09/19/2023
BUYER BEWARE: Those in Need of a Roof Replacement
In February of this year, I contacted Kee Roofing to give me an evaluation of my roof. Upon inspection there seemed to be enough hail damage to warrant a replacement so a claim was filed. Kee provided a thorough report to the insurance company with lots of pictures and reasoning. A full replacement was approved, with a scope of $24K approx. for project. We then met with Kee on April 7th to go over that claim, review scope of work, and paid them an installment of $16k, which at 66% of project amount should have been a red flag but we were really not educated on the costs of roof materials at the time. The contract was written for the insurance amount plus approved supplements and we proceeded. After check was cashed on April 10th, we were provided an approximate 75 day lead time to begin (July 18th) which was another red flag but at the time we were appreciative of the effort that Kee had provided to get the roof approved so we pushed on.
However, immediately Kee requested a significant dollar amount in supplements from the insurance company which was promptly declined. We reached out to Kee on May 8th noting our concern, and we were told it was a back and forth process and not to worry as the work would be done per scope with no additional money out of pocket regardless of supplement approval. Then communication went dark and we assumed no further issues..
July 18th arrived and no sign of materials or contractors. We contacted Kee and were told it would be an additional 3 weeks approx. due to rain delays. I pressed for more information about how many customers were ahead of me, why didn’t you call us, etc. Nothing but vague responses. After more phone calls and emails I was told the issue was the supplements weren’t approved, and that I need to get on the same page with them and demand the additional money owed to replace the roof from the insurance company, to the point where I was instructed to sit on a three way call with adjusters and managers and plead their case. At this point we were very alarmed so I called the insurance adjuster myself who showed me where fees were padded and items which were not applicable for a roof replacement were inserted into the supplement request. These were very specific items totaling up to $15k. When I pressed them on this, they then wanted us to limit the scope of work to their accordance, however since we and Kee already agreed under a signed contract to the scope, we declined. Once these issues started I called 5 additional roofers to see what could be out of line on this scope, and we were provided quotes, all of which stated without finding any significant damage once torn off, roof could be completed in that dollar amount provided. Kee came back and stated they would schedule the work, fortunately though at the same time all this was going on we ran a search on SC LLR and found out that as of June 30th, both the bond and contract license for Kee had lapsed. In light of this information we immediately asked to terminate the contract which would then subject us to 20% cancellation of approved insurance amount including deductible. It took several weeks of emails plus retaining an attorney to even get the cancellation agreement provided to us. Upon review of the cancellation agreement which came unsigned by Kee, there is language to the effect that you are essentially put under a gag order not to share your experience or disparage the company. Under council we were advised not to sign, and instead sent a demand letter with the intent to litigate and at which point several more weeks later were returned the money, to the loss of $5K plus.
To see more experiences similar to ours, please visit their BBB reviews that I will link in comments. Unfortunately we didn’t do enough due diligence upfront, but those that do hopefully sharing this experience can help someone to avoid this situation.
