We needed the roof of our semi-detached home re-shingled this spring, and had multiple quotes. Megacity came in at the mid-range and Randy was exceptional at getting back to me quickly regarding the initial quote and any questions I had. Ultimately I went with Megacity, and overall they did an adequate job. HOWEVER - you need to know your stuff when dealing with them. When I asked about ensuring that an aluminum drip edge was going to be installed, Randy informed me that they didn't normally install them. I checked with the eavestrough company I was going to use after Megacity was done, and they were adamant that a drip edge should be installed. According to Randy "They've never had any problems" when they haven't installed them. He had no problem having his crew install them, but it was interesting to me that they don't make it a practice. I wasn't able to be at my house when the crew came to do the job, but my wife was. They crew was very friendly, efficient, and finished the job after about 6 hours. Unfortunately, when I came home, there were several items that weren't satisfactory. Firstly, when they installed the drip edge, they used different styles and left gaps around at several locations. When I called to have this fixed, I was told that the reason the drip edge didn't match around the house is that they just used whatever they had in the truck. I also had a bathroom fan exhaust vent installed on the roof, and I was to make the hose connection in the attic. When I went to do this, I discovered that the vent they used had no connection duct. When I spoke to Tom about this, he informed me that this is the type they use on all of their jobs. They just tape the flex hose close to the vent as best they can and the moist bathroom air will flow right out vent. In doing some research, this is not correct at all. If you don't get a good seal between the flex hose and the vent, then the moist air can easily spill out into the attic and can cause moisture and mold issues. But according to Tom "They've never had any problems with this in the past". This seems to be they're standard answer to challenging questions. Ultimately, I went to Home Depot and bought a proper vent and they came back to install it. So in the end, Megacity did an adequate job for a reasonable price. But beware and do your research. You need to inspect closely and have them come back to repair the things done incorrectly. And don't accept the answer: "We've never had any problems with this in the past". It's not an excuse for them to cut corners. IN RESPONSE TO MEGACITY'S REPONSE: Regarding Tom's comments about the vent, my issue was not whether the vent had a flap or not, but rather whether or not it had a proper connection to attach the flex hose to. The vent installed only had a flat grate that Tom recommended I wire the flex hose to. This would not allow an air tight seal and moist air would certainly blow back into the attic space. Regarding the drip edge, my major issue was not with the style of the drip edge, but with the fact that the installers used two different styles on the same course of roofing. This was on my garage, which didn't have an eavestrough and so one drip edge stuck out somewhat and then the rest of drip edge was flat to the fascia, which was very unsightly. AND, there were areas where the drip edge was completely missing. The point of my review is not to be inflammatory, but rather give my honest opinion of my experience with Megacity. They were very pleasant to deal with and follow up was excellent (as stated in my original post), but you do need to check their work carefully.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $7,000.00
- Company Response
Unfortunately this review is extremely inflammatory and inaccurate. The customer himself has mentioned only 2 issues, not several; moreover, the items mentioned are standard practices for all roofers. None the less, we came back right away and corrected the two areas he wanted changed.
Bathroom vents with flaps are known to freeze up in the winter and cause snow and ice to get into flex hoses and drip into ceiling fans. We advised Eric that this could happen and that is why we use regular roof vents for his type of roof. The claim that a regular vent will cause moisture and mould is completely inaccurate and based on false or misinterpreted information. When Eric called and asked us to come back and put in the other type of vent we were happy to do it right away.
Drip edge is a standard practice but recently we have been offering the option to customers as many people don’t want it anymore. Many customers like their shingles to curl into the eave trough and thus not see the piece of aluminum sticking up, exposing the fascia board. We offered Eric an option and he chose to go with drip edge, not sure what the problem there is. Drip edge comes in many shapes and sizes, depending on which manufacturer makes it. Eric did not specify a specific type of drip edge so we used the drip edge we had, he was upset about this and so we came back and installed the type he wanted right away.
We do not cut corners, we always work above and beyond the standard practices of roofing guidelines and provide the best in customer service, that is why we are among the top 3 roofers in the city.
One thing Eric said is 100% true; we have not had any problems with the vents we use nor with our installation of drip edge. In fact, with flap vents we have had more than a few problems, that is why we now give the option.
When our foreman Adam went back to address the two small issues, Eric was going on and on about how pleased he was with our service, our crew, our professionalism and the speedy manner in which we came back. It seems that based on a few online opinions he has tried, convicted, judged us falsely and is warning people to beware and that it is a certainty that we will have to return to fix mistakes. To date, Eric makes up the 1% of negative reviews we have, take a look.
In our eyes, this 7 out of 10 rating is completely inflammatory and inaccurate. As Eric himself says, we provided efficient, friendly and timely work; moreover, we came back right away to address his two small concerns. Unfortunately as we get more popular on homestars we are being targeted by customers demanding extra and more work under threat of a negative review. Here is a case where the customer is saying we did a great job but based on two small and arguable issues he is warning people about us.
Based on our service and quick response, we feel this rating should be a 9 or 10 out of 10.