Pick De-Icing Contractors Carefully

This season’s unusually heavy snowfall and ice conditions have prompted officials to issue multiple advisories urging home and business owners to remove excess snow and ice from their rooftops and gutters.

In addition to concerns about roof loads, residents have begun seeing instances of water seeping inside. The snow on roofs has started to melt but with ice dams blocking its exits to gutters, interior water damage becomes a big concern.

“That water has nowhere to go, it can’t escape,” Danbury-based general contractor Matthew Terhaar said.

But with the demand running high for roofing and general contractors who can do the work, Gov. Dannel Malloy issued a press release Sunday also advising homeowners to be "safe and savvy" when dealing with contractors.

Consumer Protection Commissioner Jerry Farrell, Jr. said in the release that homeowners should seek a price from more than one and insist on written contracts.

“This isn’t a perfect situation — rooftops need to be cleared quickly — so a traditional contract between the homeowner and the contractor may not be possible. Even so, get out a sheet of paper and write out what the contractor has told you verbally he is going to do — ‘remove all snow and ice from rooftop for one hundred dollars’ for instance — and have the contractor sign the piece of paper,” Farrell said in the release.  “You don’t want the price to start fluctuating once the contractor is on the roof.”

State officials also pledged to investigate and pursue reports of price gouging involving Connecticut contractors.

“The sky is not the limit on the price that can be charged for roof snow removal," Farrell said. "There has to be a reasonable basis between the size of the roof, the time involved in removing the snow, and a comparable ascertainable hourly rate — such as that for home improvement work — that would normally be charged for similar work under normal circumstances. Every situation will be different, but the test of whether price gouging occurred will be whether the contractor can justify the price using an objective standard.”

Homeowners also are urged to hire contractors who are licensed and carry insurance, particularly because there have been instances of people falling off of roofs while removing snow. Anyone removing snow from a roof also should be careful of aboveground wiring and keep tools away from power lines.

The Department of Consumer Protection offers a toll-free hotline available during weekday business hours: 800-842-2649.