How To Pick Out A Roofer?
Your roof is one of the biggest investments in your home, and one of the easiest things for a bad contractor to get wrong without you noticing until it’s too late. Charlotte’s mix of summer thunderstorms, occasional hurricane remnants, and humidity year-round means a poorly installed roof doesn’t just look bad — it fails faster. Here’s what to actually check before you sign anything.
Check Their License and Insurance
This is the first thing to ask about, before you even talk price. In North Carolina, roofing contractors working on jobs above a certain dollar threshold are required to hold a General Contractor’s license. If you’re near the South Carolina border, contractors working on that side need a separate SC license too — the two states don’t automatically recognize each other’s licensing.
Don’t just take “we’re licensed” at face value. Ask for the license number and look it up yourself through the state licensing board. It takes two minutes and it’s the single fastest way to filter out a huge chunk of bad options.
Insurance matters just as much. You want to see proof of both general liability insurance and workers’ compensation. If a roofer gets injured on your property and they’re not covered, you can end up liable for their medical bills — a homeowner’s nightmare that a two-minute document check would have prevented.
Look for Manufacturer Certifications
Beyond state licensing, look for certifications from the material manufacturers themselves — names like GAF and CertainTeed, two of the largest shingle and roofing system manufacturers in the country. These aren’t just badges; contractors have to meet installation standards and pass training to earn them, and they usually unlock better warranty coverage than you’d get from an uncertified installer using the same materials.
If a roofer can’t tell you which manufacturers they’re certified with, or seems unsure of the difference between certification tiers, that’s worth a follow-up question before you move forward.
Get It In Writing
A verbal quote isn’t an estimate — it’s a guess. Any roofer worth hiring should give you a written estimate that spells out:
- The exact materials being used (brand, product line, and color)
- Labor and material costs broken out separately
- The timeline for the project
- Payment schedule and terms
- What the warranty covers, and for how long — both the manufacturer’s warranty and the contractor’s own workmanship warranty
If a contractor is reluctant to put this in writing, or the estimate is vague (“shingles” instead of a specific product), treat that as a red flag rather than a formality you can skip.
Ask About the Materials, Not Just the Price
Two estimates can look wildly different in price for what seems like the same job, and the difference is almost always in the materials and the underlayment — the parts you won’t see once the roof is finished. A cheaper bid might be using thinner shingles, a lower-grade underlayment, or skipping ice-and-water shield in valleys and around penetrations where leaks actually start.
Ask specifically what’s included: architectural or 3-tab shingles, what underlayment they use, whether flashing is being replaced or reused, and how they’re handling ventilation. A roofer who can answer these without hesitation knows their trade. One who brushes past the question probably hasn’t thought about it either.
Watch Out for Storm Chasers
After any significant storm, it’s common for out-of-town crews to show up knocking on doors, offering fast estimates and pressuring homeowners to sign on the spot — sometimes before insurance adjusters have even been out. These “storm chasers” are frequently gone within weeks, leaving warranty claims with nobody to call.
A legitimate local roofer will have a permanent address, a track record in your specific area, and won’t need you to decide today. If someone’s creating urgency to get a signature before you’ve had time to think, slow down.
Check Local Reviews, Not Just Star Ratings
A 4.8-star rating with three reviews tells you very little. Read a handful of the actual reviews, not just the number — look for details about communication, whether the crew showed up when promised, how cleanup was handled, and how the company responded when something went wrong. Every contractor gets an occasional bad review; how they handled it is often more informative than the rating itself.
Local reviews matter more than national review aggregators too. A roofer who’s built a reputation across your specific neighborhoods and towns has more at stake in getting it right than one relying purely on ad spend to bring in new customers.
Compare More Than the Bottom-Line Number
It’s tempting to just take the lowest bid. But a roof isn’t a commodity — it’s the thing standing between your home and every storm for the next 20-plus years. When you’re comparing estimates, weigh the license and insurance, the certifications, the specific materials, the warranty terms, and the reviews together, not just the total at the bottom of the page.
The cheapest estimate is sometimes the right one. It’s just worth knowing why it’s cheaper before you decide that.
If you’re weighing options in the Charlotte area, Five24 Roofing is licensed in both North Carolina (#104466) and South Carolina (#67298), GAF and CertainTeed certified, and happy to walk through a written estimate with you — no pressure, no storm-chasing. Request a free estimate whenever you’re ready to talk.