Saturday, March 9, 2013

Roof Job: The Second Coming of Jesús

This post is for RefugeeGuy and anyone else following my miseries with the new roof.

Jesús the roofer came by this morning. I talked to him Thursday and he said he would come by the next day around 1 PM. But he didn’t, so at 2 PM I called to see if he still intended to come by and he said he had one small spot to finish and he would be on his way. At 4:45 I called him again and got no answer. At this point I thought I might see the actual Second Coming before I saw Jesús. But he showed up at 9 AM.

The first time Jesús came to my house was two years ago when he re-shingled my roof. This time he went upstairs to examine the site of the leak, and he went up on the roof and pondered things, looking all around the dormer very carefully, feeling around the vinyl trim, then he came down and explained things. Here’s the gist of what he said.

Two years ago when he re-shingled the roof, Ben owned the roofing company and Jesús worked for Ben. Jesús said he told Ben that the dormers needed new flashing. Ben said to use the old flashing; that would save money. Jesús then told Ben that he (Jesús) would not guarantee the roof would not leak if they used the old flashing. Ben said to use the old flashing anyway.

Right away, one dormer leaked and they had to remove the siding and install new flashing. That stopped the leak and there were no more leaks until last month.

After inspecting the roof, Jesús called Ben to explain the situation but got Ben’s voicemail. I asked Jesús if he thought Ben would pay for the repair, inasmuch as I had already paid for a new roof and expected one that didn’t leak. Jesús said, “If he’s got a conscience.” I told Jesús that no matter what Ben said, he should return and fix the roof before the next rainy day, and if I had to, I would pay for the repair. I emphasized that the leak had to be stopped whether Ben paid for it or not, so be sure to return and install new flashing. Jesús said he would return tomorrow or Monday. Then he got in his truck and drove off. He’s a busy guy. He has five other roof projects he’s working on and he’s behind schedule. Fixing a roof he got paid for installing two years ago is a nuisance job.

Taking a shortcut to save money can be an expensive way to waste money.

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