Finding good roofing contractors to inspect, maintain and replace your roof can be pretty difficult for a homeowner and even more so when you consider the cost of replacing a roof. The average cost of replacing a shingle roof is somewhere between $7,500 and $15,000 depending on the size of your home. Finding a good roofer to take care of your roof is therefore imperative particularly when you consider you’ll be depending on this guy to tell you when your house needs a new roof.

Considering how much you’re about to spend on replacing your roof, it’s best to look at hiring a roofer as a business decision. And frankly it is a lot like hiring an employee because that’s essentially what you’re doing; you’re hiring an independent contractor. To find a good roofer you’ll want to speak with several roofers and have the best three to five bid on your project. The more bids you have to look at, the easier it’ll be for you to find a good roofer at a reasonable price.

There are all sorts of ways to come up with the names of several roofers. You can begin by asking friends, relatives and associates. From there you can seek referrals from your local home improvement stores and and local real estate agents or general contractors you may know. If there is a major roofing materials supplier in your area, you can try there as well. Ideally you’ll start off with more than five names and you’ll screen these roofers prior to having them bid on your project.

The reason you want to screen the roofers prior to having them bid is because you want to have “apples to apples” comparisons when you look at their bids at the end of the process. To screen the roofers you can do a quick search in Google and look for reviews and complaints under the roofer’s business name. More and more homeowners are leaving feedback online about contractors they’ve worked with and Google does a great job of aggregating that data for you. Make sure to search for reviews and feedback in Google to see what other past clients have said about the roofers you’re looking into.

A good roofer will also carry a license from the state to operate as a roofer so that’s definitely something you’ll want to check for. You can check for a license easily online but I recommend you actually contact them so you can kill two birds with one stone…

By contacting your state licensing board, which is the organization you’ll have to contact to check for a license, not only can you check that the roofer has a valid license but you can also ask about any complaints that have been filed against the roofer. I should also mention that the state licensing board is the number one place for unhappy homeowners to turn to to file a grievance against a contractor. And finally another great place to check for complaints is the Better Business Bureau.

After you’ve checked for reviews, feedback and complaints you should have a much better idea of who you want to bid on your project. Have the best three to five roofers bid on your project so you have plenty of bids to compare and contrast.

When having the roofers bid on your project, it’s imperative that you mention that they need to be adequately insured. Adequate insurance means they have some form of general liability insurance and worker’s compensation insurance if they plan on using employees which they probably will. Insurance is a must when hiring someone to work on your roof.

Another must is asking for and checking references. There’s really only one way to ensure the roofer you’re dealing with knows how to install a roof and that’s to speak with some of his past clients. A good roofer should have plenty of references to share with you but it’s up to you to contact them and see about stopping by to check out the roofer’s handy work.

Another idea for checking out the roofer’s work is asking him if he’s currently working on any other projects when he drops by to bid on your project. If he answers yes, you can ask if you can drop by to inspect his work. Whenever possible you should make every effort to actually see a roofer’s work as that will give you the best idea of what he is capable of.

Finally when checking out the bids on your roof, make sure to rake notice of the warranties and guarantees on workmanship and materials as these can have a huge impact on overall value of the bid.