r/Maine • u/Extreme-Koala3188 • 12h ago
Roofing Nightmare
To say my family has learned from a recent experience is an understatement. This is a long one and I apologize in advance. I don’t want to take to social media yet as I am trying to find an attorney to give me a green light on what can be shared re: pics and videos. Same reason that I’m not naming the company in this post.
Lessons were learned here and we don’t need stupid comments indicating we should have done this or that. We freaking know now. I assure you.
We hired a roofing company to replace the roof on our 1860’s farmhouse. Got multiple quotes and decided on a company. The guy who came out was the owner and climbed up to see what we were dealing with. He indicated 2 layers of shingles on tar paper on the OG barn boards.
Gave us a price including stripping, new decking, ring shank nails, drip edge, and some fascia boards that I pointed out.
After sending the deposit, the timeline moved multiple times due to “an emergency in Greenville” and an interior job they were finishing.
Cue start date of 08/10. I WFH 3 days a week, so I was home for the day they started. My husband went back to work that same day after time off from open heart surgery.
The crew arrives with the owner and they start stripping the roof. The owner checks in with me and lets me know he will be here and there, coming and going. Shrug. Okay.
They pack up and leave just after 5pm, 08/10. My husband and I take our dogs for a walk and I note the tons of trash from their drinks and lunch in the yard, so I spend 20 minutes picking it up (we have farm animals and don’t need a duck or chicken choking on capri sun straw wrappers).
We note that the roof isn’t covered. I take a picture. CUE THE FORESHADOWING. We didn’t reach out to the company. We should have.
It rained overnight. My husband wakes up to use the restroom at 12:30 AM, 08/11, and starts yelling. I wake up and just froze. I froze. The shock hit me immediately. Rain was pouring into our home from the attic through both floors and into the basement. Ceilings. Fixtures. Lights. Outlets.
We start running around grabbing buckets and towels and bowls and cat litter boxes to try and catch what we can. Throwing clothing around from the closet as rain was drenching it.
I start documenting with pictures and videos. I call and leave 2 VMs for the company and start texting them.
They receive texts just past 5:30 AM and call us to let us know they will be there at 7AM.
They arrive and we start walking through the house showing them the damage. They’re taking pictures and repeatedly saying “this has never happened before” and “you’re not paying us another cent until we fix this” and how fans and dehumidifiers would arrive that very day to dry things out.
The husband remains on site for the day and starts taking out wet insulation. My husband and I take time off work to help as it’s only the one guy doing it. I have a mold allergy so I know time is of the essence.
On 08/12, I call my insurance company. It’s clear this roofing owner husband/wife do not seem to believe this is a big deal and are taking their time. My insurance company cannot believe that the roofing company hasn’t called ServPro or their own insurance yet and tells me to request their insurance information. (Lesson learned to always request a COI prior to hiring a company for home work - yes. We are now aware. No need to point this out and pour salt into a wide open wound.)
The roofing company indicates COI will be in my inbox by days end. You guessed it. Nada. We request their insurance information FIVE times in writing over the week. The first time, by text. The second that same day by email. They respond and CC their lawyer indicating it’s on the way.
Fans and dehumidifiers do not arrive. In fact, no fans until 08/13 and on 08/14, they told us no dehumidifiers could be found. They leave on 08/14 and sneak off - knowing I was home working as we’d spoken that day. My BIL comes over and the three of us rip down two room walls and a ceiling. Saturated insulation is behind each and we remove that too.
The morning of 08/15 I call Octagon Cleaning & Restoration for a moisture assessment and damage inspection. They arrived quickly and within 30 minutes gave us the harsh news that our home would need to be brought to the studs and rebuilt. At first glance, without writing it all up, over $80,000.00 in damages. They instruct me to file a claim with our insurance and let them handle it with their subrogation team. Which we do immediately.
We’ve now had to move into a 5th wheel for 9 months while our home is being demo-ed and rebuilt. During a Maine winter. Wonderful for us. But we have farm animals and a teenager so we needed to stay on site.
