License and Insurance Requirements for Lexington, Kentucky Roofers 

Different states have different requirements that contractors must meet in order to be qualified to work. Some states require all roofing contractors to have a trade license and liability insurance in order to work, while others require one or the other, or none. In Kentucky, roofers aren’t required to have a license or insurance in order to work so homeowners must find other guidelines to determine the quality of a contractor. 

License and Insurance
In general, it’s beneficial if states require contractors to have a license and insurance. A license recognizes a company as a legitimate roofing business and means the contractors has the basic knowledge needed to work as a roofer. A license is important because it protects the contractor and homeowners if someone is injured on your property or if workers damage your home. The license and insurance gives you a standard to compare contractors to and rule out the bad ones that keep meet state requirements.  

However, for one reason or another, Kentucky and some other states choose not to have requirements for roofing contractors. It makes finding a quality contractor a little more difficult but there are other criteria you can look at when hiring a contractor to get an idea of how good the company is, such as their reputation, their price and by running a background check on them. You can receive free Lexington roofing estimates from pre-screened, quality roofers by using our free contractor screening service. 

Reputation
Though researching a contractor’s reputation is something a homeowner should do in any state, it becomes even more important when contractors don’t have a license and insurance because it becomes the main indicator of the contractor’s quality of work. To determine a contractor’s reputation, ask for around seven references from their past jobs in the Lexington, Kentucky area. You can also get information regarding the company’s reputation and reliability online from the Better Business Bureau. 

You should value the contractor’s reputation even more than the price they are offering. Some contractors try to lower their costs by using cheap labor and workers, resulting in a poor quality job. If the contractor has a bad reputation, don’t hire them no matter how much lower their price may be compared to others. A cheap company with a poor installation job will cost more in the long run than a high quality contractor because you will eventually need to pay to have their installation problems fixed or risk having expensive water damage in your house. 

Background Checks
Another good way to determine a contractor’s reputation is by running a background check on them. A background check reveals the court history of contractors, revealing if they have a criminal record or lawsuits against them. If the contractor has a questionable reputation or court history, it’s best not to work with them at all for your safety.  

Background checks can be somewhat expensive for homeowners to run on all the contractors they are considering to work with. You can save time and money by using our free contractor screening service. With our screening service, you will be connected with up to four high quality contractors who have passed our extensive background check. All of our contractors have been screened with our ProScreen contractor verification process, which verifies references, checks their court records and much more. Get free estimates from the best Lexington roofers now.