GF Sprague & Company, Inc.

The Sales rep was great, the meeting with the foreman was great. The roofers themselves were very courteous and cleaned up great. Sales and the manager followed up after where I did a video testimony. No problems with the roof. If I have issues over the winter I will update.

This was a horrible experience that I wouldn't wish on anyone. First, when I called them, I was very specific that I needed an ice dam removed, and that was the reason I was calling them. They said they would come out the next morning, and for $685 would work up to 2 hours to clear my roof. I then repeated my statement that I was looking for them to remove an ice dam, and they said they could take care of it. The next morning they arrived, and spent about 50 minutes sweeping snow from my roof. They then said they were done, but I asked them if they had removed the ice dam as I asked. The person doing some of the work told me that was very difficult to do, but after I pushed him he tried some salt substance. That night got very cold, everything (including the water under the dam) froze, but the next day as it got warmer the drip began again. I called them, and they told me they could come out for another 2 hours but I'd have to pay the same $685 fee again. I turned them down, and about 1/2 hour later I got a call from my roofer, who came out about an hour later, and in 20 minutes had cleared the dam. I had several follow up conversations with G F Sprague. They basically kept insisting that they did what they said they would do (THEY DID NOT), and when they asked me what I wanted, and I told them I didn't want to pay for something that they didn't do, they flat out refused. Frankly, at that point, if they had done something like offer to only have me pay half, I probably would have accepted that, but it was clear this vendor had no sense of customer service. I have postponed writing this for a couple of reasons: (1) I contested the charge with my credit card company, and didn't want to do anything while that was being considered, and (2) I thought in response to my contesting the charge that maybe this vendor would do the right thing. At this point, thanks to some very poor handling of the case by the credit card company, I'm going to have to pay the bill. By the way - my roofer provided the credit card company with a very strong "second opinion" letter. Usually these types of contractors don't like to do that, but this case was so blatant that he did it. If you are ever in a position to have an ice dam removed, emergency or not, I recommend staying away from this vendor. In my case, in my opinion, they showed that what they do, and the quality of work, don't matter. What matters to them is only the time they spent. In my opinion, you won't get your problem fixed, and you will pay a lot of money for that privilege. I am a social media expert. I make my living teaching companies how to use social media to make a difference. From this point on, I'm going to apply my skills to making sure this vendor doesn't do to others what they did to me.

This job went very well. The chimney work was done about a week-or-so before the re-roofing job. And this work took one day to complete. The inspection beforehand failed to show any evidence of wood rot or soft spots, needing extra work to be done -- there were no surprises once the old roofing was removed -- and no unforeseen additional work that had to be done. The area in which we live consists of similarly designed and built homes. Some homes have had more water problems from ice dams mainly caused by insufficient snow and ice shield protection. Some neighbors have had to use snow rakes during and after heavy snows. When the crew replaced flashing for through-the-roof vents and air intakes they discovered that a HVAC contractor had used the wrong sized flanges about 10 years ago. And it explained why there were slight leaks at these locations that needed to be caulked a month or so after the installation.