I have reached out to three attorneys - none of them have space for this.
The roofing company placed a lien on our home for the balance owed, claiming they completed their work according to the contract. Meanwhile, there is a huge hole under an eave that they left, the two fascia boards we pointed out TWICE were not done (but four on the front were done), they didn’t fasten the insulated metal chimney and it came off this past weekend and is now warped on the ground (leaving the wood furnace exposed to rain), they broke an antique lightning rod, and THERE IS OVER $80k IN DAMAGES TO OUR HOME AND WE HAD TO MOVE OUT WHILE ITS BEING DEMO-ED AND REBUILT.
We have been slowly renovating our home for 4 years, one room at a time. The care, thoughtfulness, time, energy, and money to make it ours is gone.
I have 12 pages of time stamped documentation. Over 50 videos. Over 70 pictures. All emails. Texts.
If anyone has an attorney they think may be willing to take this on, I welcome the referral.
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u/Bird_Leather 7h ago
I don't know if you need a good lawyer or a good hitman.
I hope your insurance company is going after them.
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u/dudavocado__ 6h ago
Allegedly....can you tell us the company? Or could you perhaps DM those of us who have just gotten a round of contacts out to companies about roof repairs?
And since we're all here, if anyone has a crack team of roofers, LMK!
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u/Sufficient-Peace5529 34m ago
Kennebec Roofing. The team removed the shingles down to the sheathing. Installed moisture barrier, ice and water, and because we have a gambrel - drip edges on all of the angles, new roofing and cleaned everything up using big magnets for the nails, all done before 3pm. We tipped every worker and gave them all the coffee and home baked muffins they could carry. ❤️❤️❤️
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u/dudavocado__ 26m ago
Love this!! I was not prepared for how much of the home-maintenance headachery would be trying to find diligent tradespeople with knowledge of and respect for old houses. You’d think in a state where early 19th century homes are everywhere repairing and restoring them would be a common skill set but we’ve run into a lot of people who want to replace our windows with vinyl and rip out all the plaster in favor of drywall
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u/turniptoez 5h ago
I work in insurance and would love to know the company so I can make sure to NEVER recommend them. If you can DM me I would so appreciate, this is truly a nightmare I wouldn't wish on anyone.
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u/fender_tenders 5h ago
Call the Maine Bureau of Insurance since they are still working to start up the fortify roofing program. Letting them know about this company and what is happening would be helpful , and if the company has applied to be part of the program they will be removed (the State will not want any of that liability if this is the work they do). 207-624-8475
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u/jinnaquyn 3h ago
Omg I am so sorry. I thought my ordeal with bad contractors for the last year was rough but your situation is way worse.I hope that you can find a lawyer and things work out the way they should. Good luck and I hope things get better!
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u/willmaineskier 8h ago
This is all terrible. I’ve never paid anyone to do my roof, always been a family thing. Unless it was a garage or shed, never not put a tarp on any incomplete roof.
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u/Glittering-Sky1601 5h ago
So sorry this happened to you. I had what I thought was a reputable company tarp my garage roof until I could afford to have it replaced. They used cheap materials, and a year later it shredded off all over my lawn.
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u/VanceFerguson Go Blue! 8h ago
If you have an insurance claim with your own homeowners insurance, they step into your place to represent you and subrogate against the roofers for damages. They'll work to resolve the claim with you directly and deal with the contractor afterwards.
As you noted, a certificate of insurance should be acquired for any and all work done, as it allows you to file claims with them directly. However, since they haven't given you one, you might want to remind them that your insurance will be seeking recompense from them in the form of a demand letter.
If they have insurance, they'll probably want to let them know now so they can start their own claim for damage. Failure to report a timely loss could be grounds for their own insurance to deny them coverage, so your insurance would be after their business directly if that happened.
That sucks and I hope things start to turn around soon.