For Guilderland residents, the end of summer means school is back, football season and possibly a leaky roof, once the winter settles in.
The Guilderland Chamber of Commerce and Better Business Bureau are offering advice to residents: Check your roof for storm damage. A July 16 hailstorm has left a number of homes, and cars with damage, and in time that damage could lead to leaks from rain and melting snow. While the damage on the cars is more visible, a damaged roof is not as easily spotted.
The organizations are also offering advice when it comes to shopping around for a contractor. With so much damage, contractors from around the country have set up shop, and while some residents have expressed mistrust of companies that are not originally from Guilderland, there are plenty of honest contractors to choose from.
Guilderland Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Kathy Burbank offered some advice to the residents affected by the recent hailstorms.
Don’t panic if a roofing company comes to your door, check a reference or two from the company, and don’t sign anything you are not comfortable with. Many roofs were damaged, and need to at the least be looked at, but you don’t have to sign a contract to just get you roof looked at, Burbank said.
Peggy Penders, public relations manager with the Better Business Bureau also weighed in.
`It brings the best in people who are helping each other, but it also brings the scammers,` she said of a weather related event.
She said it is not uncommon for out of area contractors to come in after a storm to set up shop.
`Consumers definitely should be aware of a door-to-door solicitor,` she said. `That’s just more homework for the consumer,` she said.
She said businesses in the BBB are always a good choice, but they are not the only choice.
`Certainly there are roofers who are not accredited with the Better Business Bureau and have a good standing with us.`
Penders said the BBB recommends asking neighbors for contractors they have worked with and to ask for references.
She also said often after damage is done, it is easy to become emotional, but decisions should be made objectively.
The Better Business Bureau offers the following advice: get at least three competitive bids before making a decision, prepare a written contract before a contractor begins work on your home and do not pay cash for any work done.
It also recommends being cautious of door-to-door contractors who claim they have `left-over materials` from other jobs.
Freda Laiacona, spokesperson for State Farm Insurance, said the agency has a preferred provider network, and can make resources available to homeowners that they might not have been aware of. She said, though, the insurance company does not recommend specific contractors. And a homeowner is free to choose whomever he or she likes.
Laiacona said State Farm policyholder’s can participate in a Premier Service Program that allows them to pick from our list of authorized contractors.
`State Farm has interviewed and selected authorized contractors for this program. Participating contractors warrantee their workmanship for up to 5 years,` said Laiacona in a written statement.
Todd DeWald, president of Burns Management said his roofing business is swamped with work.
DeWald has joined the GCC and the BBB and said he has many offices around the country that do similar work.
DeWald is working out of an office on Western Avenue near the Guilderland Fire Department. He has offices in Oklahoma and Texas as well as other locations throughout the country, and said he makes a living `following the storm.`
`I looked at it on the weather to see how bad it was,` he said.
He said a relative living in the area alerted him to the storms.
DeWald’s office will provide an inspection, take pictures and make a damage report, he said. If there is sufficient damage, the insurance company comes in and makes a determination or `exactimate` on the work that needs to be done. The work is usually itemized, DeWald said.
Homeowners insurance will cover wind, tornados and hail or other `acts of God` and do not consider them to be the fault of the owner. Premiums tend to go up, DeWald said, three to five percent for everyone affected, rather than a large amount as if the owner was personally responsible.
`We’re there to assist them in appropriating the claim,` he said.
The damage could lead to leaks down the road, possibly six months to a year.
`If it gets inside your house and interior, in your insulation, you could get mold and we’re talking tens of thousands,` he said.
The hail that came down on July 16 was described as 2.5 inches in circumference, approximately the size of a lacrosse ball.
Roofs are not the only valuable inundated with damage, though.
Lisa Kaese, manager of the Lia Collision Center on Central Avenue in Colonie said she has seen a large number of cars from Guilderland come in with damage, fluctuating in severity, but said special `hail-teams` from around the country have come in to help handle the repairs.
Kaese said this is the third summer the dealership has experienced a hailstorm doing significant damage to a large number of vehicles, and said the collision teams have made repairs to more than 100 cars so far.
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