Use Capitol (as mentioned by a bunch of people earlier in this thread) for a flat roof. Or if you need asphalt shingles, slate, tile, or copper work, use Bower & Co who is based out of Kearny. They will not be the lowest bid, but the work is exceptional.

Hi there,
Can anyone kindly recommend a good roofer? The roof on my bay is damaged and a chunk of it came off during today's storm.

thanks in advance!

I have to say I am really horrified by what I am hearing as my experience with them was the exact opposite after going through the same crap that is now being said about Accomplished by other roofers.

I swear, I had a very good experience with them and so have my neighbors and friends that used them. I have no idea what has happened since. I offer my sincerest apologises that I steered you wrong and based on this input I no longer recommend Accomplished.

I have no idea how they have gone from good to terrible... they even had an excellent record with the BBB. I interviewed 5 roofers and had two previously bad experiences. I was so relieved after 5 years to finally have my leaks fixed and able to redo my interior without fear.

I do not recommend Accomplished for any roofing job.

This is my experience with them. Hopefully this will help out other people: We used them this summer for my condo building. They ripped up everything and put down a new roof. 2 weeks later - a strong storm hit and the leaks were worse than the original old roof. It was absolutely shocking how much damage was done. They came out and fixed - or basically finished installing the flashing they never bothered to install. The new roof came with a 20year and 24hour service numbers which don't mean anything beside - we will come out and fix it for free. This doesn't mean they will fix any of the damage that happens from their bad work. They have different teams of roofers and the owner/mel/foremen look over (NOT WELL) at what they do. These different teams or technicians work under a seperate business name - so they seem to be subcontracted out by Accomplished.

BTW - The 24 hour number goes to a machine, or if someone answers it they then leave a message on someones voice mail to deal with in the morning. It is by no means 24hr service number.

There have been no leaks (that one can tell) until this recent storm. But yet again the drywall seams are busting open. I've called the wonderful Accomplished number and they will be back on Friday to fix, or find a fix, or deal with my extremely angry lovely self.

Please please please think more than twice about using them to fix or replace the roof of your homes.

I am just beside myself. We spent thousands of dollars having our roof replaced by Accomplished Chimney and Roofing and as i type this i have water coming in at exactly the same places we had it before. Leaking in our bedroom, our guest room, our office...i called accomplished and left a message with the woman who answered the phone a few hours ago but haven't had a response. I cannot BELIEVE i spent so much money to have the same problem. And it is money i don't have. I really hope they will make this right because the thought of having wasted that money and having to have someone redo the job is horrible.
*Althea...if you read this and have any cell phone numbers for these guys please let me know!

I used Miller Roofing and have no problems for almost two years. Do NOT even consider Ned Stevens.

so - this rain has taught me that I need new gutters or to really repair and reconfigure my existing gutters. Anyone have any experience with doing this themselves or hiring someone to do it?

Degree of difficulty? Cost? We have a 4-story row house.

Thanks!

You can try Raul at Roof Doctor 201-798-0991. He did a small flat roof for me (from scratch), maybe 12' x 14'. He does torch down roofing.

i use servicemagic.com. call those with good reviews.

Any suggestions for a roofer who will undertake small jobs? I have a leak in a flat roof...but I'm not sure which of the seams is bad. Probably will just the whole roof re-sealed.

We recently used Capital for a tear-down of our flat roof last month. It was a little complicated because we replaced some skylights and had central AC units on the roof that had to be winched up so that you could replace the roof under them.

While we were getting bids, we did get an estimate from Miller. Mrs. Miller is a great local character, but:
a.) they recommended putting on another layer instead of a tear-down
b.) their ?layer? bid was higher than Capital?s tear-down
c.) the guy she sent to do the estimate at 9:00 am (how shall I put this?) smelled like he hadn?t been home from the bar the night before.

I know other people have had great experiences with Miller, and please? I?m not ?bad-mouthing? them ? just relaying what we experienced. But, given those factors, we decided to go with Capital.

We had to wait a few weeks (4 or 5) because Capital told us that the skylights were a ?custom? thing that had to be fabricated. When they came, Dennis? son Eric was the foreman for our job ? Dennis? dad worked on our roof too. They finished in 2 days, were very clean (I was expecting much more of a mess), and carted all the junk out through the alley.