The sales process was very thorough, but definitely included a hard sell - by someone who is clearly knowledgeable, but also clearly a sales professional (and he was good at his job, because we bought the work!) The explanation of the problems we were facing was clear, thorough and well-documented, but I found it irritating that the sales person insisted that I (who had two small kids and was pregnant at the time) had to sit through the whole pitch with my husband - it took up 2 hours of a Saturday afternoon! I honestly didn't want to be involved with any of this project, but that seemed to be how they wanted to do things. I also thought that the price was high, but didn't have a chance to confirm or deny that because the whole method of presenting the problems, providing the estimate, and using the whole "agree now, and we'll give you a few thousand dollars' discount," was designed to close the sale without the client having a chance to get other estimates. And that's business smarts, and understandable given the time they put into preparing the project plan and estimate, but it still raised my hackles. The work itself proceeded in a timely manner and the workers were all personable, professional and respectful and responsive - and that mattered as the work was underway when we had just brought a new baby home. They did make an effort to not be obtrusive, to keep the work space tidy and safe, and to otherwise not disrupt our life too much. I asked them to make a few extra passes over the areas where they were working to make sure roofing nails and debris weren't where the kids play, and they were good about that. In terms of billing, they wanted a deposit, a portion at the start, a portion mid-way, and a portion upon completion. For the mid-way portion, one of the workers handed me a bill (for $11,000!) in the morning, then knocked and asked for the check in the afternoon. And then he gave me the final bill the next day. I found that off-putting: I would have expected that the project manager would be the one dealing with the money - as well as keeping us up to speed on what was done, what was happening next, and making sure we felt good about those checkpoints. I'm not in the habit if just handing thousands of dollars to whoever knocks on my door and says "we need the money." But, annoying as the process was, they certainly didn't give me any trouble when I asked to be updated, or for them to wait until my husband returned from a business trip to see what had been done, etc. So, not unreasonable. My overall impression is that they know how a roof should go on, and that they use the highest quality materials and that their workers know what they're doing. That also means it will cost you, and - as with any roof project, I would imagine - it's hard to know whether the whole thing is paying off until the bad weather hits. So, we'll see what next winter holds.

Salesman inspected my roof and got back to us within 2 weeks or so. He was really high pressure and would not even call my insurance agent to discuss repairs needed to provide details for a settlement unless I gave him a check for several thousand dollars as a deposit on the job. He would not leave papers for me to review before signing a contract with him. Instead of giving me an estimate to repair storm damage with comparable materials, he gave me prices for far more expensive options ranging from $50,000 to over $90,000, yes $90,000! (my insurance agent, who appears to be a reasoable guy) gave me a preliminary check for about $3,000 to repair the roof). I am sure they have reasons for how they do business, but they will certainly not be doing business with me. Their attitude was "my way or the highway".

The guy that came out to the house took a lot of pictures and wouldn't give an estimate until we could sit down with him for over an hour to go over the plan. Basically, he wasted a lot of time and finally told us the price was going to be $25-30k! Our other 3 estimates ranged from $3,500-$4,600. He told us we would likely have to redo the work if we went with one of the other companies. We told him that even if that did happen we could replace the roof 7 times over and still be ahead of the game vs. going with his price. (All companies were using the same Landmark shingles/materials.) In the end, we obviously chose a different company (one that we had used on our previous house) and have been extremely happy with the work and grateful that we have an extra $25k in our pocket!

Hal the compnay rep. was always on time, thorough, and professional. The roofers are professional and timley. The office people are friendly/knowledgable.

The company was excellent! They were timely efficient and the service was impeccable.

Excellent from start to finish. Everything was done quickly and professionally.

I had a painful experience with the estimator. He talked and talked and talked and was unable to read signals to "get on with it already"! He DID climb up and take pictures of every part of my roof and he DID do a beautiful drawing of my roof and gutters. But in the end the cost was prohibitive and I fundamentally didn't trust him.

The price was reasonable and we know that they were a little more expensive than some other roofers, but they are a local company with a good reputation and a neighbor had a good experience with them. The roof has Spanish tiles and most roofers I contacted wouldn't even work on them. This company had some staff who knew how to work on this type roof, These were the reasons we hired the company. Work began on time and took a total of 5 weeks from start to finish. The workmanship on the roof was excellent and the gutters were also done very well. They use a subcontractor to do the gutters. On the positive side, the gutter installation technique was changed saving $2100 due to a change in the hanger system, and one flashing didn't have to be repaired and a $800 credit resulted. There was added charges for copper brackets and wood, which was in the contract, was about $680. There were two minor issues that we had with the project which were resolved at the end. First, the gutters on the house were copper and we asked that they pile the copper in the yard and I would bring it in for scrap, knowing the value of the copper. This was agreed with the salesman but not written into the contract The gutter people took the gutters (every last piece) and when I asked where they were, I was told they never leave the "trash" and it wasn't in the contract. I was upset about the scrap value, which I estimated at $500-700. This was based on my trip to a junkyard with a downspout I had in the garage, which they paid me $2.20 a pound, $29 for the 10 ft downspout. The second issue was an "add on" work change to the roof. The leak on the dormer was fixed on one side but the roofer said the other side is bad and the stack pipe needed repair, adding $3600 to the project. The company was running a special in September of 10% off roof work and I asked that the 10% be taken off, and their response was that it was a sales incentive and change orders aren't discounted. We had a meeting with the salesman and project manager and after about 1 hour, we agreed to split the difference for the copper and discount, and received a credit of $585.00. Other than the issues listed, they were very professional, the roofer was terrific and became the intermediary on a couple of issues. He stayed late one night to clear the materials for a party we were having. The project was done right the first time. I would use them again but I would make sure that anything we agree on is in the contract.

