My kingdom for a roof...
The last few days have been wonderful and a rarity in West Texas. A slow misting drizzle all day Saturday which is a God send for germinating grass and plants. Even the deluges of last night and again today were bearable for those of us with defective roofs because we know the ecosystem needed the moisture. Defective roofs do, however, take something away from the joy of rain.
Regular readers will be familiar with the travails of our roof here at the estate. A small leak gone malignant and turning the interior plaster in the den to mush. The interior repaired due to January visitors and a massive plastic sheet, sheets acutally, added to the roof to protect the repairs. So far with much alteration and attention this arrangement has worked fairly well, but a new roof without a Beverly Hillbillies effect would be nice. Not to mention cutting down on my worry during middle of the night downpours.
I admit I let the leak go too long without professional repairs but now that we're ready to go on that job, I have just one question. WHAT THE HELL IS THE MATTER WITH ROOFERS IN MIDLAND? I have only been able to get one bid, from a company who told me that they would be the highest, but the best. Fair enough, but prudence requires me to get at least one other estimate.
I did have one small company recommended to me and they came right out and promised to get a bid to me in a week and then do the work when the weather turned cooler. That was 9 months ago. I've called them 4 times since.....and still no bid. I next ran into an employee of the major roofer in town, owned by a friend no less, and this nice young man said he might do the job in "off hours" and he would be out the next day to offer a bid. No show, no bid.
Another company in Odessa was recommended by a neighbor. This company said that they would be in Midland the next week and would stop by to offer a bid. That was 3 weeks ago. So last week, in desperation, I called the original high bidder and said for them to come out and reassess the job and I would be ready to go. The estimator said he would be here last Friday or would call. I'm still waiting by the front door with my phone........
I would offer names here, but the Internet is a strange thing. With my luck one of these companies would see my mention of their dereliction and we will be blackballed from ever having roofing work done again. I suppose someone will finally make it out and do the job, I know the roofers are enjoying busy times, but I've never seen such shoddy business practices. It reminds me of the drilling business, where in bad times the drillers and service companies will be bringing donuts by the office every week begging for your business. Then when times do get busy, they won't return your calls.
Excuse me now, I hear thunder again so I've got to get up on the roof to check the plastic.
The last few days have been wonderful and a rarity in West Texas. A slow misting drizzle all day Saturday which is a God send for germinating grass and plants. Even the deluges of last night and again today were bearable for those of us with defective roofs because we know the ecosystem needed the moisture. Defective roofs do, however, take something away from the joy of rain.
Regular readers will be familiar with the travails of our roof here at the estate. A small leak gone malignant and turning the interior plaster in the den to mush. The interior repaired due to January visitors and a massive plastic sheet, sheets acutally, added to the roof to protect the repairs. So far with much alteration and attention this arrangement has worked fairly well, but a new roof without a Beverly Hillbillies effect would be nice. Not to mention cutting down on my worry during middle of the night downpours.
I admit I let the leak go too long without professional repairs but now that we're ready to go on that job, I have just one question. WHAT THE HELL IS THE MATTER WITH ROOFERS IN MIDLAND? I have only been able to get one bid, from a company who told me that they would be the highest, but the best. Fair enough, but prudence requires me to get at least one other estimate.
I did have one small company recommended to me and they came right out and promised to get a bid to me in a week and then do the work when the weather turned cooler. That was 9 months ago. I've called them 4 times since.....and still no bid. I next ran into an employee of the major roofer in town, owned by a friend no less, and this nice young man said he might do the job in "off hours" and he would be out the next day to offer a bid. No show, no bid.
Another company in Odessa was recommended by a neighbor. This company said that they would be in Midland the next week and would stop by to offer a bid. That was 3 weeks ago. So last week, in desperation, I called the original high bidder and said for them to come out and reassess the job and I would be ready to go. The estimator said he would be here last Friday or would call. I'm still waiting by the front door with my phone........
I would offer names here, but the Internet is a strange thing. With my luck one of these companies would see my mention of their dereliction and we will be blackballed from ever having roofing work done again. I suppose someone will finally make it out and do the job, I know the roofers are enjoying busy times, but I've never seen such shoddy business practices. It reminds me of the drilling business, where in bad times the drillers and service companies will be bringing donuts by the office every week begging for your business. Then when times do get busy, they won't return your calls.
Excuse me now, I hear thunder again so I've got to get up on the roof to check the plastic.
