Lifetime warranties "where is your roofing business heading "

Don't you just get that warm and fuzzy feeling when you talk to your shingle rep or walk through a trade show . They all pump us up with extended and lifetime warranties on there shingles ,just what I want to hear "not". I would rather have them talk to me how they are going to hopefully increases my sales in the future as well as of today and I think you would agree that non biodegradable lifetime shingles are not the answer. Do you want to be a roofing contractor or maintenance contractor for the shingle manufacturer. The day of the repeat customer is coming to a end.

Warranties have always been a marketing tool to persuade a buyer that there is no risk associated with the purchase. As marketing documents, there is equal parts of selling a dream (50 years! Lifetime! ) and covering the company a$$ (that's the fine print). The trick is to get rid of the liability created by the promise as soon as possible, and since the average home gets sold/transferred every 7 years on the average, each transfer creates an opportunity to get rid of the liability. There are usually other escape hatches (installed as per manufacturer's instructions; meets the minimum insulation/ventilation standards according to the local code, etc), which make it difficult for a buyer to hold the manufacturer to account. But the average homeowner doesn't want to be confused by the facts (just give me the amount I have to pay, and it better be as low as possible), and they certainly don't do their homework on what the warranties are actually worth.

Most warranties that allow for transfer of the warranty have a clause of a small window of time that the new owner has to re-register when title is transferred. If you miss the window, no warranty. When you buy your house, that information might be in your 3 inch pile of paperwork you get IF the roofer passed it on to the contractor, who passed, in on to first homeowner, who passed it on to the second homeowner.......

Agreed! ;)

Exactly right Rocky. Run the numbers. They did not take a risk at all with this marketing move.

What is silly is the belief that some contractors and some homeowners have that this is something really special and nice ;)

GKRFG said it right when he said the new homeowner won't have a claim under the warranty. It may end up the third homeowner that has the problem. The average homeowner moves every 7-9 years. Most of these roofs are definatley going to last 15 -20 years. It's after that that the shingles will be falling apart and the warranty will no longer be an issue. No one will keep the paper work that long and the tanferrable warranties only go to the next owner. No one will remember the manufactuer.

Saw some TAMKOs that were pretty new, like under 5 yrs., and lots of glass showing through already

Here ya go, I just found out the future of the business. Not our businesses but the manufacturers business.

http://www.audetlaw.com/index.php/case/tamko_roofing_shingles?gclid=CJP44Mn5grkCFQyk4AodO24Arg

I really don't care if the manufacturers give a "lifetime", 30 year or even no warranty at all. It is really pretty meaningless. I'm pretty sure that the shingles we are putting on will not last 50 years but if they do they are going to look like hell after 25 years anyway with all of the algae problems that I see on roofs after 10 years these days. I tell the homeowner that here is the warranty, it will probably do you no good if the shingles fail and all I can do is try to determine the best brands out there at this time and use them but it's a crap shoot either way. One thing that these extended warranties have done is lessen the amount of higher end products. Why buy a heavier shingle if the warranty is no better. The only reason to use a heavier shingle is for the thicker appearance if someone wants a different look. I don't think that the repeat customer is going to change at all. The shingles will look bad in 25 years and the owners will want a new roof because they can't stand the look of old stained shingles. Most likely they will be new owners who will not be covered under the old warranty anyway. If the manufacturers start making shingles without the limestone filler that the algae is growing on maybe things will change a little but still not that much. As to where my business is heading, I see it doing what it's done for the last 20 years. Provide me and my employees with a steady income. The maintanence part of the business has grown a lot due to the number of complete morons that are out there putting on roofs when they have no understanding about roofing in general. Unless the cost of metal roofing comes down and can actually compete with "cheap" asphalt shingles I don't see anything changing. And that's fine with me.

In the tile business, the manufacturers routine for a claim on the Lifetime warranty is; agree with the customer, promise, ignore....agree with the customer, promise again, ignore.....They've got it down and can keep it going for a lifetime.

Making Dimensional shingles in TWO seperate pieces and glueing them together is a big problem.

Could they not be made in ONE piece?

90% of the "problems" associated with shingle failure is related to improper ventilation. Improper nailing plays a big part in installation failure, but the way that they vent or don't vent the roofs is the biggest problem.

Just get ready to write bigger checks at the landfill!

:laugh:

You know, before man. warranties were worth reading, the 15 year 3-tab was only good for 17-22 years. The new lifetime don't seem to last as long, do they? :laugh:

I agree Willie. Honest (& hopefully strong) warranties would be 20, 25 & 30 . Mostly 20 & 25 since the 300-lb'ers are so rare.

I've picked up a lot of "Lifetime" Shingles out of customers yards. Well, the bottom half of the so called Lifetime shingle anyways which came unglued from the top half.

In my opinion: ( which probably isn't worth much but here goes) here is the expected longevity for different year shingles.

20 yr. 3-tabs: 15 yrs.

25 yr. 3-tabs: 20 yrs.

30 yr. Dim. 25 yrs.

40 yr. Dim. 25 yrs.

50 yr. Dim 25 yrs.

Lifetime: 25 yrs.

And that's if you've been living right my friends! ;)