Someone came to inspect the roof. He was very professional. We went over some things and he said he'd make an appointment to meet me in person to review the estimate. We made that appointment but he canceled the day before. They wanted to reschedule for the next week. I said I didn't have time and would they please just send me the estimate and we could discuss it by phone. She said they don't do that, that they really need to meet in person. I said I just didn't have time right now but if they sent the estimate with various options, I'd review it and set up a time if it looked like something I'd consider. I haven't heard back from them. I don't like this kind of high pressure tactic. I saw that someone else complained about the same thing on the List so I guess I shouldn't have called them in the first place but there aren't many roofers who do slate roofs.

They did a good job. They were on time and punctual. They did quality work and explained everything. They were excellent.

We made a major roof leak during the early spring heavy rains. We contacted Sprague Roofing since we knew they were experts on slate roofing and we had been pleased with their prior work. Evelyn phoned right back and scheduled someone to come out even though it was still raining and there were many calls. Hal Davis came out, took pictures, looked at our prior roof work documents, and said he would get back with a report. Hal met with my husband and myself and showed us what he believed was the cause of the leak and clearly outlined the steps needed to fix the roof.He was a great detective, Even though you could not see any missing slate , Hal knew what to recommend to uncover the problem. You could tell Hal had years of experience with slate roof work and problem solving. They scheduled the repair work right away. The job was done on schedule with good cleanup. We have not had any leaks since the repair work.

I did not like having to work with G. F. Sprague & Company at all. They came out for about an hour and a half to look over our roof and following that spent another hour and a half explaining what they would be doing to replace the roof. I was working full time when they came out and I thought that since they spent so much time they knew what they were doing, so I did not bother to get any other quotes. As it turns out they were at least fifty percent higher than the other competition. What really got me however was that they were supposed to do the really bad part of our roof before the winter so that there would be no major problems. They did not even deliver the supplies until February. I called them about it and ended talking with Sprague himself. He was very rude to me and told me that it was my fault, because I was trying to act like the general contractor. He blamed me because I had the gutters installed first. I told him that all of that was in the contract. The gutters were to go in first and the one roof was to be done before winter. When the foreman came out he asked if I wanted to have the skylights installed while the roof was torn up, so I went ahead and got the skylights that he told me. They did not come out for about another month after that and the skylights that he told me to get were not the correct size and by them I could not return them. So I with held the money that I put out for the skylights from their payment. We ended up in small claims court and unfortunately it did not come across like they lost, because we ended up in remediation. They were very difficult to work with and they did not deliver what they said they would deliver. They clearly did not do the work when they said that they would. They were extremely expensive. I would not suggest them to anyone who is looking to get a new roof.

Called Sprague. We set up an appointment. An estimator came out took pictures and talked to me about our problem. Couple days later Bob came back to meet with us, showed us the work needed. His proposal was larger than others but I sign up for it based on value. Project started 3 weeks later. During project they found some rotten roof siding and it was all handled excellant!!!.

