Journeymen Roofers Declared Incompetent

Journeymen Declared Incompetent 

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.

First of all there is no such thing as a ""license-quality repairman" this is just one more shell in the shell game.  On another of their advertisements the say they are describing the benefit of having "licensed or license quality repairmen" on the job. Well are they licensed or not? And if not (and I'm quite certain they are not) since the first one is a made up term what does that leave you with?

 And has anyone EVER seen a"minimum wage journeyman"?  I can say with complete  certainty that you haven't, because there is no such thing.  There 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."

Quite obviously anyone with even the slightest actual 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.  As a matter of fact, to be a real journeyman one is actually required to have completed a much higher level of training than that required of a contractor.

How could anyone in possession of a real contractor's license be this ignorant? It's scary.

 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 isn't.
I wonder why the powers that be don't just call them license quality repairmen? (Not really, I realize that would be stupid).

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 trade wise 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.

Free Roof Inspection - At What Cost?

Nothing is free - there is definitely a price paid for a "free roof inspection". See Why.

http://youtu.be/vH_Oe53pSMY

Free Roof Inspection - Professional Roof Inspection

Is anything free? You definitely pay a price for a free roof inspection. See why.

http://youtu.be/PufIFeFvWFw

Roof inspection Roof Certification

First, as yet there are not any legal guidelines in place for roof certification so the true value of a roof certification is most certainly relative to the qualifications of the inspector. For example there are roofing contractors that offer “free roof inspections” and roof certifications, they have “inspectors” who have never put on a roof, or sometimes just people they happen to know who are in need of work, that will come out and do a “free inspection” with the contractor never seeing the roof at all.

http://www.roofdoctor1.com/blog/Roof-Inspection-Roof-Certification

Are You Looking for A Free Roof Inspection?

I realize that free "roof inspections" have their place and do serve a purpose. Say if you are selling a home and just want someone to say everything is ok to get the deal done. But really that's about it.


If you actually want to know what's happening with your roof, a free "inspection" is not what you want and I'll tell you why.

A.
At least 80% of the time, a free roof "inspection" will be performed by someone who has absolutely no credentials other than the fact that their boss is calling them an inspector. (I guess my cats are inspectors too then.)

B.
In 40 years of roofing work I have yet to see two identical roofs, but since I started checking about 6 months ago, I have seen several perfectly identical free roof "inspection reports". They are vague, uninformative and in my opinion, worth what was paid.

At Ron Williams Roof Doctor, we are a roofing and roof repair company who offers roof inspection and certification services, primarily because of Ron's problem solving background.

When we are hired to do an inspection, our focus is to provide all pertinent information regarding the roof, regardless of certification conditions. If you don't want the information, you don't want us.

When we arrive at a site, we have been paid for the inspection and don't need to sell anything beyond that.

Our inspection is not solely for the purpose of our certification evaluation, as is stated on other "reports".

Our inspection is for the purpose of giving the customer all available information pertaining to the roof and may be used for any purpose.
If you want to know all about your roof, you can't beat an inspection report done by Ron Williams Roof Doctor.

If you don't really want to know, but still need an "inspection" then the free route may be for you.