About Stan Skarbek Expertise I`ve been in roofing for 30 years. I`m a roofing contractor in California. I have in depth expertise in residential roofing, especially wood shakes and shingles, asphalt composition shingles, and to a somewhat lesser extent with hot tar systems, tile, and all the other residential systems on the market.
Experience ROOFING..HISTORY........
My father was a roofing contractor in the 60's and 70's. I started roofing in 1972 when I was 18 years old, in Encinitas, California. Since 1975, I've been in San Jose, California. I earned my contractors license in 1977, when I was 23 years old, and immediately started a company. I did great on the roofing side of the company. The company grew very large, with my focus on the residential repair and reroofing market. Unfortunately, within 3 years my lack of business management education was shining through. I was bankrupt and I lost everything.
In 1981, at 27 years of age, I partnered with two other men to start a new roofing company. Again, we did great on the roofing side, and the business grew, but we weren't doing very well managing the business. I had learned much during my experience with the first company, but I had more to learn. We sold the company in 1983 when I was 29 years old.
During those two businesses, I was learning "Business Management" the hard way. After we sold that second roofing business, I dabbled in two other industries for four years, before picking up my roofing tools again. During the late 1980's I recieved some actual business education thanks to West Valley College of Saratoga, California.
CURRENT..ROOFING..INVOLVEMENT........ I started my current business in 1990 and I'm pleased to say that I have both the roofing side and the business side all figured out now. I've done well in San Jose over the last 17 years. Maybe "30" is the age where you get your head screwed on straight, eh? A little maturity, a little bit of learning from past mistakes and a whole lot of "Business Management" textbook study? And out pops a healthy business. I've been keeping the business fairly small, doing what I do best and working with people with whom I actually enjoy doing business. I have a strong reputation around San Jose for being able to figure out problem leak situations. I do roof inspections and repairs. My focus is composition shingles, wood shakes, tile and hot tar systems.
ABOUT..MY..FAMILY........ My wife and I have been married 31 years, (since 1975) and we are very much in love. We have 4 sons, born between 1977 and 1982. They've all done roofing at various times. The oldest graduated from Stanford with an Master's Degree in computer engineering. He works at Paypal. The second graduated from Vanguard University with a BA in Business Management. He started his own roofing company. This year he's gone back to school at Santa Clara University to get his law degree. One of my twin sons has an Economics degree from San Jose State University. He's received much acclaim for his economics work and his work has been published in economic journals around the world. He's currently in the PHD program at George Mason University. The other twin is the most courageous man I know. He recently won a terrible battle with cancer. It was a worse experience than you can imagine. It was an aggressive form of cancer that put him through hell, but now he's on the other side of the battle and the cancer lost. He has a great career working for San Jose State University in their shipping & receiving department.
ABOUT..MY..FAITH........ No description of my life experience would be complete without mentioning my relationship with Jesus Christ. My faith in Christ is the guiding light that reaches into every area of my life. It affects how I treat my wife and kids. It affects how I conduct business. It affects how I align my priorities in life and why I say "no" to some things and "yes" to other things. Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for my sins so that I could be forgiven and restored to a relationship with God. Jesus stands at the door of every man's heart, knocking. If you'll humbly acknowledge your need for a savior and open the door, he will come in and make you alive. You can have a relationship with the living God. True freedom in life comes when you make yourself a servant... to Jesus Christ. There's the shortest sermon I ever preached :o)
Question Hi Stan,
My mother's roof is pitched at 1.875 - 2 on 12 and is shingled (previous owners). The house, located in the NC climate, is about 1400 sq ft. The roof is sagging between beams and has several holes that have rotted through to the interior. We are currently seeking quotes. So far, out of 4 roofers, we have only received one estimate on site. I'm assuming that the others feel this roof may require too much work and are shying away from it?
The estimate that we did receive is as follows:
1)Tear off existing roof and haul debris. Replace rotten areas as needed at $45 per sheet. (I was told $2800 would be the worse-case-situation)
2) install 1/2 inch high density insulation board over existing roof.
3) install 75lb base sheet over roof deck using 3" plates and screws.
4) install 3"x3" drip edge at perimeter of roof.
5) install ceramic granular modified bitumen over base sheet.
6) flash all roof penetrations and walls, if any.
5 year warranty on workmanship and 10 yrs on material from manufacturer (GAF).
Flat roof price $7100 + redeck house with 1/2" CDX plywood at $2800= $9900
This price doesn't include the "repairing damaged areas" which could possibly be an additional $2800.
My question is, does this seem reasonable? I'm growing really concerned since we haven't received any other quotes. I've been learning much through your answers to other questions and any information regarding our situation would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Jane
Answer Hi Jane,
I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that I can't tell you whether those prices are reasonable, simply because the prices on roofing range wildly from community to community. The material prices are different, local labor rates are different and the contractor's margin for profit and overhead are very different. All depending on what community you're living in. That means a very reasonable price in one community would be far too high in a community just 100 miles away.
But I have good news too. I can give you two really good points of advice to help you be assured that you're not paying too much.
First, get no less than 5 written bids from contractors who have been to your roof. Even if it takes you 4 months to get that many quotes, do it. There are always going to be some contractors who don't want to do the job, but rather than say, "I can't be competitive on this job, we're not going to give you a bid." Instead they just give you a bid that is too high to get the job. If by dumb luck, the customer doesn't get another bid, then they'll be glad to do the job at the outrageously overpriced bid amount. Getting 5 bids will take away this horrible possibility.
Next, get names of good roofing contractors from your local roofing wholesale material outlet. Not Home Depot. A wholesale outlet that sells only roofing material. Ask the manager of the business for several names of good contractors. The names he gives you are going to be guys who pay their bill on time. The manager doesn't know what kind of work the contractor actually does, he just knows that he pays his material bill on time. That is a huge thing. My feeling is that how a man handles his money is a good indicator of how he takes care of all of the responsibilites he has, including doing a good job for you.
I hope that helps. Feel free to follow up in the future.
