How Local Roofing Companies Beat National Roofers

If you’ve owned property in Florida for any amount of time, you’ve probably received mailers from roofing companies promising excellent roofing services at extremely low costs. But when you need roofing help, it’s wise to be extremely picky. Many national roofing companies and storm chasers target the Tampa Bay area, but local roofing companies are almost always the better choice.

At Classic Roofing and Construction, we have more than 20 years of experience across the Greater Tampa Bay region, so we’ve seen firsthand how nationally-owned roofing companies fail our local communities. And we’re making it our business to push back. That’s why today, we want to shed some light on Florida’s roofing environment and how you can protect yourself from roofing companies that are only looking to make a quick buck.

But to do that, we first have to look at some of Florida’s recent history.

How Scam Roofers Hurt Florida

Florida is a unique state for many reasons, but one of the biggest is its frequent hurricanes. And after several devastating storms in the early 2000s, Florida was flooded with out-of-state roofers (called storm chasers) coming in and promising homeowners and business owners perfect roofs at no cost to the property owner.

The crux of the deal was this: The property owner would authorize the insurance company to deal directly with the roofing company. The roofers would then submit a roofing quote that was double or triple what the roof should have cost. Then, when the insurance company rejected this offer, the roofers would sue. Most of the time, the insurance companies would end up settling for even more than the inflated quote. So the individual homeowner got a “free” roof, but rates went up to offset these losses and everyone ended up paying more.

And things got even worse when it was time to start the work.

In most cases, the storm chasers completed the roof replacements and repairs, but not to the standards they’d promised. Their work was sloppy, rushed, and often completed by poorly paid subcontractors who had never been on a roof before. As a result, their work often failed inspection, which made it difficult or impossible for property owners to keep their insurance. And while local roofing companies can be reached to fix work that fails inspections, these roofers were usually long gone by the time people could start asking questions about the quality of work.

The Florida Homeowners Insurance Crisis

As a result of all of this, both property owners and insurance companies suffered. In fact, over the past two decades, homeowners insurance providers have left Florida in droves, partially because of underhanded roofing practices surrounding hurricanes and tropical storms. This has driven up Florida’s homeowners insurance rates and made even being approved for a policy extremely difficult, especially for the owners of older homes.

Sadly, this isn’t just an issue of the past, either. Storm chasers still flock to whatever part of Florida has most recently been hit by a storm—in fact, you may have even gotten spam phone calls and mailers from them after Hurricane Ian in 2022. But even if storm chasers have cleaned up their act (and that’s a big “if”), you’ll still get better results from local roofing companies.

Let’s talk about why.

How Local Roofing Companies Can Help You

Now that you have a good picture of roofing history in Florida, it’s time to look toward the present. Because even when national roofing companies aren’t scammers, they’re still less equipped to meet your needs than local roofing companies.

Here are some of the biggest ways that local roofing companies give you great results that national roofing companies just can’t match.

Expertise in Florida Roofing

Roofing best practices vary a lot from state to state. Why? Because each state has unique weather patterns. For example, a roofing company working in the Midwest will need to install roofs that can handle ice and snow. But a roof in Florida has very different needs.

In Florida, the biggest threats to your roof are the heavy rains, high winds, and extreme UV exposure from the Sun. Local roofing companies like Classic work on weather-proofing local roofs every day, and the entire infrastructure of our business is centered around making sure roofs can handle our local weather.

National roofers, on the other hand, are generalists. Their business has to be able to work on roofs in a variety of different climates, which makes them better able to handle a wide range of weather conditions. But that doesn’t make them better roofers for Floridians. In fact, since they can’t fully dedicate their business’ focus to one climate, their work in Florida won’t be as good as that of a local roofer.

As a local roofing company, Classic knows the ins and outs of roofing in Florida. And we have rich relationships with local vendors to make sure that we get the best roofing materials to suit the needs of our local communities. For these reasons, we know that we can deliver better results than the national roofers who haven’t spent decades working in Tampa Bay like we have.

Clear, Direct Communication

Clear communication is another big advantage of local roofing companies. When you choose an independent roofer, everyone, from the people installing your roof to the people answering your calls and providing you with information, is local. There are no directories, no complicated bureaucracy, and no hassle.

For national roofing companies, though, it’s the exact opposite. In fact, you might only deal with people in different time zones, which can lead to serious delays in communication. This can result in confusion and delayed roofing work, two things that nobody wants to deal with. And if there’s a problem with your roof, it could be all but impossible to speak with someone who can help.

At Classic, we believe in communicating with you directly. This way, if you have any questions or concerns during your roofing project, you’ll be able to get immediate answers. And in the unlikely event that there’s a problem with your roof, we’re based in Pinellas County and easy to reach whenever you need us.

Reliable Local Roofing Crews

Oftentimes, national roofing companies stretch their roofers thin. So when the roofer needs to complete a roof replacement or repair, they’ll likely have to bring on subcontractors. And while some subcontractors are great, many of these companies only care about their bottom line. As a result, they hire cheap, inexperienced subcontractors who may have never even been on a roof before.

But as a local roofing company, Classic has deep local roots. That’s why we never have to use subcontractors. Instead, we only use trained Classic employees. This guarantees two things: First, that your roofing work will be done to our high standards for safety, quality of workmanship, and long-term protection. And second, if there is a problem with your roof, we can hold our crews accountable and get them back out there to fix it. This way, you never have to worry about being stuck with an unfinished or poorly installed roof.

Go With Local Roofers You Can Trust

Roofing work is a major investment in your home or business. And as we’ve covered, local roofing companies can deliver much better results than big, national roofing companies. So if you’re looking for roof repairs or even a full replacement, we strongly encourage you to go with local roofers.

At Classic, we’re a local roofing company that has been operating across Tampa Bay for 20 years. If you want to see what we can do for you, all you have to do is sign up for a free roofing estimate that will cover the total scope and cost of your roofing project. Give us a chance and see why we’re still the top local roofing company in Tampa Bay!

Local Roofing Companies – Video