When is a Roofing Coupon not really a Deal?
I always check the coupons that I get in the mail. Sometimes there is a great deal to be found. As a roofing contractor, I am especially curious about the coupons that my competitors send out.
It is not uncommon to find huge coupons for roofing. $1,000.00 or $1,500.00 off can be found all the time. But are these coupons really worth that much?
You can not buy a roof off the shelf in a store. Roofs are assembled on your property and are unique to your property. There is no such thing as one size fits all in roofing. Even homes with the same interior square footage can have a vastly different roof square footage. Even roofs of the same square footage can have vastly different prices as pitch, height, and product can vary a great deal. In short, the price you get from a roofing contractor is tailored to you and your property.
Most of these coupons say “must be presented before your estimate”. With the knowledge that a homeowner has a $1,000.00 off coupon, all a contractor does is calculate the price he wants to bid for your project and then add $1,000.00 to that price, knowing you will be taking $1,000.00 off. Even those who do not ask for a coupon up front simply give everyone a coupon (and the mark up before the mark down). Roofing is a very competitive trade. No one can give those types of discounts and stay in business for long.
There is also a dark side to these large coupons. Sometimes they are used as a vehicle to cover or help take care of an insurance deductible. A homeowner can get in big trouble if they are deceiving their insurance carrier about the true cost of a claim.
While there are many great coupons to be found, not many of them are for roofing.