Ep. # 125 Getting to the Top: Charlotte's Best Roofer Reveals Industry Secrets

What does it take to build Charlotte's top-rated roofing company? Chris Merritt, a native Charlottean and lifelong craftsman, shares the remarkable journey that led him from working summer roofing jobs at age 14 to winning "Charlotte's Best in Roofing" for 2024.

With disarming honesty, Chris pulls back the curtain on an industry filled with both skilled professionals and concerning scam artists. He reveals why pipe flashings are the number one cause of roof leaks in our region and explains how simple maintenance every few years can prevent thousands in damage. His shocking story about a Charlotte homeowner who paid for a new roof only to have her existing one painted black underscores why proper vetting is crucial when selecting a contractor.

Most homeowners don't realize that North Carolina recently changed its laws, allowing roofing work under $40,000 to be performed without a license. Chris walks us through exactly what to look for when hiring a roofer – from verifying insurance coverage to understanding the difference between workmanship and manufacturer warranties. As an Owens Corning Platinum Preferred Contractor, he explains how manufacturer vetting provides an additional layer of consumer protection and enhanced warranty options.

Beyond business, Chris shares his passion for family life at Lake Wylie with his wife, three daughters, and two dogs, plus his community service helping underprivileged homeowners affected by severe weather. Whether you're facing immediate roofing concerns or simply want to properly maintain your home's most critical protective system, this conversation delivers valuable insights from one of Charlotte's most trusted experts. Visit meritroofing.com to learn more about their services and access their instant quote tool.

Merritt Roofing

Chris Merritt

704-610-1692

126 North McDowell St. Suite 201
Charlotte, NC 28204

[e-mail]
merrittroofing.com

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Regina Lee.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hi everyone and welcome to another episode of
the Good Neighbor Podcast.
My name is Regina and I'm herein South Charlotte and my
favorite thing to do is talk tolocal business owners, and I'm
super excited today to talk toChris Merritt.
He owns Merritt Roofing andthey were just awarded
Charlotte's Best in Roofing in2024.

(00:32):
Congrats.

Speaker 3 (00:33):
Chris.
Well, thank you, Regina.
Thank you for having me, heyeveryone.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Yeah, what an honor.

Speaker 3 (00:39):
Yes, it was an honor.
We were voted by the people ofCharlotte, so we are really
happy that we were awarded that.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
Well, that's incredible.
So tell us a little bit aboutyour journey, who you are and
how you got into roofing and whyyou decided to open your own
business.

Speaker 3 (00:59):
Yeah, I am a native Charlottean.
I was born in Charlotte, grewup in the Waxhaw area actually
Middle Springs, not far fromWaxhaw, and so kind of what got
me into roofing is a lot ofpeople.
After high school went tocollege, I went to work and I
did a lot of jobs framing,roofing, siding and I actually

(01:22):
started roofing one of my firstjobs when I was 14 or 15, in the
summers, and so that kind ofstarted my journey in the
roofing industry and so and I'vedone a lot of different things
in the construction industrybesides roofing.
But I landed here in 2009 andwe've just been at it ever since

(01:43):
.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
I landed here in 2009 and we've just been at it ever
since.
That's fantastic.
I love that.
You're a unicorn.
Did you know that's what youcall a charlatan?

Speaker 3 (01:51):
There's not many of us left me and my sisters and my
cousins.
We all laugh about that.
Yeah, I was born inPresbyterian Hospital.

Speaker 2 (01:59):
That is so cool.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
I have a two-year-old daughter who we live in South
Carolina now, but we took her toPresbyterian to be born as well
.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
Wow, love it, love it .
So walk us through all theservices Merit Roofing offers.

Speaker 3 (02:16):
We primarily focus on roofing.
I'm a licensed generalcontractor.
I'm also a licensed commercialroofer, but we also do windows,
we do siding, we install garagedoors.
Every now and again we'll dopainting, but we try to stick to
the exteriors.
Like I said, my primary focusis residential re-roofing.

(02:36):
We don't do a lot of newconstruction.
We like to do renovation.

Speaker 2 (02:41):
Gotcha.
What are some of the mostcommon roofing issues you see in
our area?
The?

Speaker 3 (02:49):
number one leak offender is always the pipe
flashings, or pipe jacks as youcall them.
All my realtor friends that arelistening, we work well with
realtors and you see that a lot.
You have plumbing pipes,plumbing vents that go through
the roof and they have rubberflashings that go around them.
About every 10 years thatrubber flashing will crack.
It's kind of like an oldbicycle inner tube.

