Why Most Roofing Companies Won't Repair Your Roof
Here's something homeowners find out the hard way. Call five roofing companies about a leak, and three of them will tell you the roof needs to be replaced. Not because it does. Because the person in your driveway is a salesman, not a roofer. He can't make money on a repair, and he doesn't know anyone who can do one. So the roof "can't be repaired."
We can repair it. Usually for a few thousand dollars, sometimes for a few hundred, on a roof that was quoted at fifteen or twenty thousand to replace. Our gallery is full of them: a chimney and pipe boots for $1,600 on a roof two big-name companies said was done, a valley leak that the first roofer couldn't find fixed for $3,000 with a fifteen-year warranty, a rental property with ten winters of ice dam leaks rebuilt in one day for $2,600 and still dry five years later.
Repair is a different skill than replacement. Replacement is production. Repair is diagnosis. You have to know how water moves through a roof, where roofs actually fail, which flashing detail was wrong, which sealant belongs on which material, and whether the leak you're looking at is one leak or three. That knowledge doesn't come from a manual. It comes from tearing apart thousands of roofs that failed and figuring out why. That's what we did for twenty years, and it's what makes us good at putting them back together.
Signs Your Roof May Need Repair
Roof problems start small and get worse. If you see any of these, it's time to have someone look, and most of the time it's a repair, not a replacement.
- Water stains on ceilings or walls, or a musty smell upstairs
- Missing, lifted, creased, or curling shingles
- Leaks that only show in certain rain, or only in winter
- Cracked or lifted flashing at chimneys, walls, or vents
- Granules collecting in gutters and at downspouts
- Icicles and ice dams every winter
- Dents in gutters, vents, or siding after a storm
- A dip or wave in the roofline, which is structural and doesn't wait
Not sure whether it's a repair or a replacement? That's what the free inspection is for. Same inspection our inspectors run before every estimate: dozens of items, documented, with photos.
Roof Repairs We Perform
Every one of these has its own page with the process, the causes, and real prices from our gallery.
Roof Leak Repair
We trace the leak to its true source, and the second source, water-test when it takes that, fix it, and prove it's dry. Leaks travel, they hide in walls for years, and one stain is often fed by more than one entry point. Finding them is the skill.
See Leak RepairFlashing Repair
Chimneys, walls, valleys, skylights, pipe boots. Flashing is where most roofs fail, and it's a craft no manufacturer wrote down. We rebuild it as a system: metal layered so gravity does the work, kick-out at every wall, counter flashing cut into the masonry, the right sealant for each material from the forty to sixty we carry.
See Flashing RepairMissing Shingle Repair
We replace and color-match blown-off shingles, and we look at why they came off first. A shingle rated for 150 mph doesn't leave at 50 unless the seal never bonded or a nail was driven wrong.
See Shingle RepairSkylight Repair
Leak or condensation, we tell you which. Flashing rebuilt as a system, or a VELUX No Leak replacement installed to spec, with the interior trim fixed while the ceiling's open.
See Skylight RepairWind Damage Repair
Lifted, creased, and missing shingles, torn flashing, ridge damage. Haag Certified inspection, claim documentation, and a look at the seal on the shingles that stayed.
See Wind Damage RepairHail Damage Repair
Haag Certified inspection with test squares. We count bruises, not bare spots, because granule loss alone isn't functional damage and an adjuster trained by Haag knows it.
See Hail Damage RepairFlat Roof Repair
Ponding, failed seams, blisters, bridging at walls and curbs, on TPO, EPDM, and modified bitumen. Matched materials, water testing, and the second source.
See Flat Roof RepairStructural Roof Repair
Roof deflection, rotted decking, undersized or water-damaged framing. We're a licensed Michigan builder, not just a roofing contractor, so when the problem is the frame we can rebuild it. Sistering rafters, re-decking, reframing a section. See the roof deflection page and the gallery.
See Roof DeflectionRoof Repair vs. Roof Replacement
Many homeowners assume roof damage means a new roof. In most cases it doesn't. Here's how we decide, and we'll show you the photos either way.
