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 I have a home in Florida and it has a concrete barrel tile roof that is approximately 25-30 years old. The southeast side of the roof was damaged by two hurricaines - Charlie and Wilma. Insurance company sent engineer firm to inspect the roof damage, broken, loose, and mis-aligned tiles. Engineers determination of damage was not due to wind from the hurricaines, but from improper installation 25 to 30 years ago. For example, too small mud patties, maybe installed when it was too hot, mortar flash-set, etc. This damage was only found on the southeast side of house. My question is: Is it possible that the roof was not installed properly 25-30 years ago, and then only half of the roof was damaged? We are going to Mediation tomorrow in Ft. Myers Florida. Do you have any insight into this?
Answer Hi Kevin,
Unfortunately, without a hands on inspection of the roof, it's not possible to tell you if it's one way or the other. But I strongly recommend that you hire a roofing contractor that doesn't work for the insurance company and have him do an inspection. Then you'll either have confirmation that the insurance guy is shooting straight, or you'll have expert testimony that the insurance guy is incorrect. I assume the insurance guy isn't an expert in roofing the way the roofing contractor is, so your roofing contractor's inspection would carry more weight.
