Roof Warranties - PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Marty Stout of Go Roof Tune Up. You can read the interview below or listen to the podcast.

Intro: Hello everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the AskARoofer Podcast. I am Lauren White, and I am here with Marty Stout with Go Roof Tune-Up. Marty, it's so good to see you.

Marty Stout: It's nice to be here. Thank you very much for including me.

Lauren White: Yeah, thank you. We're so excited to have you on the podcast and talk about all things roof warranties. And just to get us started, why don't you introduce yourself and Go Roof Tune-Up and what you do?

Marty Stout: So Go Roof Tune-Up specializes in roof inspections. Primarily, we do residential single-family home roof inspections. We give people a report of the condition of their roof and we recommend repairs if at all possible. And big part of our program is the tune-up, which includes a warranty, which you're going to talk to me about and we're active in doing those inspections and repairs in 30 states around the country.

Lauren White: So diving into warranties, what are some of the common types of warranties homeowners should be aware of and what do those warranties cover?

Marty Stout: So the most common warranty that comes with a residential roof, and this has some application to commercial as well, but the most common warranty you're going to see on a residential roof is a material warranty. So for example, a shingle manufacturer will say, "This shingle will last forever," and that means that the material won't fail for an extended period of time. And we'll probably get into this later, we have to define what forever is. But most of the time, that's the most common warranty people talk about. We used to say this is a 30-year shingle or a 20-year shingle. That referenced the manufacturer warranty period of time. Manufacturers have gotten away from putting a life on them. They just basically say, "Lifetime," which has some questions as we go along. And then the next area of warranty that's a little less common is workmanship warranty and performance warranties. Those are a little different and a little more complicated.

Lauren White: And so those, just in the name. The workmanship warranty, that's the warranty of the work being done on the roof. Correct?

Marty Stout: I think your next question is going to be, "What's the difference?"

Lauren White: Yeah. Yes. So how do these warranties differ, especially like a material workmanship and then you mentioned performance warranty, right?

Marty Stout: Yeah, so as I said, a manufacturer will warranty a specific shingle or tile or whatever it might be, let's just call it 50 years. I was just dealing with a homeowner today, in fact. She has a material on her roof that has a 50-year warranty, and she was really excited about having this roof that she knows is going to last for 50 years. And then as she dug into it, she has a little issue and as she dug into it, she found out that that means that the material will not fail or fall apart in the course of 50 years. If it does, the manufacturer will honor their warranty. It doesn't mean that the roof is not going to leak if the roofer didn't install it correctly. And so a workmanship warranty means that whoever installed it is standing behind their work, "This roof will not leak for X period of time, and if it does, I'll come back and take care of it." And so that's the primary difference between a material warranty and a workmanship warranty.

Lauren White: And so we've thrown some numbers around lifetime. Around how long do typical roof warranties last, and maybe its material warranties?

Marty Stout: So most manufacturer material warranties come in a category of five-year increments, starting at 10 years and going up to 25 or 30. And then once they get to 30, they jump up to 50. And so typically 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 and if it goes beyond 30, it's pretty much 50 years. Those are just saying that the material won't fail in that specific given period of time. Most workmanship warranties are 10 years.

Lauren White: And with the materials, are there different warranty lengths of time depending on the roof material that's being installed?

Marty Stout: Yes. So every manufacturer has their own warranty program. And for example, if you have a house with a flat roof and you want to do a coating on it to extend the life of that roof, which is a very popular thing now in most markets, you can get a warranty based on how much coating you install on the roof. You have to install it correctly, that's the side point, but if you put two gallons per 100 square feet or three gallons per 100 square feet, then those two warranties are going to be different. Obviously, two gallons not as good a warranty as three gallons. Other manufacturers of flat roofing material for houses, if you put a base layer down and what they call an inner ply and then a cap sheet or a top ply on top of that, that has a different warranty than just a base and a top cap. So one could be 15 years, one could be 25 years. Every manufacturer has their own system and their own combination of how they get to a specific age on each warranty.

Lauren White: Wow. Got to read that fine print, huh?

Marty Stout: Exactly, yeah.

Lauren White: So if a homeowner sells their property, does the roof warranty transfer with that sale?

Marty Stout: It can, but it doesn't always. And so most warranties are written by big corporations who have really smart lawyers and most of the time, the warranty says, "This warranty is good for 30 years," pick a number. That's the simple language that there's a warranty, and then there's three pages of what's not covered in the warranty and how you might not be able to get what you think is a warranty. But just to keep it somewhat simple, if you put a roof on your house and you sell it to me, most of the time, if I register that with the manufacturer, I go online and register that I now own that house, most of the time, that warranty transfers to me.