We met extensively with the person who sold us the project. He went over in detail all aspects of the project. We already knew from several years of experience, that the project was far from straightforward, and it was definitely worth our while to hear the pros and cons of various solutions, and then to help make the decision on what to do. The crew showed up exactly when expected, and took about as long as they had estimated to finish the project. Throughout the entire job, the project manager (Bob Scribner) was always easy to get hold of and easy to communicate with, as ongoing decisions had to get made (usually on relatively minor points). Conrad was a member of the Sprague crew who also worked closely with us and advised us about the copper work -- and we felt he was a superb craftsman. During the winter, we experienced some obscure problem with one of the downspouts, due to some severe ice dams. Sprague was over in literally one hour to make adjustments, which was critical because the ice was melting and we were extremely concerned about leaks inside and damage that day. We also called Bob in the spring to have him come and inspect all of the work as part of the warranty. On that day, when we needed some adjustments, he had Paul come out to help with some final changes and to make sure everything was OK (which it was). The problems with leaking, which had been with us for years, seem to have finally been fixed. We really appreciated working with Bob, especially his responsiveness and patience with questions.

Tony Pedro and his son Luke Pedro were excellent craftsmen!

The guys were great! They were professional, courteous, and willing to go the extra mile to cater to my demanding needs. I was extremely happy with the work they performed. All of my questions were clearly answered and explained to me along the way.

This was a big project but it worked out well. The winter weather created some delays since they can't roof when it's really icy.

EXCELLENT!!! When I first met with Dan I did not understand why we had to meet us again. I wondered and questioned why couldn't he just put the estimate in the mail. After giving it more thought I met him and I'm glad I did. I actually new what I bought and why. When the project was completed 2 weeks later the Project Manager, Bob, walked me threw the project and showed me the pieces and parts of my project. I am very happy and pleased with G F Sprague's performance.

We hired Sprague to fix our wooden gutters. One year later they were still leaking and we asked them to come back and fix their work. They never responded even though the work was supposedly guaranteed.

I had a mysterious leak in my roof and water was coming into my house. I called a roofer I had used regularly over the past. They came and patched a valley. The leak was still there. Then they wouldn't return my calls. I mentioned this to a colleague who recommended GF Sprague. He told me it might be expensive, but that they did exceptional work. I called Sprague and someone came to my house within a couple of days. The representative took pictures of my roof, and pointed out all the problems. Someone came a few days later to repair the leak. It was very hard to locate and he spent a whole day finding it, repairing it, and testing it. This was to accommodate me because I was leaving town the next day. I've never had a roofer deal with the problems so thoroughly and scientifically. Instead of a cheap patch job, Sprague removed the previously botched work and replaced everything, including rotted wood which I could see in my attic but no other roofer wanted to deal with it. There were some weather delays (it was winter) but every time an appointment had to be postponed, they notified me in advance. The workers were efficient, knowledgeable, and helped explain everything that needed to be done. It was a lot of money, but worth every penny. I have never been so satisfied with roofing work, and I certainly would use Sprague again the next time I had a roofing problem. I see companies on Angie's list that have "A" ratings that I have used before and would give a "D" to. Sprague deserves my "A."

What bothered me about this sales guy was that he kept on referring to all these pictures and reports that had been taken of my house from the previous effort but only after some serious prodding did he disclose that the roof was never worked on by them just the garage. During the walk around the house, he insisted that the whole roof needed to be redone, and he showed me that the price that they quoted the previous owner was $30k! Mind you my house is 1100 square feet. He also proceeded to tell me that my rubber roof on the first floor was in bad condition but he never even got a close look at it. But what really made matters strange was that he would not sit down and provide me with the complete estimate of what he thought needed to be done without my wife present. (My neighbor is a contractor and he said that that is their MO.) So I essentially threw him out of my house. When I got a second opinion, this guy quoted me a price of $4k for the roof and some additional gutter work. He said the roof in the front of my house had already been repaired a few years ago and was in fine condition as was the rubber roof. This sales guy from Sprague redefined sleezy salesman! I do not like false advertisement either and the fact it took two phone calls and two visits before I understood that the roof was never part of the 'warranty' is a waste of everyone's time.

G F Sprague & Company was very punctual, professional, and they always cleaned up after themselves. My one complaint is they were very, very expensive.