all, and I could not get in touch with them. Then the following day it rained, and water was pouring into my living room (seriously). I had to make several calls before The Invisible Man came out himself to get up there to fix it. He told me I just needed to get some Kilz to my walls from the water damage. Did not offer me a dime or to fix it himself, even after i said I had painted my living room recently. Then, while The Invisible Man was patching the spot, the two wayward Tweedles showed up, and the IM ended up leaving. Tweedle Dee (the woman) said “I’m sorry ma’am. I think I might’ve stepped through the roof and made that hole myself.” I ended up going back inside to work, assuming they’d be taking off since it was pouring outside and the IM patched the spot. About 5 minutes goes by and I hear a loud sound. The woman had been on the roof sweeping leaves (keep in mind, it’s raining and they were supposed to be working on the roof the day before; a sunny day. And I did not request that these two idiots come at all that day. The Invisible Man insisted that he himself take care of the patch). Anyway, I heard a loud sound, and I discovered that the woman fell off the roof! I ran outside when I heard moaning. It was a short fall, but I realized she was slurring and reeked of alcohol. Regardless, my want to help kicked in and I rushed to get my first aid kit. She said her wrist hurt, and my gutter was bent from where she tried to hang on. Her male counterpart Tweedle Dum got angry with her immediately instead of asking if she was okay and then said to me “This is why we don’t work in the rain…Don’t worry, we ain’t gonna sue you. We aren’t [insert a horribly racist, shocking word here that made me put my hand over my mouth].” I decided to go inside and not speak to them again after they insisted it was okay. She came back with a cast on the next day and they continued to work.
    After the rain subsided and work continued, I thought the worst HAD to be over. All of the work looked good. But the last day when they asked me to check it out, I looked at the flashing (Didn’t know the word “flashing” until that day. Now I feel nauseous every time I hear it or say it) and realized something had to be wrong. If you guys haven’t figured it out by now, I am a young woman taking care of this primarily on my own. I have been told to be wary of being screwed over because of this, but I like to give “professionals” the benefit of the doubt; especially when I am paying a pretty penny for their services. Even as a woman who knows next to nothing about roof work, I knew the flashing was really jacked up; I think anyone could look at that and realize that. It made me sick to see the siding and scallops covered by this slab of metal.

Oh! Have to throw this part in: I told these guys that evening (the whole crew) that I was not at all satisfied and that I would have an inspector come out to tell me just what all is wrong, and I scheduled to have the crew out at 11:00 AM the next day (I had a conference call at home early that morning and did not wish to be disturbed). That morning around 8:30 AM, I was on my conference call when I heard several people outside. I ended up having to end that call with my client to see what was up. Before I had a chance to walk outside I heard one of the guys say “She isn’t here. She won’t know. We need to get those materials out of there to finish this.” and then I heard my manual garage door open. I was absolutely furious; don’t think I’ve ever been so mad. They didn’t finish one tiny section of siding (included in the job quote) and decided to sneak it in; presumably to call the job “complete”. I put all extra siding back in my garage the night before thinking it wasn’t getting done, and told these guys more than once that they need to ask me to open the garage before going in there. They didn’t realize I was actually home that morning apparently. I ended up running outside and screaming at them to close my garage door right now (with a few expletives thrown in) and that I am trying to work. They ended up leaving and not coming back to my place to discuss the flashing debacle until 4:00 pm, unannounced.

After having it inspected and getting the supervisor to agree to fix the flashing himself, I can now say that I am finally satisfied with the job. Ended up agreeing to pay less for the work and the new scallop, siding and other materials were purchased by The Invisible Man who seemed to become more visible once he realized how gigantic of a screw up Billy Bob and the Tweedles had made (You can see the flashing issues and the fix here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BznuwAgyS6goQ0x0aFVtSmNFWmc). I can’t say I am happy, but I can say I am relieved that it is supposedly fixed. But boy, do I feel like a fool.

Please tell me this is not common. I would not wish this on anyone.

Whitney, I’m glad you got some satisfaction. Your case was a little extreme but unfortunately this is somewhat common.

Can I ask what area you live in?

Whitney,

The back story would be most amusing, if it were not a first hand account of your ordeal. You have my sympathies. You should not have to be an expert in the field that you hire contractors for, unfortunately, sometimes you must make yourself so, in order to not be taken advantage of. It sounds like you did what was necessary to get a satisfactory result.

Here are a couple of things to consider incorporating into your contract the next time you hire a contractor for a significant project.
Require that the work not be subcontracted, unless you are intentionally working through a general contractor. Require that all work be performed by W2 employees of the company that you hired. If the job is large enough, require that a foreman/supervisor remain onsite or at least visit the jobsite daily. Set a time limit for the work to be performed. Tell them that you will be hiring an independent inspector to inspect the finished project (or at multiple phases for larger projects). Specify that all work is to be performed in accordance with accepted industry standards and in full compliance with manufacturer’s installation standards. Your inspector may be willing to help you enumerate these.

Congrats on getting through this, condolences on how you had to do it. You will be better equipped to avoid these kinds of characters in the future.

May I have permission to use your earlier photos of the shoddy workmanship?

Thanks for this advice, Chuck. I will definitely try to do all of that the next time I dive into another project like this. Yes, you may use those photos.

Kenneth,

east Tennessee

Thank you very much. Good luck on your next project.