If I sell that house to another person, oftentimes it won't go to the third owner. They'll let it go to the second owner. The bigger problem is even with the second owner, most of the time, we don't register it. So you have it registered because you bought the roof, and I probably won't register it because I don't think about it. And then when I have a problem, I don't have a warranty.

Lauren White: Right. Interesting. Didn't know there was so many nuances in that.

Marty Stout: Yeah. Well, and I don't mean to be negative against manufacturers, but that's one of the reasons why they are willing to offer lifetime warranties, because most of the time, people don't remember. They don't remember even who their shingle manufacturer was after 30 years, let alone, "Where's my warranty?" And so it's not like you have a car emblem on your roof that tells you, a brand-specific emblem badging that tells you what shingle it is.

Lauren White: Right. Yeah, that's a good point. So for homeowners looking to select a roof warranty, what are some of the things that they should be looking out for?

Marty Stout: So if they really want a warranty that has some teeth in it, they need to make sure that it covers the material, it covers the workmanship and it's not prorated. So here's what happens oftentimes with the most common residential roofing warranty issue, and we'll go back to, we'll call it 30 years. I think I have a 30-year warranty on my shingle roof, and in 20 years, my shingles fail. And I kept the paperwork, I have everything I need. So I contact the manufacturer, they send a rep out. They look at it and say, "Yep, your shingles have failed.

We failed you. So the shingles cost today, let's use round numbers, $150 a square. Shingles cost $150 a square, and this roof lasted..." Did I say I was at year 20? I did. So I'm at year 20, so we're two-thirds into this. "So we owe you one-third. So here's $50 a square, you have 10 squares on your roof, so here's $500. We're done." Well, my roof has still failed and I can't fix it for $500. So that's a prorated warranty and it only covers the material.

I still need to roof my house early, so a good warranty... And there's a couple of manufacturers that have really, really good warranties that say if that roof fails in 20 years, they will replace it now. And the difference is they're vetting the roofer, the roofer is approved in their system and if the roof fails, they're going to lean on that roofer to help them fix your roof. And if the roofer is not there to help, then they get someone else to help you, but they're going to guarantee the workmanship, the performance and the material. Now the downside for that is that installation originally is going to be a lot more expensive than just going to Home Depot and buying the shingles and having your brother-in-law put them on. So you're going to pay more going in, but you definitely have a better warranty coming out. And so what you need to look for is what you really want, ultimately and if you really want the, I hate to be brand-specific, but if you really want the Cadillac or Rolls-Royce warranty, you're going to pay for it, but they do exist.

Lauren White: Yeah, that's so important to know. And for people buying, whether it's their first home or their second roof in their lifetime, it's a lot of information.

Marty Stout: Roofs is not something that we buy a lot of. It's, you buy a house and if you live in that house for a long time, you might roof it one time. And if you do roof a house one time, chances are you're not going to live in that house for the second roof. And you might roof two or three houses over the course of your life, but you're never going to deal with them through the complete cycle. So yeah, it's not something that we're used to doing often.

Lauren White: Yeah. So what are some common misconceptions homeowners might have about roof warranties?

Marty Stout: The biggest misconception is that if I buy a lifetime-warrantied shingle, that I have a lifetime warranty on the performance of my roof. We think it applies to everything, and it doesn't. It just applies to the performance of the shingle or whatever the material is. Typically, people think it covers everything, but it just covers the material mostly.

Lauren White: Yeah, I had no idea that there were so many... And I'm even in the industry. I didn't know there were so many different warranties that you need to be on the lookout for with your roof.

Marty Stout: Yeah, it's a crazy field. And I don't want to say that they purposely play the game, but I'll say that they know that most of the warranty items, people aren't going to keep the paperwork. It's not going to happen, so they just... Which is probably going to take me to the next question.

Lauren White: Yeah. So if there is an issue and a homeowner needs to make a warranty claim, what are some of those steps that they need to take?

Marty Stout: So most typically, you would start your claim with the roofing contractor that installed your roof. If you have that documentation, that would be the best place to start. The problem with that is, usually... Well, let's just say you have a roofing issue. Your roof is leaking and your roof was installed six months ago. That's a warranty issue too. So you call your roofing contractor and he comes out and figures out why it's leaking, and 99 times out of 100, he takes care of it, apologizes and you're down the road. Let's go 15 years forward and now you have a problem with that same roof, and the granules are falling off or the coating's peeling off or whatever. The sad reality is that that roofer is probably not in business anymore. And in some cases, he was Jack Smith Roofing. [inaudible 00:15:14] just not because I'm picking on anybody named Jack Smith, but generic Jack Smith Roofing and it might be that now it's Jack Jr. Roofing.

