What’s the Difference Between a Referral and a Reference?

When you’re looking at hiring a roofing company, it is critical that you check their references before signing any contracts or getting a price for the job. References are a key part of the process when you’re looking for a roofer with an established reputation. What many people don’t know about this process, however, is really what the difference is between a reference and a referral.
Here are some reasons why it’s important to get referrals and references before hiring a roofing contractor.
References and referrals are both critical elements, but they are really two different things when you’re talking about hiring a roofing contractor.
The way this can be explained is: A referral is when you tell a good friend that you are looking for a roofer, and that good friend tells you that he or she knows the perfect company for the job. A referral is when someone you know and trust has first-hand experience with the company, which makes it the premier way to find a roofing contractor that you are going to be able to trust. So referrals are the preferred way, and they are how you ideally are going to want to meet your roofing contractor.
Now a contractor reference is totally different. A reference is when you don’t know anybody who knows anybody in the roofing construction business. So instead, you just call any company based off an advertisement you may have seen. And once you have called a few of these companies, what you are going to be doing is getting together a list of the references that each one has given you.
Usually, any reputable roofing construction business is going to offer you a list of about three references, although it can sometimes be more or less than that. Either way though, Roofing Advertising Signs it is important that you get a good list of a couple individuals who have been satisfied with each company’s work, as well as the physical addresses where their roofs were put on.
Of course, you should call these people and make sure that they really were happy with the work. But it’s also important that you check out the physical address and the building where that roofing was done to get a better look at how this company’s work holds up. Climb up there on the roof and have a look around.
It’s also important to meet with the references in person, if possible, to make sure they are really who they claim to be. If someone says he is the owner of the particular business in the area, of course that is easy to verify and you are probably fine with just a phone call. But what you are looking for is just to make sure that this person is who they have been advertised as being.
So, like said earlier, while referrals are the optimum way to find a good roofing contractor that you are going to be able to trust, references are the next best thing. And you should never take Roofing Contractor Website a reference for granted-you should always be calling these people to make sure they are legitimate and that their projects turned out in a way that you would wants yours to turn out, too.

By master

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