We?ve had a few VERY rainy days since then, and so far (knock wood)? no leaks.

In short, I was very impressed with them and would highly recommend them to anyone. And... they're "dog people"

Capitol came highly recommended by my architect, and I had no problem getting the owner Dennis out for an estimate (and no, he doesn't bring the dog). He ended up referring me to another contractor, since Capitol specializes in flat roof work, and my roof is multiple-peaked and needs lots of custom copperwork and carpentry. I appreciate an honest contractor who will admit when something is outside their expertise and then point a potential customer in the right direction. So I never used them, but would make the recommendation regardless.

I mentioned Capitol in my post. I had them in for an estimate, didn't choose them to do the work, but they have a very good reputation. I did refer a friend to Capitol, and they ended up going with them for the job, and were pleased with the result.

Quote:

AlanSommerman,

You used Capitol Roofers? Could you tell me what your personal experience with them was? I called them for an estimate despite their web site http://www.capitolroofingco.com/ with the flashing Rottie on every single page! They never called back, but I am wondering, the dog, do they bring the dog along? They seem very dedicated to the dog :0)

Oh and the picture here, http://www.capitolroofingco.com/products/ is a picture of a roof at the end of my block. Looks very well done considering the building was in a vacant, just tear it down, state. That must have been a very big job.

Althea
www.cfijc.org

Quote:

I have mostly a hip roof (90%), with a few flat surfaces. It's a complicated roof. I believe they used a torch down method, but don't quote me, ask them. They were careful about how many layers (felt) they put down. The original top to our back shed (attached to the house) was given a silver coating. This seemed to sink in and create potholes of water. I'm not sure whether this was because of shoddy underlying materials or what.

At first I was only having the gutters redone. It turned out that the fascia board behind the gutters was all rotted out and needed to be replaced. This took a day and a few hours. The few hours was because they needed to schedule the seemless gutters guy and then put them up. They had four men on the job so things move efficiently.

When we moved to the next leak problem, which we thought would be small, but again the wood underneath the shingles was all rotted. Shame on the roofer who redid my entire roof. You get what you pay for, but at least he could have warned me. So a complete tear off was neccessary and strongly advised by both my father and the roofers. They were able to fit me in very quickly and took 2 days to complete all the work. They had 7 guys on the job. I have a pretty large roof though.

After the work was done, Mel, the foreman, also one of the brothers, came by to inspect and reinspect and then came back a week later to make sure everything was fine. He seemed really dedicated and wanted to make sure the work was top notch.

Of course you will probably be getting more than one estimate, hopefully 3 so you can compare what they say and how they do it. One guy walked around my house once , on the ground, and then just pulled an estimate out of god knows where. I called Capitol, but they never called back. I don't think this means anything, but I'm extremely busy and didn't want to track the roofers down.

I liked that Accomplished went through the step by step instruction of what they were doing. Unfortunately, I didn't pay too close attention to the flat roofs because they weren't in the contract. They decided later that it was important to redo them and simply did them at no extra cost. They guarranteed the roof for 10 years to be leak free. They spoke with my father, who was cheif architect on several of the casinos built and renovated in Atlantic City (Sands, Harahs Marina, etc.) After speaking to them, he told me that he was very satisfied that they were using methods that really secured the roof structurally and also protected it.

Another thing I liked about Accomplished was that they worked hard to clean up their mess. I guess i have just gotten used to construction crews being messy and have cleaned up a lot of the mess after they left. I have toddlers who would put the nails in their mouth if they could get their stubby fingers on them... so I really have to clean up. Accomplished did a superb clean up job. In their words, "well we want you to be completely happy, but we also don't know who your neighbors are and want to make sure that there is no unhappiness with them either." They went to my neighbors directly on either side and made sure they were happy with the clean up.

Quote:

This may very well be so, but the reason Accomplished came out so quickly was because they have been in business since 1964, they are a family owned and run business (5 brothers), and they have several crews. They also have a person dedicated to answering the phones. She answers the phones, gives out emergency numbers (they are 24 hour service and they will come out at 3 am if your roof has a leak) and coordinates the teams. They rush over to give estimates because they are intelligent business men and understand that roofing is a tough business and any work, no matter how small, if well done, can lead to more work.

