Warranties
 Each Manufacturer provides its own warranty on its various Roofing Products. These usually begin at 20 year prorated limited warranties and extend up to limited lifetime transferable warranties. Warranties on roofing materials will vary for what is and what is not covered. Some cover material failures only, many have wind resistance coverage limited to varying wind speeds. Others include labor costs during the first few years or more to replace defective materials. A few will even cover installation flaws when the roof is installed by factory certified applicators and inspected by the manufacturer for compliance with their specifications.
Property owners often are confused by warranty terms. They assume that when a product has, say, a 25 year warranty that it covers anything and everything to do with their roof installation, up to and including full replacement value for the 25-year period. Most commonly the warranty is actually limited to material costs only and does not cover labor nor other incidental costs associated with the removal and replacement of any defective materials.
- For 3 Tab asphalt shingles the warranty period's range from 20, to 25 and some 30-year limited warranties. These commonly are prorated warranties, and are limited to material costs only.
- For Architectural Laminated Shingles these prorated types of warranties start at 25 years and increase to 30, 35, and 40-year warranties.
What prorated means is that should the material fail prematurely prior to the warranty expiration the amount of refund or credit issued by the manufacturer would be based upon the time remaining in the warranty period.
A simple explanation or equation for calculating the value of prorated warranties is to divide the cost of the materials, at the time of purchase, by the number of years in the warranty period. This will establish a value per year. For a 20-year warranty, you would deduct 1/20th of material cost off from the warranty value for each year the material performs throughout the life of the warranty period. This same formula applies to any prorated warranty, for instance with a 40-Year warranty you simply divide the material cost by 40 years instead of 20.
As should be expected as the life expectancy of the roofing material increases, so to do the cost and the warranty periods. Nearly all Slate products, Concrete, Clay and Metal Roofing Tile will carry 50-year warranties, with many offering up to limited lifetime warranties. Many of the Asphalt Shingle manufacturers now produce very thick and heavy duty Laminated Architectural shingles, which also come with, limited lifetime warranties. These often are not prorated warranties, and will cover supply of new materials to replace any defective products for the full life of the warranty period.
While manufacturers warranties will vary in terms of what is and is not covered and for how long, most offer reasonable value and protection for the end user. However, it is important to realize that should the product be installed improperly, even the best warranties on the highest quality materials may be rendered void and useless. The manufacturer has a right to expect that their product is aligned, lapped and fastened to meet their minimum requirements, otherwise their product will not perform as designed and the warranty will become invalid.
This is why it is so important to hire a professional and reputable Roofing Contractor with a proven track record of satisfied customers and proper installations. CC&L Roofing Company offers two-year and five-year complete installation and labor warranties in addition to the manufacturer's warranty on all of our completed projects. We are approved installers for numerous major manufacturers and we often carry out factory warranty work for many of these.
In addition, CC&L Roofing Co. is a factory certified "Master Elite Contractor" by Americas largest Roofing Manufacturer, GAF Materials Corporation. Only 6 out of a 100 Roofing Contractors can qualify as "Master Elite Contractors" and GAF limits these to only a few approved Contractors in each area.
As such, CC&L Roofing Co. can offer factory inspected and certified roof installations covered by GAF's 12 year Golden Pledge labor and material full replacement Warranty, in addition to the factories standard warranty.
We are also authorized to offer extended factory backed labor warranties on our Malarkey Commercial Shingle installations.
Warranties like insurance are something you need but not something that you want to use. Purchasing a Roof is a big decision that can give you decades of worry free performance, or cause much strife, stress and financial burden if the roof does not perform to expectations.
More often than not, improper installation causes premature roof failure. Homeowners who hired the kid down the street or "two guys in a truck" who can no longer be found, to install their roof, are often further disappointed when the manufacturers warranty is deemed invalid due to improper installation.
The best bet when considering warranties is to take steps to help ensure that you will not have to use them. This is best accomplished by researching and choosing a product that you have faith in. We hope that the information contained in our Web Site can help you get started along this path. However, the most important thing you can do to avoid warranty claims is to choose a competent, reputable and reliable contractor to complete your roof installation.
Unfortunately, the roofing industry is filled with unsavory characters. Although they may be licensed and bonded contractors, many have long lists of complaints filed against them with the Contractors Board or Better Business Bureau. Others have been in and out a business several times under different names and with different partners. Our advice is to check them out.
CC&L Roofing is proud of the reputation, history and track record we have built. We belong to several trade associations and believe in customer satisfaction and promoting professionalism in our trade. Please feel free to check us out also. It is our hope that after doing so you will want to choose CC&L Roofing Company to complete your next roofing project.
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