An illustrative interview. Dale and Tuten & Padgett Roofing do not exist. We wrote this to show how a real story is told.
Started on a ladder
My dad laid block, and I worked his sites from sixteen. At seventeen I was hauling tile bundles up a ladder for a roofing outfit in Brandon, in July, on a roof hotter than the parking lot. I never went back down.
I learned tile and metal properly there. When the owner retired I went out alone: me, a pickup and a ladder. The company came later, once the work got steady. Ray Padgett joined in year two, and his name is on the truck because he earned it. My wife does the books, same as she always has.
What I do under the tile
If we tear off a roof, we re-nail the deck and put down a new water barrier, though nobody will ever see either. A roof is only as good as what sits under the tile.
Tampa isn't in the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone, but I buy materials that carry Miami-Dade approval anyway. It costs a little more, and I would rather be over-built than explain a blown-off roof in September. We photograph everything before it is covered, so the customer keeps the record. And I won't price a job I haven't stood on the roof for. Inspections are free. Nobody gets a number off a driveway.
The job I'm proudest of
A clay barrel-tile roof on a 1920s Mediterranean house on Davis Islands. The owner wanted the original tile kept, so we pulled it by hand, saved about two-thirds and found matched reclaimed clay for the rest. There was a valley that had leaked for years.
No callback since, and the owner still waves when I drive past.
The week after the storm
After the last big one came up the Gulf, we ran service calls all week. Fifty-some temporary repairs, tarps and dry-in, so people could stay in their homes, and more nights in the truck than I'd like to count.
And when someone calls about their insurance claim: we'll talk to your adjuster, but we won't waive your deductible and we won't ask you to sign over your claim. There are outfits that will. That is not us.
What customers thank us for
The same three things. I turn up when I said I would. The price in writing is the price they pay. And the yard is tidier at the end of the day than at the start.
The other one is leaks. I explain the real cause, in plain English, with photos, even when the honest answer is "a small repair, not a new roof."
If you're choosing a roofer
Ask what is going under the tile, and expect the price in writing.
Illustrative interview written by the GuildSelect editorial team. Not a real person or business.