And now if Jack Smith and Jack Jr. are honorable straight-up guys, you call them 15 years later and they're probably going to come out and if it's something simple that they did wrong, they'll stand behind it, but they don't typically have a legal responsibility to after 15 years. But if your shingles are failing and you thought it was a 30-year shingle, the next step would be to contact the manufacturer and say, "I have this roof and I got a problem. The granules are falling off and I'm worried, and I need you to come and look at it." So you would need to know who the manufacturer was in order to contact them, and all contractors have a warranty claims department or something online where you can start that process. The key is you got to know who they are, and so you would need Jack Smith's paperwork from 15 years ago in order to do that.

Lauren White: So, save your paperwork. All of the papers that come with, keep them in a safe spot.

Marty Stout: If you've got some paperwork, make sure you keep it and pass it on.

Lauren White: Yeah. Yeah, don't get rid of it. Well, are there any reasons why a warranty claim might be denied? Or maybe common reasons? You don't have the paperwork?

Marty Stout: Well, yeah. Lack of paperwork or lack of... In the scenario that I said earlier where you have a roof done and you sell the house to me and I don't register it with them, that's going to get denied, usually. If there's weather, no warranties cover what we consider acts of God. So if there's been a bad hailstorm, that's not going to be covered by a warranty, unless of course it's a specific material that's written in the detail of the warranty.

Remember I said the warranty says it's good for this long, and then here's all the reasons why it's not? The things in that, the reasons why it's not are the reasons why they're denied. In our warranty, we cover the whole house for leaks, but we don't cover falling projectiles. So if a bullet hits your roof, we don't cover that. So those are the kinds of things that you have to know when you call somebody out. They're going to look at it and they're going to say, for whatever reason, wind, hail, something like that is not going to be covered. Paperwork is probably the biggest one though.

Lauren White: Yeah, that's good to know because so many different class ratings for hail and wind and everything, so making sure whatever region you live in, that your shingle that you're getting installed is going to protect against that and then reading the fine print of the warranty too. Yeah, yeah. So we talk about regular roof maintenance a lot on this podcast and on AskARoofer, is there any connection between regular roof maintenance and a roof warranty?

Marty Stout: Yes, there is. In fact, for example, if you have a roof with two planes of the roof that come together or two facets of the roof coming together, there's a joint there that's called a valley. So typically, a ranch-style house will have a garage coming out the front and the roof line will be a little bit of an L shape. On the inside of that L, there's a valley and if you have a lot of trees and debris around or not debris, a lot of trees around your house and the debris builds up in that valley and causes, over time, rot, because that that will prematurely expose your roof to damage, that's not going to be covered by a warranty.

So you got to keep the debris off, you got to keep the water flowing. If you have a flat roof, for example, that has some scuppers, same situation. You have trees around there, you need to make sure you keep that off. Oftentimes if you have a flat roof that has coating on it and if you have ponding water, that can be a cause for a warranty to be voided, if there's ponding water and debris. So if you have debris that backs up the drain, then over time, that could void your warranty. Foot traffic, if it's predominant, that can void your warranty. Yeah, maintenance on everything has its place and it's important.

Lauren White: Yeah, definitely. Is there anything else you think homeowners should know about roof warranties?

Marty Stout: Well, just in general, make sure you understand what is included in the warranty that you're paying for and make sure that you are comfortable with the limitations. And like I said, the biggest mistake people make is assuming that a 50-year shingle warranty is a 50-year roof performance warranty. So just understand what buying, and make sure you're buying it from a reputable contractor who's backed up by a long-standing reputable manufacturer.

Lauren White: Yeah, definitely. Do your homework, save your paperwork.

Marty Stout: Yeah, absolutely.

Lauren White: Yeah. Well, great. Well, Marty, this was wonderful. I learned so much from you, and I know that's just the tip of the iceberg, but we appreciate you so much and can't wait for the next episode. Thank you so much.

Marty Stout: Thanks for including me. I appreciate it.

Lauren White: Yeah. We'll see you on the next one.

Marty Stout: All right, take care.

Outro: Wow. Marty is such a wealth of knowledge about warranties and roofing as well, but I learned so much from him. There's not just roof warranties, there are workmanship warranties, performance warranties and material warranties and we dive into all of that and learn a lot more about misconceptions, what homeowners should be aware of when they're reading that fine print of your warranties. And the biggest thing, save your paperwork. It's so easy to throw it away, get rid of it, clear up space. With your roof, it's such a long time that you might not even need to replace it or have issues with it, but for it to last 30, 40, 50 years and you're going to need that paperwork at some point if something happens. Like he said in the podcast, your roof doesn't have an emblem on it like a car does to tell you who the manufacturer was, who made the shingles. So that's my biggest takeaway, save your paperwork. And yeah, what a great episode. We'll see you on the next one.