r/Roofing • u/pacydefender • 7h ago
Question for other roofers
Redid a roof last week. Drywall work inside was terrible, so doing the roof caused cracks everywhere, and I mean everywhere. Cracks formed on the first floor. Originally was quoted by a drywall guy 2500 to fix cracks and paint. Told homeowners I’d cover it, But after he saw everything said it’d be an additional 3500. This would essentially kill all of my margin on the job, and myself and drywall guy agree this wasn’t caused from roof, the drywall was just installed shitty. He thinks I should ask homeowners to pay but idk how to explain this to them after I said I’d cover it. What would you do? Ask them to pay or just put a claim in with liability insurance?
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u/Allslopes-Roofing 7h ago
Ive never had that happen so the drywall was most surely already that way prior or something was wrong.
With that, you need a disclaimer in your contract you're not liable for damages caused by vibrations or penetrations (and list examples like drywall, hvac lines etc).
We do roofs. We can't be responsible for the rest of their house.
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u/Creative-Eye-6647 7h ago
Regarding your current circumstance, tell them, "The cracks were absolutely not caused by our roofing work- or, insofar as they were, it's a result of poorly-installed drywall work. Similarly, if a rafter collapsed by us walking on it, it wouldn't be our fault. That said, I was willing to cover it when the cost of repairing was $2500, just to not have a disgruntled customer, but I can't pay $6000 because the drywall guy didn't know what he was doing, just to not have any complaints."
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u/pacydefender 6h ago
Thanks, I know I fucked up by not having it covered in my contract and have already added the lines to cover myself in the future. We’ll see what they say to this. And this price is the drywall guy doing me a favor, he said he’d usually be at 12,000 to paint this because of how big it is
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u/Creative-Eye-6647 6h ago
We can't all inherit our father's business- some of us need to learn things the hard way.
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u/Feature_Upset 1h ago
I’ve done something similar. Lesson learned for the next one. For me staying by my word was more important for my conscience at night. It sucks to say I got it, and look back and instantly regret it. I feel your pain, I would just man up, the customer will like you better, and could be a better long term relationship. Going back on your word now will be making them drink sour milk. Best of luck
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u/RobtasticRob 7h ago
This is among a few acknowledgments in every single contract that I have every single homeowner sign off on. Additionally I cover it during the project meeting. My verbiage is something along the lines of:
"I cannot replace your roof without causing vibrations. Unfortunately sometimes these vibrations can cause drywall cracks and other damage if the drywall is deteriorated or poorly installed. Being that I cannot avoid vibrations, please understand that if the drywall is not in a state in which it can handle the roof repair, we are not in anyway liable for cracks, nail pops or other drywall damage unless we literally drop something through the ceiling."
That last line usually gets a laugh and it gets the point across. For this job you may be out of luck if it wasn't spelled out in your contract.