Our Story

Built After a New Roof Replacement That Nearly Burned Our House Down

We hired a highly rated roofing company to replace our roof. They came with good reviews, a professional pitch, and a price that seemed fair. Weeks later, the new roof was leaking. The water found its way into our electrical wiring. We came very close to a house fire — with two young children asleep inside.

The company accepted no responsibility. They didn't cover the electrician. They didn't return calls. And when we looked for ways we could have caught this before hiring them, we found almost nothing that actually helped.

So we built it ourselves.

"We didn't start this to build a business. We started it because we'd been through something terrifying that should never have happened — and because the tools to prevent it simply didn't exist."
— Chicago Roof & Repair Alliance, Founded in Chicago
What Actually Happened

The Experience That Built This Service

We'd just moved into our home. New neighbourhood, new mortgage, two kids settling in. The roof needed replacing — one of those things you inherit with an older house. We did what most homeowners do: searched online, read reviews, got a few quotes, and hired the company that looked most credible.

They were highly ranked. They had reviews. They showed up on time and did the job in a day. We thought that was the end of it.

It wasn't. The roof started leaking within weeks — not a small drip, but water tracking along rafters and finding its way into electrical runs in the ceiling. A licensed electrician we called in emergency told us we were lucky. The situation had the conditions for a fire. With our kids in the house.

When we contacted the roofing company, the response was evasion, then silence. They did not cover the electrician's bill. They did not return to inspect the work. Their online reviews still look fine today.

The question we couldn't answer
"How could we have known? The company had good reviews. They were licensed — we think. We're not sure anyone actually verified it. There was no way to tell whether the crew doing the work was insured, whether the licence was current, or whether there were complaints we should have seen. We went in blind, like most homeowners do. We built this service so no one has to."
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Hired a "Highly Rated" Company
Good search ranking, several positive reviews, professional-looking website. We checked what we thought you were supposed to check. No red flags — because we didn't know what to look for.
The New Roof Started Leaking
Within weeks of the replacement, water found a path through improperly installed flashing. It tracked along the roof deck and into the ceiling — straight to the electrical.
Near House Fire With Two Kids Inside
The electrician's assessment was direct: the water intrusion into the wiring created conditions for a fire. We were lucky. Our children were asleep. The contractor took no responsibility and covered nothing.
We Looked for Better Tools — Found Almost Nothing
After the fact, we researched how to properly verify a roofing contractor in Illinois. The information was scattered, incomplete, and largely inaccessible to homeowners who didn't already know where to look.
We Built What Should Have Existed
Chicago Roof & Repair Alliance — a free homeowner matching service built around the verification checks we wish we'd had. Every contractor in our network has passed a process designed by people who know exactly what happens when it fails.
The Wider Problem

Our Story Is Not Unusual

What happened to us happens to homeowners across Chicagoland every year. The roofing industry has structural problems that make it easy for bad contractors to look credible and hard for homeowners to tell the difference.

Reviews Don't Tell You Enough
A strong Google or Yelp rating tells you other homeowners liked the company — it doesn't tell you whether their licence is current, whether their insurance is active, or whether there are unresolved complaints with the Illinois Attorney General that never show up in a review.
Storm Events Bring the Wrong Contractors
After every significant hail or wind event across Chicagoland, out-of-state crews arrive quickly and work aggressively. Some are legitimate. Many are not. An assignment of benefits signed in a panicked moment can cost a homeowner far more than the original storm damage.
Verification Information Is Hard to Find
The IDFPR licence database is publicly available — but most homeowners don't know it exists, don't know how to search it, and don't know what to look for when they do. Verification is possible. It's just not designed to be easy.
Lead Platforms Serve Contractors, Not You
The major lead generation platforms are paid by contractors for access to homeowners. Their interest is in volume — sending leads to the contractors who pay the most, not the contractors who do the best work. That's the opposite of what a homeowner needs.
Chicago's Housing Stock Demands Specialists
A greystone in Lincoln Park, a coach house in Logan Square, a bungalow in Beverly, a pre-war home in Elmhurst — each has material and structural considerations that a generalist contractor may not understand. The wrong contractor on the right job is still the wrong contractor.
When It Goes Wrong, You're on Your Own
We know this first-hand. An uninsured or improperly licensed contractor who causes damage has little legal or financial obligation to make you whole. The homeowner absorbs the cost. We built this service so that liability chain is never broken before the job begins.
Our Verification Standard

How We Check Every Contractor Before You Do

Being in our network is not a default state — it requires passing every step of our verification process before a homeowner request ever reaches a contractor. This is the process we built after learning exactly how verification failures create real danger for real families.

