Roofing Warranties
Product
Guarantees or Marketing Tools?
Most inexperienced roof buyers tend to use warranties as
one of their primary tools
for selecting products. Unfortunately, over the
last decade, manufacturers have found
that by limiting coverage / liability they can
dramatically increase the warranty periods
(to 30, 40 or 50 years) on products with functional
lifecycles of less than 15 years.
Manufacturers and roofing contractors now
use these inflated warranty periods
to sell lower grade, and cheaper, products to a much
larger segment of the residential
roofing market - including homeowners needing more
permanent roofing solutions.
This deceptive marketing strategy is the primary reason
that single-laminate asphalt composition shingles
represent about 85% of the residential re-roofing market
- But less than 15% of the commercial market.
Businesses can't afford to make uninformed decisions
and use the expert (unbiased) advice of independent
roofing consultants / brokers to manage their projects.
Now Homeowners can receive the same unbiased information
and expert advice
of independent consultants (at no additional charge)
from Seattle Roof Brokers.
Cedar Shakes
Treated cedar shakes are sold with 30 to 50 year
"warranties".
Yet the real functional life of these products is only
15 to 25 years.
How can they do that?
Treated cedar warranties only cover "fungal decay and
termite attack".
They specifically exclude coverage for "warping,
cracking, twisting, splitting"
or "any physical property of the wood".
u
Asphalt Composition
Asphalt composition shingles are sold with 30 to 50 year
"warranties".
And inexperienced shoppers usually assume this indicates
product durability.
Yet the real functional life of these shingles is only
10 - 15 years.
How can they do that?
Composition warranties exclude liability for product
performance or durability.
Warranties cover "manufacturing defects" - NOT
wear from normal exposure.
Manufacturing "defects" (failing production
specifications) occur in 1% of all shingles produced.
If shingles are produced within manufacturing
specifications they are not "defective" and, therefore,
not covered by the warranty. Have you ever
heard of a roofing shingle being "recalled"?
Composition and Cedar warranties exclude
coverage for normal wear & aging
to allow
Roofing Contractors to use these warranties as "Marketing
Tools"
Everyone in the roofing industry knows, or should know,
about the limited durability
of modern asphalt shingles and the industry strategy of
using outrageous warranty periods
to market "builder grade" products to everyone - even
homeowners needing the durability
of superior (homeowner grade or investment grade) roofing
materials.
Most re-roofing today is replacing composition shingles
in neighborhoods that are 15 to 20 years old.
Shingles sold today are
much thinner than
the older products - And can not possibly last as
long.
Because most roofing warranties don't provide any
indication of product durability
it's important that homeowners a) understand the real
functional life expectancy
of the materials being considered and b) receive full
disclosure on any outdated
product features or inferior product designs.
Homeowners - like large commercial accounts - can now
take advantage of the unbiased information
and expert analysis of independent roofing consultants /
brokers by contacting Seattle Roof Brokers.