I definitely know way too much about this business, but I'm a historian at heart and I was absolutely fascinated by how businesses, any business, run. They were more than happy to talk to me. Imer, the owner, is personable and intelligent. I was treated with respect. I actually had a good experience.

Feel free to pm me if you would like my phone number to speak in person. I'm overly tired today and have no idea if this post makes any sense :)

Althea

I never used Miller Roofing, but didn't think much of them (Mrs. Miller). I called to get an estimate, and was told during that first call that I didn't need a new roof, ALTHOUGH I TOLD HER THERE WERE FIVE+ LAYERS OF ROOF! During that conversation Ms. Miller tried to talk me out of it, and warned me that if the roof was ripped and a new roof put on my taxes would go up (I discussed this on JCLIST last year - total BS)! So a few guys from Miller came down for and estimate, and Ms Miller called later that day with the good news -- I didn't need the roof ripped, just some patching and they could do it in a day.

The roof was done the right way - ripped. The wood over the joists had to also be replaced -- I saw it with my own eyes and have photos of the rotted wood. One joist had to be cricketed, and in the back some major work had to be done.
There were extra charges, and they were very reasonable.

If there is lot of roof up there -- more than 3 roof layers - bite the bullet and tear it down to the wood and do the job right, and be wary or roofers that want to do it the cheap way.

This is my first hand experience. I never used Miller so can't comment on their work, but I can comment on what they proposed.


Quote:

Try Miller roofing. I got the recommendation from another post on JC list, andwas very happy. I've also used Capital and I was very happy with them too. Don't wait - when the temperature gets too high they cannot work on roofs - too dangerous, and their insurance doesn't cover them (or so I was told).

Last year my neighbor and I had new roofs put on by Simpson Contracting based out of Union City. They came highly recommended and we are VERY pleased with the job. Roof torn down to the wood, wood replaced, new roof, silver coat, new gutters and leaders -- the whole nine yards. They were very good.

Simpson Contracting General Contractors
Ron & Peter Simpson
(201) 866-6668

Another good roofer is Capitol Roofing. I got an estimate from them also, but liked what Pete wanted to do better.

Be wary of roofers that just want to torch down a new rubber roof, make a fast $1500 and be on their way.

Send me a PM if you have any questions.

BTW, I have found that the WORST roofers will get back to you the fastest. They just do the quick and dirty jobs and want some fast money. A good roofer may be difficult to get ahold of, and may not be at your place in two hours.

Althea,

I might take you up on your recommendation, but I have a few questions...Did they do a torch down method? What kind of roof did you have installed and what guarantees did they give you? How long did it take for them to do the work?

I have witnessed a horror story of a roof repair from Home Depot, so don't use them.

I've been through a few roofers. Very frustrating indeed. I have had several leaks over the past 4 years. No one was able to really tell me what the problem was and 2 screwed me by redoing my roof over rotten boards without letting me know the situation.

I finally found a company, Accomplished Construction. I can now vouch for them since I have miraculously made it through 2 down pours with no leaks!

Here is their web site: http://www.accomplishedchimney.com/

They were the only one of 5 companies to make their first scheduled appointment and they even came the same day I called. They were also the best priced and before they gave an estimate, they really wanted to see the roof from outside, on top, and inside my attic. They measured it and then gave me a price.

They were quick, professional, and fairly priced. I was impressed and have no complaints. They were even willing to talk to my father, an architect, who lives in California, throughout the process. He was impressed, which speaks loads to me. They seem to take the, "no job too small," attitude also.

Sorry, i'm gushing... it's been a long 4 years of terrible leaks and no ability to renovate my interior until the leaking problem was solved.

If you decide to get them for an estimate, tell them I recommended them. They liked me because I told them I would sing their praises to anyone that asked if my leaks were fixed or else I would show up at their office with a shotgun. They reassured me, "We guarantee, no rain, no leaks." They're like family now.

They are insured and bonded. They guarantee their work. I also looked them up in the BBB, which if you didn't know, you can check out any company here: http://search.bbb.org/

Althea
www.cfijc.org

Too many guys out there doing roofing - I would appreciate any recommendations for roofers you have used that you have been satisfied with.

Thanks!