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- Ratings and reviews by surveyed Consumers' Checkbook and Consumer Reports local subscribers
- Undercover price comparisons
- Complaint histories from consumer agencies
- Advice to help you get the best service and value
Begin by carefully considering what you think you want and how you can get it. Weigh your wish list against what you’ll probably pay to fulfill it.
To get new shingles without a shakedown, identify several reliable contractors and collect bids from each, get in writing exactly what will be done, and then keep a close eye on the job as it progresses.
When hiring a roofer, quality of work should be your primary consideration. Once you have identified roofers that measure up on quality, get several fixed-price bids for the work. You’ll find big roofer-to-roofer price differences for the same job.
Different types of roofs have different lifespans. Your inspections will reveal whether the entire roof is due for replacement.
Given that we received very mixed reviews for home inspection services in our surveys of local consumers, we expected some companies in our test would perform better than others. But what really miffed us was how little work many inspectors bothered to do.
Since most garden centers buy—rather than raise—most of what they sell, there is room for tremendous variation in buying standards and the quality of plants being sold. The opinions we collected from consumers on garden centers reflect these big differences.