Couple of points here. Home Depot used to be much more strict on ID requirements for Vet discounts. As the DL thing became more accepted, Home Depot, at least in my area, has started accepting it, where 2 years ago they did not.

Next, don't buy a roof, AC, or any home services from Home Depot, Lowes, box store, giant retailer, etc. All they are doing is finding local contractors who are willing to do the work for lower than the going rate in exchange for not having to have a sales force to go sell the jobs.

The idea works on paper, but the continued downward price pressure from the big box on the contractor tends to lead most of them to figure out where to cut corners to make up for the lost profit.

 

Things are changing faster than a guy can keep up with them. We have a 10 year labor with lifetime material warranty plus 10 year no moss guarantee on the roof we got from Lowes. Of course if Lowe's goes the way of Sears...…….

 

The moss and material warranty come from the shingle manufacturer, as long as the roof was registered appropriately when installed. The 10 year labor warranty sounds good, and is better than industry average, but typically warranties are written by lawyers to describe what's excluded. It's also pawned off on the subcontractor that did the install work, who will be motivated to do any repairs as cheaply as possible to cut costs.

Not to be negative, but that could mean that by year 11, you're forced to get a new roof because the material hasn't failed, but the half a$$ repairs trying to fix leaks from a bad install are no longer covered.

But to be fair, the manufacturer warranties aren't much better. I've seen them nickel and dime, or outright try to ignore warranty claims too.

 

Moss Warranty is from the mfg. Mfg. full replacement material warranty is for 50 years as long as it was a part of the 'total roof package' and installed by an mfg. certified contractor. All of which were met, done and completed with inspection.

Lowe's took it one step further with the Lifetime, although if it lasts 30-35 years, the kids will most likely be the ones dealing with it. We had some problems here and there getting things done the right way and a Lowe's Project person lost their job over it. Specifically because he over ordered by about 40% and apparently it wasn't the first time. He also gave us an addition 5% in discounts that we weren't supposed to have had.

 

Sure sounds good in the sales literature. Have you read the warranties? You get moss, they have a roofer spray it with fancy chemical (basically bleach) and wash, but labor for said washing might not be covered. Material warranties are usually pro-rated, although there are a few that are not. Most require registration of the warranty by the homeowner within a certain amount of days of the initial install. But even then, the material warranty does not cover labor, or the cost of debris removal. Even if Lowes chipped in the labor warranty and covered the install, what about the cost to remove and dispose of the old roof? Those things can be fudged enough to cover the install cost as well.

It's all a game, dictated by the lawyers who write the warranties, and the companies who know just how much they can push back and avoid the big warranty hits. Sorry to be negative, but I've done the construction thing for over 30 years. I've seen all the warranty claims. I've even been paid by some manufacturers to go do big ticket repairs or replacements, but only after the lawyers got involved. The only claim I've seen involving full replacement that didn't involve lawyers was so blatantly obvious that they knew if it went before a judge they would loose big time, and that still took over 6 months. To add insult to injury, the replacement material ended up having the same batch number as the initial bad material, and when it failed in the exact same manner, round 2 took almost a year before it was replaced again. And that was only because we figured out the batch number thing and said we were calling the lawyers. (this was at the time, from the largest roofing manufacturer in the US, and they're even bigger now)

 

In Western Oregon where we are commonly called "mossy backs", we take our moss treatments and prevention pretty seriously. A good friend of mine had the same roof system with the same treated shingles put on 12 years ago and hasn't had any moss or leaks. I had a CCB license from the state as well for a number of years. If something goes wrong, and they don't live up to the letter of the warranty, I'll just file a complaint with the CCB in Salem. Since the roof has been up there in perfect shape for a couple of years now and there is no sign of trouble, I guess we'll just have to keep our fingers crossed.
About the only other thing we could have done was to have not had a roof put on at all and let it leak.

 

Or do like me, and do it yourself

 

There was that option, but I had those health issues, so I went the route you did with your shop.

 

Sorry, my original point may have been lost in all my ramblings. The point wasn't supposed to be how well a manufacturer did or did not stand behind something, but that the big box stores hired roofing contractors and then squeezed the pricing down so low that the tendency is for them to cut corners to make up the profit. The big box stores typically don't charge much more, if any more than a reputable local contractor. The difference is, the local contractor keeps the profit in one case, and the big box store and different local contractor split the profit in another case. If you're doing the same work for half the money, there is incentive to pick up extra profit however you can.

The stuff about the manufacturer was just to point out that the warranties aren't the security blanket all the marketing material makes them out to be.

The good news for you is, most install issues will show up within the first couple of years, so it sounds like you're clear in that regard.