What Planet Did You Say You Are From?

Well it looks like the biggest roofing contractor in Northern California ("No other Roofing Contractor in Northern California repairs more roofs") is at it again! I urge anyone in any field of construction to read this, you are sure to get a laugh.

Bear in mind this is only an exerpt from one paragraph of an entire website of stuff like this.

And away we go!

"Typically a roofing contractor is prohibited from charging a fee to provide a Roof Repair Estimate for a potential repair job."

OK, typically prohibited? That would mean most of the time it is never ok, right? Hmm, sort of like " exactly alike only different, jumbo shrimp, or military intelligence?


 Besides being a contradiction in terms, it's completely untrue and anyone framiliar with BPC (Business and Professions Code) will know this and  even if you don't know the rules for your own profession, what about common sense?

Why do think everyone started advertising FREE ESTIMATES years ago? DUH of course it was to gain a leg up on all of the guys charging for them. Then the competition they created in doing so caused it to become the norm but contractors are ABSOLUTELY NOT prohibited or even discouraged from charging for estimates as long as agreed upon with the customer.
How did you get a contractor's license?

OK, sentance two.

 "This is to prevent unscrupulous roofing contractors from making money solely by providing roof repair estimates when they are in the business of providing actual repair services."


OK so not only do we have an imaginary regulation, but he has also made up the reason it was put into effect WOW.  Besides, what does that even mean? Didn't you run this by anyone before putting it on your website? It doesn't even make sense!

And for the finale:

 "If you are ever asked to pay a fee for a Roof Repair Estimate, kindly decline the request, and contact the California State Licensing Board with the license number of the offending roofing contractor."

Yes, do. If you want to appear to be as poorly informed as the individual who publishes these jewels of wisdom. As an alternative though, if someone asks you to pay a fee for something you do not want to pay for....you could always say no.

VISIT ROOF DOCTOR

JOURNEYMAN TRADES PEOPLE SAME AS NOVICE!

As of 05/09/12 this text is published on a professional roofing contractor's website. I reprint it here in hopes that someone can possibly point out to me what on earth this individual might be "thinking".

 " Roof Reports and Roof Repair Estimates are usually issued on the same day of the inspection.  Our repairs are performed only by license-quality repairmen, and not by minimum-wage journeymen, who claim to be experts, but in reality have little or no roofing experience. "

Now wait a minute.

 Has anyone EVER seen a minimum wage journeyman? Of course you haven't, because there is no such thing, never has been and never will be since minimum wage, and journeyman are at opposite ends of the trades food chain. It's like saying "that white piece of black paper."

And quite obviously anyone with even the slightest trade experience knows that it is not possible to be a journeyman with little or no experience in the trade, since journeyman means that you have achieved the highest level of trade experience possible.

I'm telling you I just don't get it. Can someone please shed some light on this? Why would one print something like this and make himself look so foolish?

 This individual's verbal shell game seems to know no bounds.  

What is a journeyman?

Journeyman Roofer, as defined by CSLB:

A journeyman is a person who has completed an apprenticeship program or is an experienced worker, not a trainee, and is fully qualified and able to perform a specific trade without supervision. But, that person does not have a license and is not able to contract for jobs that value more than $500 in labor and materials.

Hmmm. That really sounds like a repairman that is good enough to be licensed but isnt.

Or Wikipedia:

In the United States, employment in the building trades, such as an electrician or plumber or carpenter, usually requires that a person holds a state or local (city or county) license as a journeyman or master.

The journeyman license certifies that the craftsman has met the requirements of time in the field (usually a minimum of 8000 hours) and time in an approved classroom setting (usually 700 hours).

 A journeyman has the responsibility of supervising workers of lesser experience and training them, in addition to having the qualifications (knowledge and skills) to work unsupervised himself.

 A journeyman is commonly expected to have a wide range of experience, covering most fields of his trade. For example, a non journeyman worker of some 20 or 30 years experience may have most or all of his experience in only residential, commercial or industrial applications. A journeyman however, has a broad field of experience in residential, commercial, and industrial applications.

Wow, again that sounds like a craftsman that is good enough tradewise to be licensed but isn't.

 So apparently, according to the definitions accepted  by the entire rest of the world (with the exception of the wisdom in blue above) it is actually requires a broader range of actual trades experience to be a journeyman than it does to be a contractor. The main difference being that a contractor has an actual license that can be held accountable in the event of a problem.

VISIT ROOF DOCTOR.