The Warranties on Your New Roof

Are you in need of a roof replacement but worried about how this home improvement investment will be protected in the future?

Homeowners always ask what options are available if their new roof starts to leak or have issues. That is what roof warranties are for.

The team at Holladay Grace has been replacing roofs for homeowners in Colorado Springs since 1979. Our long history of high-quality roof replacements speaks for itself in our community.

Not all roof warranties cover the same items. We are here to help you understand the different warranties and help you choose the best warranty for your home.

What Warranties are Available to Protect Your Investment After a Roof Replacement?

Three types of warranties protect your roof replacement investment; Material Warranties, Workmanship Warranties, and Extended Warranties. These warranties come from the manufacturer of your roofing materials and/or your roofing contractor. It is important to know what each one covers and how long the warranty(s) are good for.

Roofing Material Warranties

Material warranties come from the manufacturer of your roofing materials. All roof material products come with a standard material defect warranty that protects you from defects in the material.

Material warranties cover the material on your roof from manufacturing defects that adversely affect its performance. Examples of material defects are shown below.

Manufacturer Defect – Wind Damage

Manufacturer Defect – Granule Loss

Manufacturer Defect – Blistering

How Long Does a Roofing Material Warranty Last?

The warranty you get on your roof materials will depend on the type of roofing material and the manufacturer. For example, in today’s market, a standard warranty on an architectural shingle is listed as a “Lifetime Warranty” and prorated after ten years. However, what does that mean? It means that the product is covered from material defects as long as you, the original owner of the warranty, owns the property where the shingles were installed.

Now, most manufacturers have a period (often ten years) in which the warranty is most valuable, or in other words, the manufacturer will cover most of the cost if the material is defective. The manufacturer may not cover the entire cost because labor and disposal costs are not always included in the standard material warranties for roofing products. After the ten years in which the warranty is most valuable, the manufacturers begin to prorate the warranty, which means they pay less toward fixing the problems.

Workmanship Warranty

Every roofing contractor should offer a workmanship warranty on their work. A workmanship warranty covers you from installation errors that lead to leaks or issues. For example, suppose a shingle is installed incorrectly and causes leaks. In that case, a roofing contractor will fix this issue for no cost if it is within the timeframe covered by the workmanship warranty.

All roofing contractors may offer different length workmanship warranties. We have seen roofing contractors offer workmanship warranties ranging from 1 year to 25 years in our Colorado Springs community.

Please be careful, though. Workmanship warranties are only as good as the paper they are written on. The warranty isn’t worth anything if the contractor is out of business. This is why you should always hire a reputable roofing contractor.

Extended Warranties

Roofing contractors that are “certified” with a manufacturer can offer extended warranties through the manufacturer. These extended warranties often include both material and workmanship warranties bundled into one extended warranty.

Extended warranties require that most of the products on your roof come from the same manufacturer. These warranties can also be called a “System” warranty. Meaning the entire roofing system is under warranty, rather than the individual products on the roof. Extended warranties cover your entire roofing system if one or more components on your roof fail.

Please remember that these extended warranties come with a cost, and your contractor will most likely pass the warranty cost along to you. When you register an extended warranty with a manufacturer, you’ll get a 50-year non-prorated warranty that includes labor and materials. There are different levels of extended warranties, so please be sure to ask your roofing contractor about the other options to learn more about which level makes the most sense for you.

Each manufacturer has slightly different details included or excluded in their extended warranty options. See the links below for a comparison of two leading residential roofing manufacturers.

https://www.gaf.com/en-us/for-homeowners/warranties

https://www.owenscorning.com/en-us/roofing/warranty

Be sure to verify your contractor is listed on the manufacturer’s website if your contractor is offering you extended warranties.

What Next?

Now that you understand what different warranties are available, you’re ready to search for a great roofing contractor to see what warranties they offer.

The contractor you select will play a vital role in what warranties that contractor can sell, which is why it’s important to find a reputable contractor in your community.

Remember, this is a large investment that protects all the contents in your home. Sometimes the best choice isn’t always the least expensive.

Since 1979, Holladay Grace has handled every project as if it were our home. If you’re local to the Colorado Springs community, we would be pleased to help you with your roofing needs.

If you’re local to the greater Colorado Springs community, we would be pleased to assist you with your roofing needs. Contact us to schedule your inspection.