Roofing Contractor Software in Wisconsin

Wisconsin does not call it a license, but it works like one. To pull a building permit on a one- or two-family house, a company needs a Dwelling Contractor certification from the Department of Safety and Professional Services, and it has to employ at least one Dwelling Contractor Qualifier. The qualifier is a person who took a 12-hour course on dwelling construction and takes another 12 hours of continuing education before each renewal. A reroof needs a permit in most Wisconsin municipalities, so a roofing company without the certification is a roofing company that cannot legally pull the permit for its own job.

Snow shapes the trade more than anything else. Wisconsin winters put a load on every roof, and the freeze and thaw at the eaves builds ice dams that push water up under the shingles. The state dwelling code calls for an ice barrier along the eaves, and inspectors look for it. A roof that goes on without ice and water shield in this state is a roof that will leak in February. The working season is short, running from late April until the snow comes in November, and every roof the company will do that year has to fit inside it.

Hail comes through the southern half of the state most summers, along the Madison and Milwaukee corridor and out to the west, and that brings insurance work with the adjuster meetings and depreciation checks that go with it. Milwaukee and Door County add lake-effect snow off Lake Michigan on top of the regular kind.

The contract has its own rules under the state's home improvement practices code. If the company takes any money before the work is done, or the contract is signed at the kitchen table instead of the office, it has to be in writing, and it has to describe the work and the main materials. A contract signed at the house comes with a three-business-day right to cancel, and the homeowner gets two copies of the cancellation notice at signing. The contractor cannot ask for the final payment until the work is finished as written.