(03:10):
The sun will crack it and waterwill get in and you'll see a
stain on your roof.
So that's probably the numberone thing.
And then not far behind that isjust lack of maintenance.
A lot of people they won't havea roofer on the roof every
three to five years to caulk theexposed nail heads and that
kind of things and keep thegutters clean, keep water
backing up.

(03:30):
But I would say pipe jacks arejust, you know, standard roof
maintenance is the number onecause of leaks.

Speaker 2 (03:40):
Well, you know, most of us don't know until there's a
problem.
I remember at a house I had inBallantyne it was our neighbor
who could look down on our roofthat called to say hey,
something's going on.
It was actually squirrel damage, but you know one thing leads
to another.
So what is your advice tohomeowners?
You know you just indicated youneed to have your roof checked

(04:01):
every so often.

Speaker 3 (04:03):
Yeah, and another.
You know it needs to be checkedout after every storm by a
vetted contractor, obviously,but yeah, every three to five
years you need to have a goodroofer up on your roof Just
looking at the flashings, thepipe jacks, any high traffic
areas where leaves might buildup, those kinds of things where

(04:23):
water would back up and reside.
So just you know it's notmaintenance like a car or
anything, but you do need tohave someone check your roof
about every three to five yearsand or if you have a high wind
storm, a hail storm, you need tohave a qualified roofer on your
roof just making sure that it'ssound.

Speaker 2 (04:41):
Well, you are definitely in a very competitive
industry, so it is a challenge,I'm sure, for consumers to
decide who to call.
So what advice would you give ahomeowner when choosing a
roofing company, and what setsyou apart?

Speaker 3 (04:56):
Well I would say, do your research, get on the Better
Business Bureau, look there If,if, if someone has a complaint,
see how they resolve thecomplaint.
See if they were nice and theywere courteous.
So that's a good starting point.
Also, check out the reviews onGoogle, where we have, I think,

(05:20):
195 star reviews in the FortMill office, about 85 star
reviews in the Charlotte office.
So just taking the time to check, check the reviews, check the
license, and one tricky thing inNorth Carolina that a lot of
people don't really understandis you could be a roofer in
North Carolina and do a roof andI think it's under 40,000.

(05:42):
They just changed the law lastyear and you don't have to have
a license.
So it's better if you have alicensed contractor on your roof
, but in North Carolina youdon't have to have a license to
be a roofer.
So you know, checking thereviews, checking to see whether
they're actually licensed andthen checking if they're the

(06:02):
workers comp and generalliability those things are very
important in case someone getshurt.
Accidents do happen.
If a ladder falls off and hitsa car in high wind or something
like that, you want to make surethat they have the insurance to
take care of you.

Speaker 2 (06:16):
That's a very good point.
Well, what are some of themisconceptions when you're
talking to clients?
You know calling you, lookingfor quotes.
What do you run up against?

Speaker 3 (06:26):
Oh well it's.
You know a lot of people wantto use price comparisons because
you know, like I said, a lot ofroofers don't even have to have
license.
A lot of roofers don't havegeneral liability or workers
comp, and so a lot of peoplewill think they're comparing
apples to apples.
Because you know a roof is likeyou said earlier most people
can't see it, so they don'tunderstand what's being done on

(06:48):
the roof.
And if you don't, you reallywant to vet a contractor, make
sure that they know what they'redoing, make sure that they're
licensed, make sure that theyhave the proper insurance, and
if you've got a level playingfield then you know that kind of
eliminates a lot of people whomay not do a good you know as
good of a job.

(07:08):
Typically even a bad roofinstall might take three to five
years before you know it.
So by the time you realize thatyou know you've got a bad
install, it's too late.
So just using a qualifiedcontractor, vetting them, that
really helps eliminate a lot ofmisconceptions yeah, well, it's

(07:29):
a big expense too.

Speaker 2 (07:30):
So you know, is there a warranty on a roof when a new
one's put on?

Speaker 3 (07:35):
uh, yes, there are workmanship warranties.
There's generally two types ofwarranties.
You have a workmanship warranty.
That's where, if I was drivinga nail and I drove it in crooked
and it leaked around thatcrooked nail, that's considered
work.
And then you have amanufacturer's warranty.
We're at Owens Corning PlatinumPreferred Contractor.
The majority of our shingleshave a limited lifetime, which

(07:57):
is a 50-year warranty on it.
So there's generally two typesof warranties on a roof.

Speaker 2 (08:03):
Gotcha.
So are there scams that you'reseeing happening in your
industry you can kind of sharewith us?

