7 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Minnesota Roofing Contractor

Hiring a roofing contractor in Minnesota without asking the right questions is how a $12,000 roof job becomes a $20,000 problem — or a lien on your home. These seven questions take about ten minutes to ask; the answers will tell you almost everything you need to know before signing anything.

This is not about finding a reason to distrust contractors. Most are honest people doing skilled work in a trade with real exposure — heights, weather, complex code requirements. But the roofing industry does attract a seasonal surge of out-of-state crews following hail events, and the gap between a licensed, insured, permit-pulling contractor and an unlicensed one is not always obvious at the estimate stage. These questions close that gap.

1. Can you provide your MN DLI residential contractor license number?

Minnesota requires residential contractors to be licensed through the Department of Labor and Industry. The license is public record — you can look up any contractor at dli.mn.gov using their name or license number. The lookup takes 30 seconds.

What the license actually means: the contractor has posted a surety bond and carries general liability insurance at the levels DLI requires. More importantly, if the work fails or a dispute arises, you have a path — the DLI complaint process. Unlicensed contractors leave you with small claims court as your only option.

When a contractor hesitates at this question, or says they are "in the process" of getting licensed, that is your answer. The license is not hard to verify. There is no legitimate reason a working contractor would not have it.

2. Can I get a certificate of liability insurance and workers comp — naming me as the certificate holder?

"We're fully insured" is not documentation. What you want is an actual certificate of insurance, issued by their carrier, showing current coverage dates for both general liability and workers compensation. The certificate should name you (or your address) as the certificate holder — that gives you standing to verify coverage with the insurer directly if needed.

Workers comp is the piece most homeowners overlook. If an uninsured worker falls off your roof, they may not be able to sue the contractor who has no assets — but your homeowner's policy might be pulled into the claim. Your insurer will not be happy, and coverage is not guaranteed.

Any contractor doing legitimate volume work has this paperwork accessible. Request it before work starts.

3. Will you provide a written, line-item estimate?

A real estimate is a document, not a number. It should list: the square footage of the roof surface (measured, not estimated from the tax record footprint), the specific material by manufacturer and product name, the footage of ice and water shield specified, the scope of flashing work, the disposal method, and labor as a separate line or built into identified line items.

When you have line-item estimates from multiple contractors, you can compare them scope-to-scope. When you have three single-number quotes, you do not know what you are comparing — one estimate may include full ice and water shield in valleys while another specs minimum coverage, and both quotes look identical on paper.

Written estimates also protect you. Verbal scopes create disputes. "I thought you said that included the chimney flashing" is a conversation you do not want to have after the crew has already been paid and left.

4. How do you handle ice-and-water shield — and how do you address attic ventilation?

These two questions separate contractors who understand Minnesota conditions from those optimizing for material cost.

Ice and water shield is a self-adhering membrane that goes down before shingles. At minimum, it covers the bottom two to four feet at the eaves — below the exterior wall line where ice dams push water back under shingles. Better practice in Minnesota's climate is full coverage in valleys and around all penetrations. A contractor who specs the minimum is saving $300–$600 in materials on your job and leaving your most vulnerable areas with less protection.

Ventilation is subtler but equally important. A roof with inadequate attic ventilation runs hot in summer and traps moisture in winter — both conditions shorten shingle life by years. Balanced ventilation means matched intake (soffit) and exhaust (ridge). If the contractor cannot describe how they will assess or improve your ventilation balance, that is information worth having before you hire them.

5. Are you offering to waive or cover my deductible?

If a contractor volunteers to cover, waive, absorb, or "work with" your deductible, that offer is a legal red flag.

Minnesota Statute §325E.66 makes it a misdemeanor for a roofing contractor to provide anything of value — money, services, rebates — to induce a homeowner to file an insurance claim or to avoid paying a deductible. The mechanism is always the same: the contractor inflates the insurance invoice to recover what they are "waiving," the carrier overpays, and both you and the contractor have participated in inflated billing.

The TC metro and I-35 corridor see out-of-state storm-chasing contractors after significant hail events. Deductible waiver offers are common among them. It is almost always the first sign that the contractor's business model depends on volume fraud rather than quality work.

6. Do you pull permits, and are you familiar with the requirements in this jurisdiction?

Most Minnesota jurisdictions require a building permit for full roof replacement — including Mille Lacs County, Crow Wing County, and municipalities throughout the Twin Cities metro. The permit triggers an inspection that confirms the work meets code: deck condition, flashing installation, ventilation compliance.

Skipping the permit saves the contractor a few days and a small fee. What it costs you: an unpermitted improvement on your home's record. This shows up in title searches, can require disclosure when you sell, and can create complications with a future insurance claim if a carrier investigates whether the prior replacement was code-compliant.

When a contractor says "we don't usually pull permits around here" — especially if they are from out of state — that is the kind of local knowledge gap that creates problems for the homeowner, not the contractor.

7. Who actually does the installation — your employees, or subs?

This question gets at workers compensation coverage, which loops back to question two.

There is nothing inherently wrong with a contractor who uses verified subcontractors — many reputable operations work this way, and the subs carry their own workers comp coverage. The distinction is between that arrangement and the cash day-labor model, where workers show up from an informal network, receive cash, carry no coverage, and are effectively invisible from an insurance standpoint.

Ask directly: are the workers who will be on my roof covered under your workers comp policy, or do they carry their own? Either answer can be fine. "I don't really know" or a deflection is not.

Asking these questions should not feel adversarial. A contractor who has been doing this work legitimately for years will answer every one of them without hesitation — they will probably appreciate that you are asking, because it means you are comparing them on substance rather than just on price.

At Silver Loon Roofing, we are licensed through MN DLI, carry current certificates for both general liability and workers comp, pull permits in every jurisdiction that requires them, and will hand you our insurance certificate at the inspection. Free inspections are available across Princeton, Brainerd, the Twin Cities metro, and the 43 communities we serve — reach out at /contact/ to schedule one.