Skysail Mabati Factory | Roofing Products & Accessories

What To Ask A Roofing Fundi

Choosing a proven, qualified roofing fundi who will do a neat, professional job is usually a challenging task. Thousands of clients have been left disgruntled, complaining, and spending more than they budgeted on roofing over and over again due to the poor quality of the end product they get on their roofing. Unfortunately, there are few or no regulations pertaining to roofing fundis or installers, creating a huge “buyer beware” state in relation to roofing your facility. Even upon doing all the necessary suitable due diligence, one still runs the risk of a fundi who does not watch over their mabati installation the way they should due to the industry being flooded by fundis who are not well trained and qualified.

When evaluating a roofing fundi, you need to first understand your roofing needs, we will let you know how to assess your roofing needs and the questions you need to ask so that you can get the roofing you deserve.

As a client you need to get answers to all your questions and leave no stone unturned, you should never feel like you are asking too many questions. If you are consulting a reputable, qualified, and professional fundi they will gladly welcome your questions, avoid fundis who get annoyed by too many questions.

Questions you need to ask a roofing fundi

  1. How long have you been in the roofing business?
  2. Owner of the business and how long have they owned it?
  3. Can I see the jobs you have worked on?
  4. Who exactly will install the roofing is the employees or subcontractors? Can I see them working on a project they are currently working on?
  5. What training and experience does the crew have? Was training facilitated by the manufacturer of the roofing?
  6. Can I talk to a previous client for a customer case study?
  7. When can my job be scheduled?
  8. How long can my project take?
  9. Do you have proper licencing, certification, insurance and workers? If so may I kindly have a look at them?
  10. Does my project require a building permit and if so will you provide one?
  11. Which steps will be taken to ensure safety of workers? 
  12. Which steps will be taken to ensure the safety of my facility and people in the facility?

Assuming all those questions were answered to your satisfaction, then the next set of questions should be specific questions about the handling of your project. 

1. How will my roof be accessed?

2. How will torned materials be removed off the roof? Will there be a provision of a dumpster?

3. How will the facility of my gutter be protected?

4. In the event of inclement weather how quickly can you react and what will you do?

5. Will there be provision of warranties both for workers and products to be installed? If so when?

6. Will fasteners approved by my roofing manufactures be used? Can evidence be provided? How do you ensure the exact numbers of softeners are used and located correctly?

7. How will my entire property be protected from damage?

8. What is the cost of plywood replacement if the need for replacement arises?

9. Who will be the contact during the project period and how accessible will they be?

10. Kindly provide me with the specification and instructions of the installation.

11. Who besides the installers will be overseeing the installation for quality purposes?

12. Kindly explain how pipe penetrations will be handled?

13. How will payment be handled?

14. What factors can cause a change from the contracted price?

15. How will the decking condition of the roof be checked? Will fasteners pull out resistance tests be performed?

16. (If the roof is being changed) Why do you think the roof needs to be replaced? Are there issues like inadequate ventilation that need to be addressed?

17. Kindly inspect my attic and assist in evaluating whether to increase the ventilation of the attic and help me understand if there is any evidence of leaks in the attic or high moisture levels and how to address them.

As you move forward the last set of questions will be based on the evaluation of your roofing after spending more time and understanding of your roofing. This requires walking around the room while keeping a keen eye on where debris collects, extreme wear has occurred and where mildew or other biological growth is present. Those areas can highlight key places where something different can be done when reroofing. Look at dead valley areas where rain collects and don’t drain easily on the roof. Know whether there is a cricket behind your chimney and if your facility has skylights, know how old they are. 

  1. If there are videos, photos or sketches showing how to handle protrusions such as walls, skylights or chimneys? Essentially flashings are inserted either behind or into the roof protrusions, skylights need to be curbed at a higher level than the roof plane, thus how the fundi will answer will show whether they know what they are doing. 
  2. How old are the skylights? If ten years or more replacement is highly recommended
  3. If the chimney has a cricket? If they recommend one if it does not have one? Crickets on chimneys that are of 18” or wider are highly recommended.
  4. With regards to design, discuss with the fundi any unusual things you have seen with the roof including dead valleys and how those areas can be handled.
  5. Ask if there is need of structural changes 
  6. Get ideas of how to reduce streaking and staining on the roof incase of any.
  7. The best time to handle ventilation is during roofing/reroofing, Be precise when requesting the fundi to assist with evaluation on whether to increase attic ventilation. Find out if there will be exhaust vents on the roof and how they will be balanced with the intake vents.
  8. If there are low pitch areas on the roof the fundi should show the approval of the roofing manufacturers on a low pitch area like yours.
  9. Two layers of roofing usually works well but not in all scenarios thus ask the fundi whether your roof needs to be completely removed.
  10. If you would like an environment friendly roof, enquire about available recycled content on the roof, recyclability at the end of its useful life and whether the roof is energy friendly.

These questions will highly help you with having a rough idea on how work on your roofing facility will pan out and the genuity of the fundi you are going to deal with through the whole process of your mjengo thus you must be very deliberate with your questions. 

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