There have been, in the last two years, locally three tornado systems which have come through the area. Suddenly, roofers came from all over, and it seemed from all professions, as many of these roofers had no credentials. Sadly, many of these fly by night roofers took advantage of people who knew no better in their time of need. Local roofers were quite the opposite. They, of course , were as busy as they could have possibly have been. It did, in some cases, take a while for the local roofers to be reached, but the wait was worthwhile. There were very few complaints with local roofers, while people were howling about getting "robbed" by the out of towners. Even though it did take quite a while for local roofers to answer all the calls that they received, they worked steadily until the town was finally dried in. In many cases this took the form of giant blue tarps pulled over entire roofs, some of these to stay for weeks or even months until the local roofers could get back to finish the job. Local roofers seemed to work night and day during the weeks after these storms. They were in such demand that they must have gone sleepless on many occasions. Oddly enough, even though it may have seemed tempting, not one complaint was heard about the local roofers pricing patterns. Of course, this absolutely opposite in the case of the migrant workers. They would act quickly, charging huge repair bills, doing shoddy work, and being gone before it started raining again. All of this work had to be redone by the local roofers, of course, an added expense to the homeowner.

Probably by the third tornado system, most people had learned their lesson. There were not nearly as many signs from out of town people, and victims turned again to the local roofers. These local roofers were once again ready to help, and again tirelessly went about their jobs of restoring calm out of havoc. In short order, homes had new roofs on them and everyone was happy. There are several lessons to be learned by the misfortunes that occurred. First, local roofers are the best ones to call in time of need. Many of these local roofers have been around for 40 to 50 years, and have built a strong reputation that they do not want to risk just for the fast buck. They are residents of the same town you are, therefore, you can count on the local roofers to be there tomorrow if by chance something does go wrong with a repair. Second, as far as the "gypsy" roofers are concerned, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Stick to your local roofer! Local roofers may be found in the yellow pages of your local phone book. Be sure that you check for one that is bonded and insured. Most of the local roofers will be. You may also check out local roofers through the Better Business Bureau.