I had a fantastic experience on every aspect of our Salgau roof repair.
We live in a historic district, and had to undertake a full roof tear off and replacement on our 1897 home. I sought out 5 different companies for quotations, and asked many neighbors for input. We were most impressed with Nick Salgau. During the quotation process he demonstrated a high level of professionalism. He returned a quote of $15,000 within about 48 hours of visiting our house. The contract and warranty he offered were simple, and easy to understand. I liked that he only offers one type of asphalt tile - other companies had tried to do some kind of elaborate sales job explaining all of these variations in quality that we could pay for. Salgau seems to know what works, and uses it. Simple. No nonsense. You just pick a color. He asks for 50% of the contract price when the work is half-way done, and he asks for the balance upon completion. He really seems to trust his customers and he takes his reputation very seriously. This price was consistent with the others that we had received. I then found the Angie's List coupon that he had on offer. I asked to see if he would honor it, and he said that he would. I was thrilled that he was able to re-do the contract for 10% off!
I spoke to several other neighbors who had used Salgau, and they also confirmed that they had a tremendous experience with the company. One of them, who is a very knowledgeable realtor, said that there isn't another company in Toledo that she would think of entrusting a project like this to. So, I returned the contract with my choice of tile color and scheduled the date. He wanted to do it sooner, but I had several reasons for needing to push it forward (including travel and the need to set aside time to clear out our attic). He really wanted to fit it in earlier, and we did have to stress the reason for the schedule. However, I can't really blame him because this is something that you really need sunny days for and there are only so many of those in a season.
Sunday evening before the work was to start, Nick sent over his foreman to investigate. He was a very serious younger gentleman, who asked many questions to make sure that they would have what they needed in the morning, and to coordinate about the drop off of the materials and the dumpster. Impressed, again.
The entire job took about 4.5 days. Each day they were sure to cover any exposed area with tarps, to protect against the rain. The first day, they were there from about 8:00 am-7:00 pm, because a lot of wood was rotted and had to be replaced. They made sure to show me the areas that required removal and replacement of the wood. It was a big area, bigger than they expected. They did not charge me anything extra for what seemed to be a lot of extra labor and wood. It was also one of those days that was extremely hot and sunny. I was surprised that they would go the extra mile on a day like that, but they did. They always seemed to be asking me if there were other things that they could take care of, since they were up there (like removing an old Dish Network dish that was still affixed to the roof).
The other area where they seemed to go the extra mile was in the protection of my garden. I have invested lots of time and care in to the development of my garden around the house. They took the time to build these elaborate protective structures so that they would not damage any of my flowers as they tore off the old roof. None of the plants suffered at all! I also think that they did a pretty darn good job of cleaning up after themselves. I have only stumbled upon two nails in the 2 months after the work was completed.
Over all, I really liked the crew that he had working for him. I have heard all sorts of stories about how sketchy some roofers can be. These guys were not at all. They were all friendly, personable and seemed to recognize the fact that they are doing something really big (and sort of frightening!) to a home that you deeply care about. I did take the time to bring them Gatorade and some sandwiches, which they were not expecting, but really appreciated. I couldn't believe how hard they were working on my house!
If I had any quibble at all, it would be that we were told during the estimate process that our gutters would not need to be replaced. Then, during the actual work, the foreman said that they had to be removed and could not be reused. This was a little disappointing, but not that disappointing because we have found out that, in the two months since the gutters have been gone, we have not had any water in our basement! (Whereas, when we had the gutters, we would see a lot of water in one area of the basement.) Clearly, there was an actual problem with the gutters.
I would describe Salgau as "serious as a heart attack" about the quality of the workmanship and the conduct of his team. I highly, highly recommend this company.