Ussher Construction Phoenix Arizona

Ussher Construction – Arizona Roofing Company

I’m not here to bash Ussher Construction, but not everything we post in this Journal is a rave about a local Arizona business. These are our experiences, and like anyone else, we have experiences here in the valley that aren’t the best and feel that those need to be shared here with all of our readers. Currently we have three writers on staff that contribute content. It’s pretty simple, we share real life experiences as they need to be journaled. This entry is about Ussher Construction in Phoenix, and isn’t meant to be a bash on them but more about things to look for and questions to ask if they come knocking on your door to repair your roof. This is a rather small company, I could tell by how my calls were handled and essentially by the way the job was done. I think they may have good intentions, but there are definite areas of improvement that need to be evaluated.

Ussher Roofing – At My Door

Ussher Construction in Phoenix is primarily an outbound sales force that utilizes door to door sales strategies to generate business. We received a knock at our door about a free estimate due to some monsoon damage from recent storms. The young lady was very friendly and informative enough that we decided to give them a chance. Next we had a second individual return to talk about the process, gather information, and coordinate the insurance company to come out and give an appraisal. Throughout all our discussions, it was the insurance company I felt was going to be the biggest headache and they actually operated as you would hope they would. They inspected the damage, confirmed the roof needed to be replaced, and settled out with a check. What Ussher Construction does, is they will replace or repair the roof for the exact amount estimated by the insurance company. What we didn’t realize at the time is that the roofing crew hired to do our roof was just a group of guys in an old truck we could have hired from Craigslist for half three quarters of the appraisal cost.

Ussher Roofing – Tear Off And Installation

Honestly, they were pretty quick to start and had a dumpster in our yard rather fast. Communication was always pretty solid, and someone always called back or emailed. Nobody dodged my calls and that’s always nice. So they dropped the dumpster off and tore the roof off in about a day. Most everything made it into the dumpster and they did a mediocre job of cleaning the smaller debris around my property. I am still finding staples in and around my driveway and yard and would HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you advise anyone replacing your roof to clear your property with a magnet before wrapping the job up. The front right tire in my vehicle has a slow leak now that needs to be fixed because the staples weren’t properly picked up. Installation followed over the course of the next few days and the new roof looks really nice.

Ussher Roofing – Incomplete And Poor Craftsmanship

There is a small stretch of about 10 inches where they had ran out of drip edge and left the wood exposed. I didn’t notice this until the recent monsoons here in Arizona, otherwise I would have called them out on it while they were here, and I definitely wouldn’t have cut the second check yet. I would consider the job incomplete if I were a roofer and would have returned to replace the drip edge, or maybe used some oft he old drip edge that was torn off, I would have done something though because now the wood on the home is exposed to the elements and it wasn’t before they tore it off. That is incomplete to me! The Craftsmanship was a little half ass, I realize now that the actual crew was a few random guys trying to make a buck and not actual employees of the company. The truck wasn’t branded, no uniforms, no business cards, they were clearly hired help. The craftsmanship reflected this. There were areas on the roof as I walked it where shingles were loose, the ridge had flaws, the edges were cut past the drip edge in one area, and it looked like a 6k Job, not a 9k job. They also didn’t reconnect the air conditioning units drip feed properly, I had water running down my new roof and onto my patio for a few weeks until I was able to climb up there and finish the job right.

Ussher Roofing – Lack of Professional Opinion

The problem with sales people that are not roofers is that they don’t know much more than what they are taught in office meetings. My guess is that they bring on these door knockers, offer a commission to get the appraisal aligned, secure the insurance money, then hire random roofing contractors to bid the job or join their crew. However it works, it’s flawed for this reason. There was no professional opinion given outside of what the insurance adjuster said needed to be done. After the monsoons hit this past week, I called a professional roofing company here in the Valley to get an appraisal on a few of the flaws I wanted fixed. After talking with the owner (who was also a roofer) it became apparent that much of the wood paneling that creates the edge of the roof should have been replaced while the rest of the roof was torn off. This is the wood that the drip edge is secured to. There were areas around the entire house where this wood was rotting out and should have been replaced. I imagine the insurance adjuster isn’t going to give me anything extra, but it would have been nice while the roofers were up there if they would have notified me and offered that replacement option. Why put a new roof on bad wood? They did replace a few pieces of plywood, but the edging was left as is.

Summary

The overall experience wasn’t a bad one, they did what they said they would do. I think I could have had it done cheaper without them if I would have hired a real roofing company to do it for me. I think if I would have done that those details I have complaints about would have been addressed during the job ad I wouldn’t be calling out a roofing company now to make these fixes.

Some Information on The Web

• Ussher Construction LLC – Better Business Bureau

• Ussher Construction LLC – Contractor Information