Repair is usually the answer when:
- Damage is limited to one area or one detail
- The deck and structure are sound
- The roofing material has years of life left in the field
- The roof has one layer of shingles
- You want to plan for a replacement on your own timeline, not the leak's
Replacement is usually the answer when:
- The roof is 20 or more years old and showing wear across slopes
- Damage is widespread, or the shingles across the roof never sealed
- There are two layers of shingles, which means the next job is a tear-off anyway
- The deck is soft or rotted in more than one area
Some problems have two honest answers. There's a minor option, which fixes what's in front of us and comes with realistic expectations for how long it lasts. And there's a moderate or major option, which addresses the root cause, carries a stronger warranty, and costs more because it's a more thorough job. Both are legitimate. We lay out both and let you decide based on your budget and how long you plan to keep the roof.
Roofing Materials We Repair
Each one repairs differently, and using the wrong material or the wrong sealant is why so many patch jobs fail within a season. We identify the system first, then repair it with what actually bonds to it.
- Asphalt shingle roofs, architectural and 3-tab
- Metal roofing, standing seam and panel
- TPO commercial roofing
- EPDM flat roofing
- Modified bitumen, residential and commercial
- Coated roofs
What Roof Repair Costs in West Michigan
We price repairs in three tiers, and we'll tell you how they work, because most roofers won't.
Every repair starts at $500. That's the minimum, and it's not a number we picked. It's what it costs to put a W-2 tradesman with health insurance and a 401k, in a truck carrying tens of thousands of dollars in tools, at your house and back, with the office, the insurance, and the equipment behind him. We pay those bills twelve months a year. We can work maybe eight of them, and only on days it isn't raining, snowing, or too cold, with short daylight in spring and fall. We know how many working hours we actually get in a year, and that's what the rate is built on. A roofer charging less than that isn't charging enough to still be in business when your warranty comes due.
- Minor repairs: $500 to about $1,500. Small, contained problems. A pipe boot. A few shingles. A section of flashing. A localized leak with no wood damage. Handled by one of our Level 2 technicians, a few hours to half a day.
- Moderate repairs: about $1,500 to $4,000. More complex, and handled by our highest-skilled Level 4 technicians. Most chimney re-flashes. Skylight replacements at $2,000 to $3,000 per skylight. Improperly built valleys. Areas where multiple materials meet or the geometry is hard. Usually a full day.
- Major repairs: $4,000 and up. Structural work, rebuilding sections of the roof, significant water damage, complex drainage or flashing problems, a big fieldstone chimney on a steep roof. Multiple days, often more than one trade.
We can give you those ranges. We can't tell you what your repair costs until we've seen it, because pitch, access, layers, and what's under the old material all move the number, and none of that shows in a phone call. Get us out for a free inspection, or send photos and get one of our inspectors on the line. Either way you get a firm written price before anyone touches the roof.
Emergency Roof Repair Available
If your roof is actively leaking or a storm has left it open, call or text us right now, any hour. If it goes to voicemail, leave a message or a text. Somebody on our team is watching the company phone around the clock and we respond. For a true emergency we usually get out within 24 hours, as long as the weather allows it and the roof is safe to access. We tarp and stabilize, then come back for the permanent fix.
Call or text (616) 840-1927Why Choose Stellar Roofing Company for Roof Repair
We didn't learn roofing from a manual. We learned it by tearing roofs apart, finding what went wrong, and rebuilding them right. Over and over, for twenty years, on more than 5,000 roofs. Decades of repairing what was broken is what makes us better at building what lasts, and it's why local contractors, builders, and other roofing companies still call us when something doesn't make sense.
When you work with us, you get:
- Roofers, not salesmen. The people who diagnose your roof are the people who fix it.
- Repair-first. If it's a repair, we say repair, and we back it with a 10 to 15 year warranty on most work.
- True source diagnosis, and the second source, with water testing when it takes that.
- Flashing rebuilt as a system, and the right sealant for each material from the forty to sixty we carry.
- Haag Certified inspectors for wind and hail, and a licensed Michigan builder for structural work.
- Real prices, in writing, before we start. And a gallery of real jobs with real numbers.
We're not here to sell you a roof you don't need. We're here so you know who to call when you do.
Roof Repair in West Michigan
Grand Rapids · Holland · Ada · Kalamazoo · Rockford · And Surrounding Communities
If you're looking for a roofing contractor who'll actually repair your roof, our team is ready to help.
Schedule Your Free Roof Inspection