Am Group Of Companies

It has been 30 days since this job was completed and I am still waiting for my written warranty. Despite having sent two emails regarding this, there has been no response from AM Roofing. However, considering the troubled history of this job, this silence comes as no surprise.

There were several significant issues with this installation:

The job was originally done in May 2015, and we promptly paid the $2,300 invoice. But, by mid-November the shingles (Owens Corning Oakridge) were already splitting, cracking, and degranulating. Many shingles were also broken or frayed at the edges, with the fibreglass visibly showing.

I emailed AM Roofing about this on Nov. 11, but did not receive a response. I then sent a fax on Dec. 10. Finally, on Dec. 14, the General Manager of Simcoe/Bluewater emailed back saying that he would be "on site this week to take a look".

Exactly one month later (Jan. 11), the General Manager replied, saying "it appears that it is just select shingles... What we will have to do is replace the shingles that are damaged." This answer was clearly disappointing, as I knew from my own inspection that the shingle deterioration was occurring across the *entire* south side of the roof — not just on select shingles.

I waited until spring, but received no further response or follow-up from AM Roofing before then. So, I emailed again on May 9, along with photos of 30 individual instances of degrading shingles to prove that all of them needed replacement (a clear case of a defective product). An employee came to the house to meet with me and re-inspect the roof. He was friendly and seemed genuinely interested in helping to resolve the situation.

On June 14, 2016 I received an email from AM Roofing, saying that Owens Corning were going to warranty the work required to redo the roof (as one would expect). I elected to upgrade the model of shingle to Owens Corning TruDefinition Duration (upgrade cost: $170). My hope was that the upgraded shingles would not prove to be defective.

When the roof was re-shingled, the crew were friendly, but they cut corners by not installing the underlayment properly, as follows:

1. The underlayment was not placed under the drip edge along the rake (the side of the roof). Instead, AM Roofing put the underlayment either beside, or on top of the drip edge. The rake drip edge should have been removed, the underlayment properly positioned underneath, and then the drip edge secured on top of it (the industry standard method, and what AM Roofing did the previous year).

2. On one side of the roof, one of the workers was planning to leave a 6" wide vertical strip of exposed roof deck between the underlayment and the rake. Luckily, I was outside having a look at the job's progress and questioned this. The roofer claimed that his strip of "starter" shingles (on top of the bare roof deck strip) was "the same" as having underlayment in that area. I disagreed, and he offered to remove some shingles that he had already installed in order to lay a patch strip of underlayment in that area. He was friendly about it, but this patch job should not have been happening.

3. On the opposite side of the roof, the underlayment had a *very* frayed, and blackened, appearance (suggesting that area of the underlayment was from the end, or beginning, of the roll). That frayed edge should have been cleanly cut off, and then secured *underneath* the rake drip edge; this unsecured, frayed edge will not be holding back any water, and as a result the roof deck could prematurely rot in that area because of this improper installation.

If you have read this far, you might remember that this was the second time this roof had been done by AM Roofing. After the job was complete, the crew foreman pointed out that they installed new WeatherPRO 50 vents, and mentioned that they were better than what was on the roof previously. This was good to know, however it was that exact model which was supposed to be installed the previous year. "WeatherPRO 50" was clearly indicated on the previous year's work order, and that is what we paid for at that time. I emailed AM Roofing to explain why they would originally install a product that was so clearly different than what was in the work order, but they did not respond.

The unfortunate experience of dealing with this company got even worse when the construction debris was picked up the next day. When AM Roofing's employee arrived, I thanked him for coming to remove the garbage, and my wife asked him whether he would like us to move our vehicles off the driveway so that he could then move the AM Roofing truck to the back of the driveway where the debris was located. He said that would not be necessary.

I then left the house, and my wife went to work in the backyard. When I returned a few hours later, I discovered that countless new, and highly visible, scratches were now on the driveway. Some of them are deep enough to be felt by your finger. The scratches begin where AM Roofing's debris pile was located, and travel down the length of the driveway before curving to the east side where AM Roofing's truck was located. This path of scratches is over 50 feet long, and 4 feet wide.

These scratches could only have been made by numerous sharp objects, such as nails. I will assume that AM Roofing's employee dragged a heavy stack of old shingles, with nails still embedded, all the way down our driveway. This is not the way a company should be treating its customer's property, and it directly contradicts the note in AM Roofing's work order which says, "Extra care during removal process."

Before these scratches were made, our driveway had significant curb appeal. It is (was) a concrete driveway in great condition. With these scratches, that curb appeal has been destroyed. We now must go to the expense of trying to remedy the appearance of the driveway. This will involve special equipment rentals and purchases, and/or hiring a concrete repair service, in addition to considerable time investment.

With this unanticipated expense caused by AM Roofing's negligence in mind, I wrote yet another (unanswered) email to them, stating that it would be appropriate to cancel their scheduled $170 shingle-upgrade invoice (as mentioned above), and instead deliver to us a signed warranty for our records.

It has been almost a month since my email was sent, and our warranty still has not arrived. We need that warranty, because as mentioned above, the underlayment was not installed properly, and as a result AM Roofing might have to return sooner rather than later to redo the job yet again.