Why there are no testimonials here
The previous version of this website carried a page of glowing customer testimonials. They are gone, for a simple reason: Roofing Contractors Newcastle is a referral service, not the business doing the roofing. Publishing reviews of work we did not do, or that we could not verify, would not be honest.
What we can do is help you read reviews properly when you are deciding on a roofer.
What makes a review useful
The best reviews tell you something specific:
- What the job was. A ridge repair, a full re-roof, an asbestos replacement.
- What happened. Arrived on time, explained the options, found rotten battens, handled rain mid-job.
- How problems were dealt with. Every job has a hiccup. How the contractor responded matters more than whether there was one.
- When it was. Recent reviews tell you more about the business as it is now.
Reviews that say only "great job, highly recommend" tell you little.
Patterns, not single reviews
Look across all of a business's reviews:
- Do several mention the same strengths, such as clear communication or tidy sites?
- Do several mention the same problem, such as delays, poor clean-up or no-shows?
- Are reviews spread over months and years, or clustered in a few days?
- Do the reviewers seem to be real people with other reviews?
A single bad review among many good ones may be an outlier. A consistent theme is not.
How the business responds
Many platforms let businesses reply. A calm, factual reply that offers to fix a problem is a good sign. Aggressive or dismissive replies are a warning.
Warning signs of unreliable reviews
- many five-star reviews posted within a short time
- generic wording repeated across reviews
- reviewers with no other activity
- reviews mentioning a different business name or location
- reviews that only appear on the business's own website
References: better than reviews
Ask the contractor for two or three recent jobs similar to yours, ideally in your part of Newcastle or Lake Macquarie. With permission from those owners:
- drive past and look at the finished roof
- look at the flashings, ridge lines and gutters
- if possible, ask the owner a few questions
Good questions for a reference:
- Did the job run to the quoted scope and price?
- How were variations handled?
- Was the roof closed in every night?
- Was the site cleaned up properly?
- Have there been any problems since, and how were they handled?
Looking at past work yourself
On a finished steel roof, look for straight sheet lines, neat flashings and no rust spots from swarf. On a tile roof, look for even courses and straight, tidy ridge lines. Gutters should be straight and fall to downpipes. Neat work from the street usually reflects care elsewhere.
Combining reviews with the hard checks
Reviews and references tell you about experience. Licences and insurance tell you about legal standing. You need both. Check:
- the NSW Fair Trading contractor licence, on the NSW Government licence check
- insurance certificates
- home building compensation cover where required
See licences, insurance and certifications and how to choose a roofing contractor.
The quote is evidence too
How a contractor quotes says a lot. A detailed, itemised quote after a proper inspection, with photos and a clear explanation, is often a better predictor of the job than any review.
Reviews after storms
After a major storm in the Hunter, demand for roofers spikes and new operators sometimes appear. A business that seems to have sprung up overnight with a burst of perfect reviews deserves extra checks: confirm the licence is current and in the same name, ask for a local address and landline, and look for jobs you can see from the street. Genuine local roofers will still be here, and still answering their phones, long after the storm has passed. Those who travel from storm to storm may not be around when a flashing leaks a year later.
Questions to ask yourself before relying on reviews
- Do the reviews describe jobs like mine, on roofs like mine?
- Are they recent enough to reflect the current crew and owner?
- Has anyone described a problem, and how was it handled?
- Do the reviews match what I saw in the quote and the inspection?
Leaving your own review
After your job, leave an honest, specific review on an independent platform. Describe the job, what went well, and anything that did not. That helps the next homeowner more than any testimonial page could.