Picked the cheaper roofer on Craigslist and paid for it twice

I had to choose between a $4,000 roofer with solid reviews and a $2,500 guy who seemed nice but had no online presence. My roof was leaking bad after a storm in Portland, so I went with the cheaper option to save money fast. He patched two spots, but three months later water was dripping in a new place during heavy rain. I called him back and he ghosted me, so I had to hire the original $4,000 roofer anyway. They found six more weak spots and fixed everything for $4,700 total. Has anyone else learned this lesson the hard way when picking between price and trust on a big job?

2 comments

2 Comments

lisa_bennett15d ago

Ah man, that Portland rain really forces your hand sometimes I've seen it happen to folks with their roofs or decks. I had a similar thing with a fence I got put in a few years back, the cheap guy used untreated posts and they rotted out in under two years. It's such a painful way to learn that the low bid almost always hides extra work down the road. Sorry you had to eat that extra cost and deal with all that water stress on top of it.

david70115d ago

The untreated post thing is brutal, especially when you think you're saving money upfront. It's like paying for the lesson twice with interest (and a lot of wet wood). Really makes you wish contractors were more upfront about the good vs cheap options from the start.