5 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Roofing Contractor in Minnesota

Most roofing disasters aren't caused by bad materials. They're caused by bad contractors. I've inspected enough failed roofs — some less than ten years old — to know that the company you hire matters more than the brand of shingles they put down. These five questions are the ones I'd ask if I were hiring a roofer and I wasn't the one doing the work.

Ask them before you sign anything. The answers will tell you what you need to know.

This is the first thing I'd want to know. Most roofing companies run a sales rep who estimates the job, a project manager who schedules it, and a crew you've never met who shows up at 7am. Nobody in that chain is accountable to you in real time. If something goes wrong on day two, you're filing a complaint with a call center.

Ask the person giving you the estimate: "Will you personally be on my roof during the install?" If the answer is no, ask who will be and whether you can call that person directly. If there's no clear answer, you've learned something important.

For every job I take, I'm the one on site. Not a subcontractor I dispatched. Me. My phone number is on the estimate, and it's the same number you call if there's a problem on day three or three years later.

Any contractor worth hiring should be able to tell you, in specific terms, exactly what they do on an installation — from deck inspection through final ridge cap. Not marketing language. An actual checklist.

If they can't produce one, or if their answer is vague ("we follow manufacturer specs"), that tells you the work isn't being verified at any step. Manufacturer specs are a minimum. They say nothing about whether the crew actually replaced your pipe boots, installed the right underlayment, or ran ice and water shield into the valleys.

My answer to this question is the Frost-Forged 21 Standard — a 21-point installation checklist that every Northern Forge job is held to. I'll hand it to you before I start. You can compare any other contractor's bid against it point by point.

If your roof was damaged by hail or wind, the insurance claim process is where most homeowners lose money — not because the damage isn't real, but because the documentation and supplement process isn't done right. A lot of contractors hand you the insurance company's scope of work and just build to that number, even when it's short.

Ask specifically: "Will you be present when the insurance adjuster inspects the roof? What happens if the initial scope misses something?" A contractor who knows the claims process will walk you through exactly what they do at each step. One who doesn't will get vague.

On every storm job I take, I'm on the roof with your adjuster. I document every line of damage, compare it to the scope they produce, and file supplements for anything that's been missed. It's not confrontational — it's just doing the job completely. See how I handle the full storm damage process.

This is the question most homeowners forget to ask, and the one that matters most when something goes wrong six months later. Every contractor will give you a warranty on paper. What you actually want to know is: is this company going to exist, answer the phone, and come back out when there's a problem?

Ask for the warranty in writing. Ask what it covers — workmanship only, or materials too? Ask how long they've been operating in Minnesota under the same name. A company that's been in business here for years is a different risk than one that set up shop after last summer's hailstorm.

Northern Forge provides a written workmanship warranty on every job, separate from the manufacturer's material warranty. My name is on the company. I live in Coon Rapids. I'm not going anywhere, and you have my direct number if something comes up.

In Minnesota, residential roofing contractors are required to hold a state contractor license. The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry maintains a public database where you can verify any license number in about 30 seconds. If a contractor can't give you a license number on the spot, or tells you they're "in the process" of getting one, that's a hard stop.

An unlicensed contractor can't legally pull permits for your job. If they're doing work without a permit and something goes wrong — a leak, a fire, a sale — you're the one holding the liability.

Northern Forge Construction holds MN Contractor License BC809688. You can verify it right now at the Minnesota DLI website. I'd encourage you to verify any contractor you're considering, including me.

One More Thing

None of these questions require any special knowledge. You don't have to understand roofing to ask them. The point is that a contractor who can answer all five clearly and specifically is a contractor who knows what they're doing and stands behind it. One who can't is telling you something.

If you want a second opinion on a quote you've already received, or if you'd like to go through these questions with me directly, get in touch. The inspection is free and I'll tell you honestly what I find — including if the first quote looks right to me.

Northern Forge Construction is a Coon Rapids–based roofing contractor serving the Twin Cities metro. MN Licensed BC809688. Owner Luis Hernandez is on every job site, every day.