For new roof and siding, Do I hire two separate contractors?

[eastinway]

Hi,
Single female homeowner here again.....everyone has been so nice with all of your advice to my questions that now I am thinking.....should I hire separate contractors....i.e. a siding contractor and a roofing contractor instead of just one company that does both?

I would think that hiring two separate companies would be costly. The siding contractors that I've talked with also reshingle roofs.

Decisions, decisions.

[Gary Swart]

Usually contractors specialize in one aspect or the other. I would hesitate to hire some one who "did it all". He might do it all, but none of it very well. There may be exceptions to this, but I don't see any reason for there to be a cost difference.

[GabeS]

try and keep your questions all under one thread this way it's easier for everyone to follow and read the history.

Roofing and siding usually go together. You don't need to hire seperate contractors. Just make sure you get one who knows what they are doing and go look at their work. All it takes is a drive by.

[Gary Swart]

There are no roofers in my area that do both. And, to my knowledge, no siding contractors do roofing. Guess there's no legal reason they can't.

[eastinway]

Thanks for your replies,

I did find a rebuilding contractor that is family owned and run in my area and I know one of the employees. This contractor does siding and roofing and also will be rebuilding my side stairs. He was the only contractor that went up to my attic and looked under the insulation at the existing roof. He also went along the sides of the attic looking at water leakage. He was very honest about the crappy condition of the roof. I liked what he had to say and appreciated his honesty. This may be the contractor I hire.

Another contractor told me that he would go over the existing roof shingles...and never even looked at the attic area. I was not impressed, seemed like a fast talker.

[jimbo]

If you are acting as your own general contractor, I would hire separate subs for roofing and siding. A large general building contractor might have talent on board to do both jobs. Both USED to be just part of the general building construction trade. But both are now somewhat specialized, and the workers comp rate for roofers is sky high, so why would you want to be paying that on a guy to do siding work?