1
IDFPR Licence Verification
We check the contractor's Illinois Unlimited Roofing Contractor licence directly with the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation — not just take their word for it. Licence status, expiry date, and any disciplinary history are all confirmed.
Checked at: online-dfpr.micropact.com
2
Insurance Confirmation — With the Insurer
General liability and workers' compensation coverage both confirmed active — directly with the issuing insurer, not just from a certificate provided by the contractor. Certificates can be falsified. Insurer confirmation cannot.
Both GL and workers' comp required
3
BBB Standing Review
Better Business Bureau profile reviewed for complaint volume, complaint resolution, and current rating. Unresolved complaints are an automatic disqualifier regardless of overall rating.
Unresolved complaints = disqualification
4
Illinois Attorney General Complaint Check
Contractor complaint history checked with the IL Attorney General's consumer protection database — the record that never shows up in a Google review and that most homeowners don't know exists.
The record reviews don't show you
5
Illinois Business Presence Verification
Confirmed operating Illinois business address and trading history. We do not accept out-of-state storm chasers, seasonal crews, or contractors who cannot demonstrate a real, ongoing local presence.
Local, established, accountable
6
Housing Stock & Material Experience
For suburbs and neighbourhoods with specialist housing stock — slate, cedar shake, historic masonry, flat roofs — we verify relevant experience before assigning that territory. Not every contractor is right for every area.
Right contractor, right housing type
7
Response Commitment Acknowledgement
Every partner acknowledges a response time commitment — homeowners matched through our service are contacted within the hour during business hours. We tell homeowners to expect this. Partners must honour it.
Agreed before first lead is sent
8
Ongoing Verification — Not Just Onboarding
Verification isn't a one-time event. Licence and insurance status are reviewed on an ongoing basis. A contractor whose licence lapses or whose insurance coverage drops is removed from the network immediately.
Active monitoring, not a one-time check
8
Verification Steps
Every contractor passes all eight before a homeowner request is ever sent to them.
80%
Applicants Don't Pass
Most contractors who apply to join the network don't make it through verification. That selectivity is the point.
1–2
Contractors Per Area
Maximum. Not five. Not ten. One or two verified partners per suburb or neighbourhood — so your lead isn't a race.
Why we limit to 1–2 per area The major lead platforms sell the same homeowner to five or more contractors simultaneously. That creates a race to the bottom on price and overwhelms homeowners with calls. We match to one, occasionally two, verified contractors per area — so the contractor can compete on quality, not speed, and the homeowner gets a real conversation rather than a phone flood.
$0
Cost to homeowners. Always.
→ Homeowner submits a request
→ No fee. No account. No obligation.
→ We match with a verified contractor
→ Contractor contacts you within the hour
→ You decide — completely free to walk away
→ Contractors pay us, not homeowners
Why It's Free

Homeowners Pay Nothing. Here's Why.

The service is free to homeowners because it has to be. The moment we charge homeowners, our interest is in generating homeowner transactions — not in protecting homeowners. Those are different things.

We are paid by verified contractors who want access to our network of educated, pre-qualified homeowners. That's a straightforward business model — and it keeps our interests aligned with the homeowner's, not against them.

Contractors pay us because our homeowners are genuinely better leads — people who have used our tools, understand the process, and have made a deliberate decision to request a match. A homeowner who has read our suburb guide and used our cost calculator is a fundamentally different conversation than someone who clicked an ad.

Our tools — the cost calculator, StormWatch, the scam risk checker, the claim readiness guide — are all free, with no account required. We built them because informed homeowners make better decisions. And better decisions mean fewer stories like ours.

Our Mission
"No Chicagoland homeowner should face a roofing disaster because they couldn't tell a verified contractor from an unverified one. We're building the tools, the network, and the standard that makes that possible."
Verification First
Every contractor in our network has passed our 8-point verification before a homeowner request is ever sent. Not after. Not conditionally. Before.
Educated Homeowners
Our tools exist because an informed homeowner is a protected homeowner. Knowledge of the process, the costs, and the red flags is the first line of defence — before any contractor shows up.
Built for Chicagoland
This is not a national platform with a Chicago filter applied. It is built specifically for this market — its housing stock, its permit authorities, its storm patterns, and its neighbourhoods.
For Roofing Contractors

If You're a Good Contractor, This Was Built for You Too

The same industry problems that hurt homeowners hurt legitimate contractors. Storm chasers undercut your pricing. Unlicensed competitors take jobs they're not qualified to do. Bad work gets attributed to the industry, not the individual company that did it.

Our verification standard is designed to give qualified, insured, licensed Illinois contractors a way to demonstrate that they're different — and to connect them with homeowners who already value and understand what that difference means.

Your Licence Is a Credential Here
We tell homeowners what our verification means — so when they call you, they already know you've been checked. Your licence and insurance aren't just compliance, they're a competitive advantage.
Exclusive Area Territories
1–2 partners per suburb or neighbourhood. You're not competing with five contractors on every lead. You have space to sell on quality, experience, and fit — not just price.
Homeowners Who Are Expecting Your Call
We tell matched homeowners that a verified contractor will reach out within the hour. They're prepared. They're not surprised. The conversation starts from a very different place than a cold lead.
Contractor Partner Programme
See how the network works and apply to join
→
For Homeowners
Find a Verified Contractor In Your Area
Free to use. No obligation. We match you with a licensed, insured contractor who knows your neighbourhood — and who's already passed our verification before your request reaches them.
Get My Free Match →
For Contractors
Join the Verified Network
If you're a licensed, insured Illinois roofing contractor doing good work, apply to join the Alliance. Exclusive suburb territories, educated homeowner leads, and a verification badge that means something.
Apply to Join →
Chicago Roof & Repair Alliance is an independent contractor matching service. We do not perform roofing work or employ contractors. All contractor verification is conducted independently — it does not constitute a guarantee of workmanship or project outcomes.