There are many important steps when hiring a roofing partner for your commercial properties, but asking the right questions can sometimes be the difference between hiring the right or wrong company for your project. 

With our decades of experience and expertise in the commercial roofing industry, we’d like to share our knowledge and the insights we’ve noticed from our customers. Specifically, we want to provide you with some key questions you can ask before you hire a roofing partner for your next commercial project.

Here are 20 questions you can use to help you better understand which commercial roofing partner is right for you:

1. What roofing system do you recommend for my building?

The specific roofing system each potential partner recommends can differ, which is why it's beneficial to ask about which system each thinks is best suited for your building. Going even more in-depth, it can help to engage in conversations with them about why they would use that specific roofing system if chosen to complete your project. This more niche information can help you compare the recommendations from everyone you’re considering hiring.

2. How much experience do you have in the commercial roofing industry?

Even though a company promotes its knowledge or expertise in the commercial roofing industry, how much experience does that actually equate to? Some information you might listen for or try to uncover when asking this question includes:

• Amount of years working in the industry
• Number of projects completed
• Scale or type of projects worked on

Questioning this with each potential partner you consider for your roofing project can help you identify who actually has the experience to pair with their knowledge and expertise to provide you with the professionalism you need.

3. Do you have experience working with roofs similar to mine?

No commercial roof is the same, which is why it’s beneficial to see if your potential roofing partners have experience working with roofs that share similar characteristics. This might include whether they’ve worked on a commercial roof in the past with the same or similar foundations, damages and overall needs. Understanding this specific information about their experience in the commercial roofing industry can help you better determine if they are the right partner for your roof and its unique needs.

4. Can I see some examples of commercial roofing projects you’ve completed?

Asking to see some examples of the commercial roofing projects each potential roofing partner has completed is a great way to gather insights about the quality of work they produce. Some specific materials you can inquire about are project case studies and before and after photos. You can then review these and compare them against other project partners you’re considering. 

Note: If a commercial roofing partner refuses to share examples of the previous commercial roofing projects they’ve completed, this may be a red flag regarding the quality of work they produce.

5. What have your customer’s experiences been like?

Gaining insights about the experience a commercial roofing company offers its customers can help you better understand what type of experience you can expect. Although you can search for them and find online reviews, it’s also helpful to ask them about this directly. By doing this, you can usually get additional information like customer quotes or testimonials that speak to the short or long-term experiences their customers have when working with them.

6. Are your customers satisfied with the results they receive?

Aside from understanding the type of experience a commercial roofing company offers its customers, it’s also important to identify how satisfied their customers are with the results they receive. This might seem silly to inquire about, especially if a potential partner has positive customer experience reviews, but sometimes the overall level of project satisfaction can differ. 

A good way to check this is by asking about the net promoter score (NPS) of every commercial roofing partner you’re considering. If you don’t know what NPS is, it’s a number rating—on a scale of 1 to 100—determined by customer satisfaction and whether they’d be willing to recommend the service to a colleague, friend or family member after their project. Getting this information is another way you can identify the quality of work and customer experience each partner you’re considering can offer.

7. What types of roofing materials do you use?

Knowing the types of roofing materials a commercial roofing company uses is useful, especially if you’re interested in environmentally friendly options. The materials used can often differ on whether a partner you’re considering specializes in traditional commercial roofing or fluid-applied roofing.

8. Can you provide information about the manufacturer(s) you work with?

Although the manufacturer may only provide the materials to commercial roofing companies, identifying who they are can allow you to learn more about the quality of their products. While this may require you to do some research on your own, doing this can provide you with more information about the materials each potential partner plans to use on your roof. If you have additional questions about a specific manufacturer’s products, you can also follow up with individual partners you’re considering to learn more.

9. What type of warranty do you offer?

It may come as a surprise, but not all roofing warranties are the same. Generally, there are three different types of warranties you will see:

• Material Only Warranty. Only covers the costs of the material on your roof.
• Labor and Material Warranty. Covers the costs of the material on your roof and the labor needed to make repairs if your roofing partner or the manufacturer is at fault.
• Labor, Material, and Workmanship Warranty. Requires the partner to have more specialty certifications and perform more quality testing before, during, and after your project to cover the costs of material, labor, and workmanship for your roof.

Recognizing the differences between each type of warranty and explicitly knowing what type of warranty each roofing partner offers can be critical to your decision-making process.

