Tony’s Lifetime Exteriors is proud to be a part of an industry of hardworking, honest exterior professionals, and we’re happy to say that these traits are the norm in our field, rather than the exception. However, it’s the exceptions that give roofers and siding contractors everywhere a bad rap, and that leave consumers with dangerously lackluster installations. Unfortunately, they can be hard to spot for the untrained eye.
As reputable Minnesotan roofing contractors and siding contractors with years of experience in the business, we’re here to help! This is a brief guide to fraudulent siding and roofing contractors: who they are, how they operate, and how to know if you’re dealing with one.
Fraudulent Exterior Contractors: What Are They?
They’re contractors that won’t get you the service you pay for, obviously, but in this field that tends to take a specific shape, perhaps due to that shape’s effectiveness in fooling the unwitting homeowner.
Stormchasers, as fraudulent exterior contractors are often known, show up in roving bands after a neighborhood has gone through a severe storm. They go door to door, hawking their wares and supposed services, claiming that a given home has been severely damaged in the passing weather and that they’re just the contractor to fix it.
While this might seem like a good thing. How convenient is it to have a helpful roofing or siding pro right on your doorstep? Yet these “professionals” are anything but.
They’re Known to Use Pressure-Heavy Sales Tactics
Because storm chasers rely on the weather for their business (they follow severe storms, as their name suggests), losing a sale is a big deal for them. As we all know, Minnesotan weather can be unpredictable.
They often exploit a homeowner’s vulnerability by showing up unannounced and leveraging:
- Their apparent expertise
- A homeowner’s lack of knowledge about their own home
- The apparent time-sensitive nature of the “damage”
- A homeowner’s courteousness (It’s hard to shut the door in someone’s face!)
- The neighborhood’s stress that inevitably follows a severe storm
And all this is often manipulated just in the name of making a sale! Once a stormchaser leaves your home, you’re bound to feel exhausted after undergoing all that pressure. We don’t think that’s any way to feel after a company that you’re paying does business with you.
They Often Do Shoddy Workmanship
Because they often use generic names and wander around so much, storm chasers are difficult, if not impossible, to hold accountable for the job that they do. This means that, once they leave a property with their money, you’re stuck with whatever quality roof or siding installation they choose to slap on your house.
And it’s not in their best interests for that to be a good one, since great customer reviews and ethics play little role in running an airtight scam. In fact, there have even been cases of storm chasers disappearing into thin air once they’ve gotten their money, leaving the poor homeowner high and dry.
While there may be honest door-to-door roofing contractors and siding installers out there, it’s hard to tell them apart from storm chasers, so you’re taking a risk hiring one based on their doorstep sales tactics. Even if they are forthcoming about their services and do what they say they’ll do, a homeowner should always choose a local company based off of location and word of mouth/reviews for storm damage repair – not the first one that comes knocking. If you have an issue after the job is done, you’ll want to be able to track them down!
They Don’t Provide Support
Once bad weather comes again, as it inevitably does, who is going to make sure your home’s still on two feet, so to speak? Certainly not that stormchaser!
Because putting down roots and building a reputation off of great results doesn’t suit them,
It’s their MO to vanish after they’ve collected their money, never to be heard from again. They exist solely to make a profit, not to better the siding and roofing installations of their community.
How Do I Know If I’m Dealing With a Stormchaser?
They’re hard to spot if you don’t know what you’re looking for, but once you do, it’s as easy as pie. After all they’re everything that we at Tony’s Lifetime Exteriors aren’t!
- They intrude on your time by showing up out of the blue, instead of waiting for you to reach out.
- They’re focused on making a sale, not on your home’s wellbeing.
- They often use generic names (Storm Repair Experts) instead of more specific ones that contain the names of people or places.
- They’re pushy, rude, and self-centered instead of displaying genuine concern for building the client-contractor relationship.
- You can’t find anything about them on the internet, and they don’t have an official website.
Contact Tony’s Lifetime Exteriors for Comprehensive Siding and Roof Support
Time and time again, we’ve been there for our community after rough storms, rough patches, and rough years. With the numerous roofing and siding companies that we consider brand partners and or nearly entirely in-house team, we’re the contractors you can trust. Give our Sauk Rapids office a call today at 320-252-9086.