Some hail went through the area last week. When I asked how he got my number he said through the National Roofing Federation. Anybody ever heard of such a thing? Why would they have my number and be giving it out to these guys?

Seems a bit shady.

IF it's a roofer calling, it is a fishing expedition.

Down here it was so bad they had to change the state laws on roof replacement. Local mega millionaire personal injury firm Morgan and Morgan partnered with a roofing company Jasper and they formed Roofclaim.com, sponsor a NCAA bowl and would combine his legal team with a roofer, they chased weather hail maps and canvased the area. IF the carrier balked it was automatically sent to his law firm to sue.


But, it doesn't mean you don't have hail damage.

Find a good local roofer to come out and look it over if you do, then getting it fixed is up to you on your terms.

A perfect example of data mining facilitated by cheap data processing and communications. Just wait until AI gets involved, this kind of thing is tailor-made for AI.

Anytime there is a strong storm they have commission sales people or an automated system call every number in that area.
As others said, just a fishing expedition. They drop their line in the water and see if anyone bites.

Home owner insurance rates have escalated to the point of nearly requiring a second mortgage to pay the premiums brought about in part with this mining for roof replacement by these roofers. It goes like this. You have an easily repairable roof from minor hail damage but they phony up the damage for you to get a new roof. Hey, you're happy, what the hell, new roof for free less your deductible. Then they offer you 500 - 1000 dollars for anyone you refer to them. The insurance company does not have enough adjusters to cover the claims so they just pay it and pass the cost on to all of their insured in the form of higher rates. Then everyone bitches about the high rates, but but that's someone else's problem, at least until the inevitable notice of non renewal shows up in your mailbox down the road.

We get the cold in-person call. "Hi, we're doing some work in the neighborhood and thought we'd look at your roof..."

I'm kinda decrepit, but I can still fool 'em, still got the loud, deep voice and they always beat feet out of our yard.

Bob

Did you engage?

Just fishing. Property records are public information, so they'll pay a pittance to some data collection firm who has scraped all the names, addresses, and phone numbers of homeowners from the county's digital public records, and who will provide it in database form to any other company for a nominal fee.

They then plug that homeowner contact info database into their autodial software, and turn their team of telemarketers/salesmen loose to make cold calls from that list.


That kind of cold calling using property records has been going on for a while now. What's new to me is the overly pushy tactic that a number of roofing companies have started using, which I've only just started encountering over the past couple years. They'll lead off with something like this:

"This is John with Smith Roofing. We'll be there for your roof inspection at 11:00 am tomorrow. Does that time work for you?"

It's a total cold call, but they're making it sound like it's already a done deal to which you've already agreed, and it's just a matter of finding an suitable time.

quote:

Originally posted by downtownv:
Did you engage?

Yea. I did. I got all the info I could out of him then told him I'll be looking for his crews in town because I work for an agency that is interested in the types of folks that normally work on roofing crews.

Probably not the smartest thing to say. But every year we deal with this fly by night crews and it kind of pisses me off. If its not roofing its paving crews. It never ends.

I've just never received a cold call over a roof before.

My good friend owns a business where chasing storms is the bulk of his business. He’s legit and honest, and has been doing it a long time. But I will admit there are a lot of the fly by night outfits that sour the profession. Like anything else, research, ask for references, and follow up on those references. If they hesitate or stutter when asking for references or licenses, hang up or shut the door. Legitimate outfits will sometimes have all of this already copied and ready to hand to you.

My dude, we had a tornado 24MAY, and there are still people going door to door trying to get your roof to fix.

Had one yesterday, I told him I can’t help you cause I have a new roof, if you look you can see the fresh shingles and chat at your feet, look there’s even a roofing nail by your foot, and my gutters and downspouts aren’t dented. And I can tell you that over half of the homes in the subdivision have a new roof because I’m on the board that approves them. Seems like you’ve missed the show, but good luck. BTW some of the owners are gonna call the cops, so just be aware. (No one likes DTD salesmen)

Dude was cheerful and walked across the street and promptly told the woman I had sent him over and that he was working with the company that did my roof (he wasn’t) blah blah blah. Her husband called me in the middle of it, and ran him off.

I fucking hate solicitors. I hope they all get heat cramps and fall out in the road and get blisters.

We had a guy come around a few years ago who told me he could get the insurance company to buy me a new roof. Thing was, I really did need a new roof, but it was due to its age, not storm damage like he was trying to claim. I'm not in the business of committing insurance fraud, so I told him to pack sand. I hate people like that.

Ended up calling around for quotes, got sticker shock, and replaced it myself with my wife and son for less than half of the best quote I could get.

I get 5 or so roofing companies knocking on my door every year. After every hail storm they come out to drum up business.

During Hurricane Beryl I saw roofing companies driving through the neighborhood Monday morning while the storm was pushing through.

I want to start a business where all I do all day is look for bad roofs and horrible tree's left to neglect.

I will compile a list of names addresses , contact info and sell these to a dozen roofers and arborist 's.

Might even engage the potential customer.

quote:

Originally posted by mrvmax:
I get 5 or so roofing companies knocking on my door every year. After every hailstorm they come out to drum up business.

We get these 'kids' coming by trying to get you to agree to a roof 'inspection'. They ignore 'No Soliciting' signs as they say they are not selling anything. They are extremely well-trained to deflect any negative comment you may make, except for GTFO. They've come by at least six times this year.

quote:

Originally posted by 229DAK:

quote:

Originally posted by mrvmax:
I get 5 or so roofing companies knocking on my door every year. After every hailstorm they come out to drum up business.

We get these 'kids' coming by trying to get you to agree to a roof 'inspection'. They ignore 'No Soliciting' signs as they say they are not selling anything. They are extremely well-trained to deflect any negative comment you may make, except for GTFO. They've come by at least six times this year.

My city requires any door to door person to register with the city and wear a badge the city provides. If they are pushy I tell them they must be registered with the city and they usually leave. The police will come and approach them if I call the non emergency number. We have a good police force in town and good chief.

Don't homeowners insurance companies use drones these days? I would think roofing companies could do the same and, perhaps legitimately call about roofs that will need replacing soon. I don't answer any calls from numbers not in my address book, but that doesn't mean they're all crooks. House is getting painted soon and I found the painter by going to talk to the crew painting the nextdoor neighbor's house.