Gable Roofing

Total price: $9500 roof/$2000 insulation plus taxes.

My flat roof job was not an easy one. My neighbour wasn't interested in replacing his roof, but I didn't want his equally lousy roof to undermine any work I paid for. I had frost-ruined brick along the parapet wall and two crumbling chimneys which needed to be replaced by masons. My insulation was nil.

This is a situation where you want to pay for experience. Company head Mike had a working relationship with my masons, Quality Restorations, so they were willing to talk to each other about what sort of brick was needed to fit with the roofing project. Adjustments had to made during the project, and the two companies interacted as true professionals.

When it came to the insulation, Mike's original solution to add 2" ISO boards proved to not be the ideal one. Once the crew had the roof boards off, it turned out that the ceiling had no insulation at all. Mike had the knowledge to adjust his plan. His crew filled the house rafters with top-of-the-line R-31 fiberglass bats.

They left the job site clean, as well. Michelle the receptionist was always quick in getting my questions answered. The company provided a photo log of the entire job as well for my scrutiny. Gable are proud of their work.

I have worked with contractors over the past six months who expect me to do all the running around for them and have answers to questions that I, as a non-professional, shouldn't be consulted on. Hiring a contractor who has his own experienced crew, can work with other companies and has the knowledge to adjust quoted was such a relief.

I got to see first hand what my job could have been like with another company. My neighbours across the alley had hired a different roofing company, Shaddai Roofing, who did their roof at the same time as Gable. This crew left the entire neighbourhood covered with tar paper. Gable's crew took photographs of Shaddai's crew working in case they (and by extension, I) was blamed for trashing my neighbours' gardens.