Franks Rants, Posts, and Blog Page

Most Recent Posts!

I monitor all calls because of telemarketers. If your # does not show on caller I.D., you will have to leave a message.

The economy is on everybody's mind. Because of this, many are remodeling and/or repairing as opposed to replacing. I'm finding that part of this attitude leads to accepting ridiculously low bids. DON'T fall into this trap! If the bid is that low, there are some serious shortcuts being taken. These 'repairs' will come back to haunt homeowners and the 2nd. time around, the repair cost will be ridiculously high! I know. I'm the guy that often comes back for the second go-around.

I do feel like the person getting ready to spend thousands should have a very, very good idea of what's involved. Even if I don't get hired, I honestly hope they learned enough from me and my site to NOT hire a Jack-Leg that will cost them much more at a later date. That, to me, is much more important than a sale. Sorry if that attitude offends anybody, but that's ME.

The influx of immigrant workers has created a market of repairs on roofs as young as 2 years old. Most of the roofs I repair nowadays are less than 12 years old. The migrants are here to do the work, get paid, and go back South of the Border. That's where I come in. I'm still here and I can usually fix the problems some of them create. It saddens me to see the poor quality our industry turns out today. A few of them are craftsmen, but the majority aren't. They're just unskilled hard workers. And it's because nobody has bothered to train them.

I would hire a 'legal' alien if he spoke perfect English and had proper documentation. Some of the people from other countries seem to be much harder workers than some of our 'native' citizens. Go figure. Point is, I won't learn Spanish or Italian so I can hire somebody to work in America.

A clientele mindset I have trouble penetrating is their definition of a 'Good' roofer.
To them, A good roofer is one that will come back to fix their (The roofer's) mistakes in a timely fashion, as often as it takes. This is called "Call-Backs".
The whole premise I strive for and succeed in accomplishing is '0' leaks in the first place! So I don't have call-backs to show how well I can take care of 'my mistakes'. A company is only as good as the person working on the roof. I am the worker and the owner.

It seems that the current 'recession' is bringing out an influx of jackleg roofers. I'm seeing more and more new jobs that are disasters and needing replacement because they aren't even repairable. Clients! Due Diligence please. Check into your roofer and his references!

I don't install 3-tab 20 or 25 year shingles. I only bid and install dimensional shingles lately. All of them are getting flimsier and more fragile in my opinion. And nowadays, the manufacturers are stressing the importance of underlayment. To me, it seems as if they have no confidence in their own roof material. Older organic shingles were often installed over sheathing boards and they lasted their projected lifetime. Go figure.

If I had my druthers, I'd only do slate roofs. Steep slate roofs! Steep ones have even less reliance on underlay.

Tinner666 is my Online Handle!

I post on various forums online and even have a website under the name. You can find many helpful posts by me just by Googling.

My Wordpress site, for instance: Tinner666’s Blog

The Richmond Slate Roofer

A recent site comment. "Hi Albert, Just dropping you a note to say I love your site. Very informative and you convey trust and professionalism through out your site. I found you on Carl Browns new message board http://www.your-leaking-house.com/sites/your-leaking-house.com/forum/index.php "

Thank you very much. I'm as down to earth as is possible and appreciate the comment.

Albert's Specialty Roofing Co Home