Before many roofing contractor’s are willing to assume responsibility and liability to perform multiple trades on an insurance claim, General Contractor overhead and profit will be required by many of Colorado Springs roofers.  For those who have been in the insurance restoration industry for decades and historically the standard insurance protocol for all insurance companies was to pay overhead and profit to a contractor when two or more trades were involved. Over the years insurance companies began requiring three trades on a claim for overhead and profit to be granted to a contractor. Several years ago insurers’ became even more ambiguous by stating that overhead and profit would be granted on complex claims. This is so ambiguous that very few adjusters are willing to state what a complex claim for a contractor might look like. Obviously, the insurance adjusters have to comply with the companies that they work for, however many of the adjusters are just as perplexed by all of the absurd changes that have occurred in the insurance restoration industry. Adjusters are afraid to include overhead and profit in the claim for they do not want to be put on any type of probation.
Here’s the rub for a homeowner it will be harder to have a competent contractor oversee multiple trades that may be required to restore your home to pre-storm condition. The industry is in chaos and ultimately the homeowner will pay.
Roofing Contractor’s are Competing for Insurance Work
I’m not politically correct and Donald Trump is one gutsy guy, but when it comes to roofing even Donald would have a hard time cleaning up the mess in the insurance restoration industry. There are roofers Colorado Springs has never head of that have become General Contractor’s overnight. These roofing companies in Colorado Springs are competing for a slice of the work that can be found in the insurance roofing industry. There are other Colorado Springs roofer that have been in the industry for years that are adopting unsustainable business practices by performing repair work on gutters, windows, siding and painting without compensation.
Profitability and Sustainability
Every sage General Contractor that has some business acumen will not perform work without making a profit. Today insurance companies are writing claims and some roofing companies are performing all of the work without making a profit on the windows, siding, painting and other trades. This will ultimately harm most homeowners with lower quality work being performed. At some point in the process the roofer will most likely cut corners on one or all of the trades to try and make a profit somewhere.
If the insurance company is paying $2,000 for gutter work and the gutter installer is charging $2,000 or more than how can this General Contractor make a profit? If the insurance company is paying $5,000 for windows and the Roofer/General Contractor has to supplement for windows because the window installer wants $8,000 than who pays the roofer for his work? The answer is either the roofer has little business savvy or somewhere in the repair process corners will have to be cut drastically.
Insurance Companies Should Pay Overhead and Profit
Ask Your Insurance company to pay the contractor overhead and profit. This is the best way to avoid being short changed on your repairs. A workman is worth his wage. Most business men that are in the roofing restoration industry will not perform multiple trades without receiving overhead and profit. This should be seen as a positive for the insurance company and consumer alike. The consumer should receive high quality work at the current fair market value and the insurance property risk is minimized because the work was performed at high standards. This would be a win, win scenario for everyone, however many insurer’s will limit their outgoing expenses by minimizing the insurance claim which will result in mediocrity on the part of competitive contractors seeking work at an unfair market value typically resulting in poor quality work. These contractors are not business men and this practice will be unsustainable for the real overhead for a legitimate contractor that doesn’t cheat the IRS, Workmen’s compensation insurance, General liability insurance or his workers will have an unfair position in this market. There comes a point in a society where norms and mores change. Today bad is being called good and good is being called “bad.”
Unfair Trade Practice
The insurance industry has created an unfair trade which will ultimately result in chaotic behavior on behalf of the homeowner and contractor. A society will suffer from unrealistic expectations and false pre-tenses. Everything is not right in the present scenario and many insurance adjusters and companies act like they never paid overhead and profit to a contractor. We know different for we have former insurance staffers, adjusters, and plenty of documentation on the matter. Ultimately the homeowner will suffer and than businesses will be built on deception and most will go on believing that it has always been this way. There is an insurance storm that is coming and most property and casualty insurance companies will begin changing their policies to reflect cost saving efforts.
Poor Quality Work is Inevitable
Since your reading this article it’s obvious to me that your gathering information and are looking to make an informed decision. If your contractor tells you that he is unable to perform all of the work on an insurance claim because there is not enough funding you can rest in knowing that this contractor is on the right track. Why would you hire someone that’s not going to make a profit on some of the repair work that is being performed on your home? It’s logical to conclude that poor quality work is what is being guaranteed or you have a contractor that will more than likely be cheating on taxes, insurance, or workers, either way that’s a no win situation. Ultimately, the system is broke and I’d love to see it fixed. However, at this time everyone is too politically correct to fix anything. One thing that is guaranteed in most cases, but not all, is that poor quality or poor ethics will result from this broken property insurance claims system.
Who is to Blame?
The news media loves to blame and certainly in this heightened political atmosphere the blame game is blossoming. I think everyone is to be blamed for the current state of affairs. Too many voices are silent, others are oblivious, several participate in unsavory practices and the machine keeps producing puppets at the corporate level.
Integrity Roofing and Painting, LLC assumes no liability for this editorial. This opinion is that of an individual and not of an entity. The facts and opinions of this individual are not the opinion of Integrity Roofing and Painting, LLC.