Beth Coppersmiths & Construction

John Beth came out in late May to review the job, and promised to have a crew come do the work within a week or two. It is now early November and nobody has come. I have called many times, only to hear excuses and further promises. (I always spoke to Mr. Beth personally.) My last call was on October 2, by which time I was somewhat irate. I complained that I wasn't been treated fairly. Mr. Beth agreed, and absolutely promised to start the work in a week or two. That was five weeks ago. It is only fair to point out that Beth Coppersmiths has had exclusive care of my extensive slate roof since I purchased the house over ten years ago. The previous owners used a roofer who had limited experience with slate and who did substandard work. Mr. Beth brought the roof up to snuff over a period of years, and also helped when there was storm damage. I have paid him many tens of thousands of dollars during this decade for what I would have said was high quality work. I cannot fathom why he is suddenly treating such a faithful customer so shabbily, but I cannot excuse him any longer and I will not trust him with my business from now on. Is it possible that he is on his way out of business and is simply discarding his customers? I have no idea, but must advise looking elsewhere for someone reliable.

Mr. Beth came highly recommended from a colleague. We had had a previous quote from him for other work, and hired him a few years ago (Spring 2010, perhaps) to work on our flashing based on the fairness of his quote and the recommendation we had already had. Mr. Beth's crew did exactly what he said they would do. They were polite, clean, professsional, and expedient. We never had a problem with any of the work performed. My experience with Mr. Beth himself has been excellent. He recently came by to look at some other work I am considering, and I was pleasantly surprised at the details he remembered about my house, even though it had been years since he had worked on it. Mr. Beth has decades of experience, and also keeps up with changing materials and techniques. He knows what works, and he nows how to find good people to work with him. He is honest, hard-working, and very level-headed. If you want a job done right the first time, Beth Coppersmiths is a great choice.

John Beth and his team worked tirelessly, right through the winter, to repair several sections of slate roof that had been leaking for years and had defied the attempts of several prior roofers to fix. Each section, it turns out, had its own issues, which John expertly diagnosed and which his team expertly fixed. I happen to work at home, so I was able to watch them diligently at work every day. They fashioned appropriate drains and downspouts, by bending and welding the copper on-site. They put down a better insulation shield and longer slates. They provided better venting in the attic. They made sure the insulation was right. John is also very careful about the materials he uses, whether the type of wood for the gutters, the type of slates, the brand of ice and water shield, etc. He also is very willing to take plenty of time with you and explain everything he is doing. With all the crafstmanship in the world, the proof is still in the pudding. I can report that we have had a couple of hard rains since he finished, and no leaks. While it was not cheap, I do feel that the price was fair for the amount of work done. John does not mark up materials (!), and he documents every hour that his workers spend. Beth Coppersmiths is the best roofer I have seen, and I have seen quite a few. I recommend them without hesitation.

John Beth came to give an estimate for replacing downspouts, adding a dry well, and doing some slate roof repair. He spent considerable time evaluating our house, then said he would have to do some research as to the best copper downspout system to use. After not hearing from him for two weeks, I called him about 5 times over the next three weeks. Each time he said he was still doing some research into the downspouts. Then, I never heard back from him again. If he didn't want the job to begin with, or he became too busy, it would have been the professional thing to do to say so up front. Is common courtesy too much to ask? People like John don't care if they inconvenience you.

They seemed to be very thorough in evaluating our roof and what is needed for the house. I got to know about them from the internet. Overall I recommend them for their work, but would advice people to shop around as they seem to take a lot of money. They started the work a couple of months ago and it is close to completion now. They had to coordinate with other contractors and that took too much time. I will use them again and call them for yearly routine maintenance,

They never showed up and they did not follow up with the estimate.

Excellent.

It was great - see description above.

Arranged to have them look at roof to provide repair estimate, but they did not show. Tried again to get them to come and look at roof, but again did not. Generally speaking, they returned phone calls, but I finally gave up on them. It's the busy season for roofers, and it's been a rainy summer, but I would have hoped for better.

They performed the work in the week between Christmas and New Years, on a section of roof that had been leaking for a long time. They are a top-notch crew who take great pride and interest in their work. The price was reasonable considering the fact that they had a four-man crew working on the job--an impressive turn-out by a polite and friendly group of workers.