<<< Learn more about commercial roofing warranties

10. Can you provide proof of insurance and licensing?

Although this question seems super straightforward, it’s always important to make sure that the roofing partners you’re considering are insured and licensed in your state or area. This can be especially helpful for you to avoid any potential liability concerns in the future. For example, if a roofing partner you’re considering working with doesn’t have Commercial Liability Insurance, you may be liable for any damages or safety concerns regarding your project. 

Typically, this won’t be an issue because most commercial roofing contractors are insured and licensed. However, there’s no harm in checking to give yourself peace of mind.

11. How long do you estimate this roofing system will last?

Every commercial roofing system has its own unique nuances, including its life cycle. For traditional roofing practices, this means the number of years before you have to replace your commercial roof. Meanwhile, for fluid-applied roofing practices, this references the number of years before your commercial roof will need to be restored again. Once you gather these details, you can compare the longevity timelines of all the commercial roofing partners you’re considering.

12. What benefits can I gain from the roofing system you plan to install?

Another factor you should consider before hiring a roofing partner is the benefits you can gain from the specific system they intend to install. Some benefits you might look for are:

• Energy efficiency
• Ability to withstand harsh weather
• Long-term quality and financial savings

The information you can gather about benefits is also useful to compare because it can help ensure you’re getting the best possible system for your buildings.

13. What safety measures or precautions does your team take while on-site?

No one wants an unsafe work environment on their project site. If this is something you’re particularly concerned about, you can always ask potential partners about the safety measures they plan to use. Prompting this question can be especially useful if you’ve run into challenges with this in the past because you can get the peace of mind you need to confidently hire a commercial roofing company for your project.

14. Will there be any major disruptions to my business’s daily operations?

In general, commercial roofing partners try to mitigate any major disruptions to your business’s daily operations throughout the duration of your project. However, it can be insightful to question this because each potential roofing partner may handle your project differently. Knowing these details earlier on can also allow you more time to prepare for the impacts your project might have on day-to-day operations.

15. Who will be my main point of contact throughout the duration of my project?

Throughout your conversations with a commercial roofing company, your point of contact might change multiple times depending on whether you’ve chosen to work with them or the current stage of your project. By asking who your main point of contact will be throughout the duration of your project, you can understand early on who you’ll be communicating with and even engage in initial conversations with them to better understand their communication style. While this might not be the most important factor in your hiring decision, it can be helpful to know how responsive your point of contact or contacts will be.

16. How often will I get updates about the project’s progress?

Usually, it’s common for commercial roofing companies to provide clients with updates about the progress of their project, but how often those updates come can differ. For example, one partner you consider may only offer weekly updates and another might offer daily updates. Inquiring about this can provide you with a baseline understanding of the communications you’ll receive during the duration of your project. It’s also important to remember that the frequency in which you receive updates can also depend on the estimated timeline for your project.

17. What is the estimated timeline for my project?

Getting clarity and transparency on the estimated timeline for your project can sometimes be the difference between unexpected surprises and predictability. While potential commercial roofing partners may provide you with an estimated timeline for your project, you can continue those conversations to better understand all the determining factors that could speed up or prolong the process. Knowing what timeline to expect, how it might change and having transparency from your potential partners earlier on can provide you with more predictability for your project’s completion.

18. How much will my project cost?

Cost is often something that commercial roofing partners will share with you in your project estimate. However, the keyword is “estimate,” and it’s beneficial to understand how or whether the price tag for your project could change. Engaging in conversations with potential roofing partners to clarify this is another great way to help you get more predictability with the outcomes of your project.

19. What happens if my roof needs maintenance after the project has been completed?

Although this question is more hypothetical, it can be helpful to understand the level of support a roofing partner will offer you after your project has been completed. One element of this support would be the roofing warranty they offer, but the others would be factors like how on-demand they’d be able to communicate with you and how quickly they’d be able to respond to any needs you have.

20. What makes you unique compared to other commercial roofing companies?

While asking this question may seem silly, the answers you gather can provide beneficial information for you when making comparisons. By asking potential commercial roofing partners this question, you’re essentially asking them to compare themselves to other companies you may be considering. This allows you to hear from them directly about what makes them different and why you should choose them over a competitor.

Have a commercial roofing project in mind?

Connect with our team today to discuss your project and learn more about all the benefits fluid-applied roofing can offer! Send us a message on our contact form or give us a call at 937.909.9030.