Siding Contractors

Your siding is the blanket that keeps your house warm. It is a barrier from the severity of winter. When the cold wind blows, the idea is to keep our homes safe from damage.
To do that, it will be necessary to select the appropriate material in which to wrap the home. Among the issues to be resolved:
•    Is the house exposed to wind and/or moisture? When the snow piles up, how must your new siding work?

•    Must you obtain siding that keeps with the character of your home and neighborhood? You do not want to select a siding that does not fit the design of your home or the era in which it was built.

•    Who can do the work? It is not a DIY project. You must trust the experts.

Selecting a Siding Contractor

You’ve decided to contact a siding contractor. Out comes the telephone book or you have plugged “siding contractors” into Google, and out comes a list of people who advertise that they can do the work. You make contact, and they send out an “estimator.” Assume from the very beginning that the representative who appears at your door is more salesperson than installer. Nothing wrong with that, unless the army of installers that appears at your home isn’t as qualified as you would like. Here’s what you want to know:
•    The knowledge of the installer.

•    The offer of evaluation assistance and the suggestions that he or she will make.

•    The contact’s familiarity with and knowledge of the various siding materials, their uses, and their drawbacks.

•    Whether there are certification requirements for either the work or the materials on your job.

•    Whether or not the firm is covered with adequate insurance should something go wrong.

•    If he or she is reachable and whether calls are returned promptly. Information flow is very important.

•    Can the installer provide references? Are there other sources of objective reference that can be reviewed, such as community sources or the Better Business Bureau?

•    And, of course, the cost.

The Work Estimate

Never come away from this process without a written estimate. An estimate is never the amount of a contract. It is more indicative of the resources that will be needed to do the work - providing:
•    A description of the work.

•    A specification of the materials to be used.

•    Prices for materials and labor.

•    Financing information or work-in-process payments.

•    Milestones, checkpoints, project duration plans.

•    Post-project cleanliness of the site.

•    Any warranties of materials or guarantees of work quality.

All consideration for selecting siding contractors.

Also consider the reputation of the Chicago roofing and siding company itself and talk to others who have had the work done.



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Your Roof Is the Crown of Your Kingdom

The U.S. Government has identified thirty-three distinct and unique job titles that apply to the roofing industry? Merely calling an installer a “roofer” is woefully inadequate. We have roofer designations for aluminum, asbestos, composition, gravel, gypsum, hot tar, metal, asphalt shingles, cedar shingles, slate, tile, and tin. There are several job classifications: cool roofing, industrial, metals roofing mechanic, residential, roof service technicians, roofing applicators, and an assortment of apprenticeships that apply to the roofing business.

Thirty unique tasks for doing the job have been identified, ranging from “apply alternate layers of hot asphalt or tar and roofing paper to roofs” to “install solar roofing systems that have energy-collecting photovoltaic panels built into roofing membranes, shingles, or tiles." Even the erection, use, and disassembly of scaffolding are listed.

There are many kinds of roof designs, unfortunately not standardized in description: flat roofs, terrace, shed, gable, saltbox, clerestory (light-admitting), hipped, half-hipped, Dutch gable, Skillion (lean-to), Gambrel, gull wing, Mansard, bell-cast, saw-tooth, monitor, and butterfly. You may have no interest in a thatched roof, but you may have dormers on your home—wall, blind, gallery. There are variations on many of these, as well.
The roofing task isn’t simply the application of tarpaper and asphalt shingles. Some Chicago roofing companies can handle most of the tasks and various roof designs, but not many can handle them all.
Enter Custom Installations.

There are many roofing concerns working in the Chicago and Midwest area. When considering a roof installation, know that the cities we serve begin with Addison and stretch all the way to Zion. Complete a coverage in the greater Chicago area ... literally from A to Z.
A roof is a crown of glory to your home or business, but it is worthless if the work is shoddy or performed with less than the necessary experience. Custom Installations has been around since 1969. It’s a family business and prides itself in the quality of its installation. Angie’s List, a national rating service, objectively places Custom Installations among the most competent, most highly trusted roofing and gutter concerns in the nation.

A quality roof installation is the cap on your energy expenses. It boosts energy efficiency and enhances the appearance and value of your property. It also defeats the leakage and mold problems most Chicago land homes experience during periods of rough weather
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Custom Installations performs at a high level. We start by knowing the products and recommending the appropriate solution for the job. You can buy anything cheap from less reputable roofers, but we select products that provide the best quality and utility for the money.

We understand the construction of roofs, particularly the need for airflow. Often it’s important to improve the ventilation of a roof area as a means to gain the most efficient usage of the roofing materials used.
We help to control rot, warping, and mold on your property using the knowledge and the skills to properly prepare your roof. Products and trims work together. Custom Installations has the experience to ensure that the various parts of the roof installation are compatible and have relatively equal useful lives.

You can find many Chicago roofing companies, but you won’t find any firm that does the job as well as Custom Installation.



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Regulating the Roofing Trade

In the United States, regulation of the roofing trade is assigned to individual states. Most have a contractor’s licensing board, and Illinois is no different. It’s called the Illinois Department of Financial & Professional Regulation (IDFPR), and among its mandates is the licensing and certification of Chicago roofing contractors.
There is a written roofing test within the Illinois Roofing Industry Licensing Act. If you’d like to read the law, you can find it at www.idfpr.com. According to the IDFPR website, “these examinations have been subjected to strict psychometric controls and reviewed by a panel of roofing professionals.” A candidate must have a mark of 70% to pass.

There are two forms of licensure. The first is the residential license, which is limited to that form of construction. The commercial and industrial licensing examination covers unlimited forms of construction. In order to sit for the license, the applicant must have verifiable experience, employment and education.
The study materials have been developed by the National Roofing Contractors Association (NRCA), and are available at Barnes and Noble or Amazon.com.

The examination covers these areas:

•    Safety and employee protection
•    General roofing preparations, decks, and membranes
•    Roofing materials and steep-slope systems
•    Low slope roofing systems  (design guidelines, reroofing, moisture control, and repair)
•    Measurement and estimating
•    Non-residential roofing systems (metal roofing, rigid board roof insulation, spray polyurethane foam, waterproofing, and dampproofing.

It is necessary to have the residential license before being able to sit for the commercial and industrial license examination. The total written examination will be 75 questions (residential) or 125 questions (industrial/commercial). A sample questiion:

Which of these is recommended when the third pin on the plug of a power tools is missing?

A.    Have the tool removed and repaired before it is used again.
B.    Insert a temporary pin into the plug as a safety measure.
C.    Use the tool only when it is plugged into a GSCI receptacle.
D.    Use the tool only when it is plugged into a double-insulated cord.

Custom Installations, a Chicago roofing contractor, goes by the book. We follow the rules, not only for our safety, but your safety, too! At Custom Installations, we are licensed and have 45 years of experience in doing it right. We do not fear building inspectors. We work with them.

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