Speaker 3 (08:11):
Yeah, the biggest scam we do is we do a lot of
restoration work when someonehas hail damage or wind damage
and there's insurance involved.
What a lot of these stormchasers will do.
They'll come to town andthey'll talk someone into giving
the roofing company the firstcheck, because generally in
insurance there's two checksright, a deposit and then a

(08:35):
finish up check, and the guyswill take a deposit and then
they'll just split town.
Um, so that's the biggest onethat we see.
Now we've actually we've helpedpeople who have been scammed
out of that.
Um, we I've seen a lot ofdifferent kinds of scans.
We saw a lady in Charlotte thatgot her roof painted.
One time Some guys showed upwith with paint and they painted

(08:56):
her roof black.

Speaker 2 (08:57):
And she thought she was getting new shingles.

Speaker 3 (08:59):
She paid for new shingles.

Speaker 2 (09:01):
That's correct.
Oh my gosh.

Speaker 3 (09:04):
Going back to what I previously stated, vetting a
contractor is is reallyimportant.
A lot of times, like we'reOwens Corning, we install their
shingles, their asphaltcomposite shingles, more than
any other, and they actually vetus.
Because we're a platinumcontractor, we're able to offer
warranties that just normalroofers can't offer because we

(09:27):
have been vetted by them.
So that's, you know, that'sanother way that you know
consumer can protect themselves.
It's just doing proper, propervetting.

Speaker 2 (09:37):
That's very good information.
So how does the process go?
Okay, I'm looking for a roofer.
I call you guys.
Do you do estimates?
Free estimates.

Speaker 3 (09:47):
We do.
There's a lot of different waysto get a hold of us.
The best way is throughmeritroofingcom, and there's
actually a tool on I think it'sthe right hand side, that you
can click on and it'll give youan instant quote.
And that'll give you an instantquote and that'll give you an
idea.
That tool is really good forrealtors as well, if they just
want to have a general idea ofwhat a roof's going to cost.

(10:10):
It gives three differentbreakdowns and prices pretending
, uh, depending on what materialyou use.
Um, you know that the websiteis is the best, the best way to
get us, and that'smeritroofingcom.
There's a form you could fillout that comes directly to me,
and we monitor that seven days aweek, so we'll get right back

(10:33):
with you perfect.

Speaker 2 (10:35):
Yeah, we haven't had a hailstorm in a long time in
Charlotte, have we?

Speaker 3 (10:39):
we had a.
We serviced about 90 miles 90mile radius of Charlotte Rock.
South Carolina had a huge hailstorm last year with two and
three inch hail, which is very,very unusual.

Speaker 2 (10:52):
Oh my God, what month was that?

Speaker 3 (10:54):
April 20th.
It's etched in my mind becausewe had 150 phone calls the first
day.

Speaker 2 (11:03):
Well, you know, think of that situation when
everybody got the damage.
I mean that has to beincredible to have all that
thrown at you at one time andimpossible, I guess.

Speaker 3 (11:14):
Yeah, I didn't hit up .
Unfortunately it hit a lot ofunderprivileged homes and we
were part.
We work with the city andhelping a person that didn't
have insurance and didn't havemoney.
So we help, work in conjunctionwith the city and helping a few
people get back and not havingto pay anything out of pocket.
So we try to give back to thecommunity as well.

Speaker 2 (11:36):
That's amazing, Chris .
So when you're not running thisfabulous company, what do you
like to do for fun?

Speaker 3 (11:42):
I love spending time with my family, a beautiful wife
.
I have three daughters, onestepdaughter, a 16 year old
daughter and a two-year-olddaughter.
We have a new addition, wow.
So at 52, that's veryinteresting.
I have a French Bulldog namedLola, who is very, very

(12:03):
undisciplined.
She doesn't listen to anything.
She is a lot of fun, uh.
And I have a um, she's three,three or four, and I have a new
puppy.
I have a lab.
That's almost a year and shegets bossed around by the, the
frenchie.
We live at lake watery.
We moved there last year.
That was my life, life, uh,long dream is to have a lake

(12:25):
house.
So we moved south a little bitand have a boat on the lift so
we get out on the water.
Me and my father fish togethera lot, so big fishermen.
So that's about it.
The business keeps me reallybusy.
Love spending time with myfamily and my wife and my kids
and then getting out on the boatand see if I can't talk a fish

(12:46):
in the boat.

Speaker 2 (12:47):
Well, I'm just thinking, all those female
hormones you have in that house,that's a lot.

Speaker 3 (12:52):
Yeah, story of my life I've got three sisters on
top of that.

Speaker 2 (12:59):
Well then, you know how to handle it.
Well, chris, it's been apleasure getting to know you,
and congrats on that amazingaward of being Charlotte's Best
in Roofing in 2024.
That's fantastic.

Speaker 3 (13:11):
All right, well, thank you, regina.
Thank you for having me, it'sbeen my pleasure.

Speaker 1 (13:15):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go toGNPSouthCharlotte.
com.