Guide
What to ask before you sign anything
Every contractor will answer these. The differences between the answers are where the useful information is.
Get it looked at
Three questions, and up to three Avalon contractors. Free either way.
You are on the list.
No provider in Avalon is taking requests through this service yet. We are lining them up, and yours is kept until one can.
- Nobody gets your details yet. Your request stays with us and is not passed to any company.
- One email when someone can help. When a provider covering your area can take it on, we email you once and ask whether you want that company, by name, to contact you.
- Deleted after 90 days. If nobody can take it on, or you do not say yes, your contact details are deleted 90 days after your request.
- You decide, or you do not. There is nothing to cancel and nothing to pay us.
Nobody will call you about this request unless you say yes to a company by name.
"What does your workmanship warranty cover, and for how long?"
Material warranties come from the manufacturer and are conditional on correct installation. The workmanship warranty is the contractor's own promise, and it is worth exactly as much as the company behind it.
"Can I see a job you finished five years ago?"
Recent work shows tidiness. Older work shows competence. Ask for the older one.
"What happens if the decking is rotten?"
The right answer is a specific price per sheet, written into the contract before work starts. A vague answer here is how a fixed price stops being fixed on day two.
"Who is actually doing the work?"
Employees, or subcontractors? Both are fine, but subcontracted crews change who carries the workers compensation cover and who stands behind the workmanship warranty.
"What is your licence number, and who holds it?"
The follow-up matters more than the answer: does the entity on the licence match the entity on the paperwork, and is it active today?
"What underlayment, and how are the valleys done?"
A contractor who enjoys this question is usually the one whose roof lasts. A contractor who deflects it to brand names is quoting a different job.
In short
Six questions, three contractors, one afternoon. It is the cheapest insurance available on a job this size.
Related questions
It is leaking right now. What do I do?
Contain the water, photograph everything, and get the request in marked as an emergency. A tarp is the right first job. The permanent repair is a separate conversation and a separate price.
Why does ventilation keep coming up?
Because a badly ventilated attic cooks the roof from underneath and takes years off it. Intake at the eaves and exhaust at the ridge, in balance. It is cheap during a re-roof and awkward afterwards.
I rent. Can I use this?
You can submit it, but the owner has to authorise any work, so the useful move is to get the landlord to make the request or to give you permission in writing first. Contractors will not start work for a tenant.
What is it going to cost?
Free, no obligation, and your details go to no company until you say yes.