Weathering the Storm with Larson Home Services

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Eight oh seven thirteen ten. Do wuib a Madison in
the morning and ask the experts. Brought you by Larsen
Home Services online Larsen Home Services dot com. That's l
A R S O N Home Services dot com. Del
forh number six oh eight five three five forty three
forty three. That's six oh eight five three five forty

(00:21):
three forty three. And joining us this morning from Larsenome
Services is the one, the only Andrew Larson of Larsen
Home Services. Now there's many Andrew Larsen's out there. I
think we've talked about this in the past, but the
only one at Larstome Services. There is a Greg Larson
at Larstome Services.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
There's one.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
Yeah, there's a couple, but the only Andrew Larson there.
How you been my friend?

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Good? You know. I know you can't see because we're
on the radio. You can't see me. But when that
music came on, I was instantly like in the zone
air drumming. Yeah, I mean it was it was like
second nature, the reminders of the drums. But if you
saw me, you'd think I did.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
For folks that wonder, Hey, what does Andrew look like?
What's Andrew all? About By the way, we mentioned your
large home services dot com the website, but you guys
have a Facebook page and YouTube channel. I don't know
that we talk about it enough. You do a lot
of really really cool and I know it's a very
popular video series that you and others at largetome Services
put out there. But folks can definitely follow you on

(01:23):
Facebook and social media and check out those YouTube videos
as well, because what they say, you're proficient. It's also
very entertaining watching you guys talk about talk about not
just the important stuff, but the fun stuff as well,
which some may argue is more important. Let's talk about
speaking of important stuff and things that people need to
be thinking about this time of year in Wisconsin. We

(01:46):
are into April now, which means severe weather storms and
we get a little bit of everything. I see snow tonight,
rain today. You never know what's gonna bring us. There's
some certain thing, there's certain things that folks need to
be aware of when it comes to storm damage and
really how to handle those storms, isn't there Andrew there is?

Speaker 2 (02:04):
And and talking about our podcast. We actually just shot
one this week and we talked about storms and storm
damage and storm restoration work because April may like it
becomes it becomes a hot topic and some of the
we had a few early season hailstorms last year, they

(02:26):
weren't like it wasn't like widespread effective. But I mean
we had a number of customers and homeowners that we helped.
And here's the part that really, can I say sucked?
Can I say that?

Speaker 1 (02:37):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (02:38):
I think you could say that. Yeah. Yeah. The part
just sucked about it that that that I is that
the insurance landscape is changing. And I know I've talked
about this before. Now it doesn't negate the fact that
we're probably gonna have some hailstorms and there's gonna be
some damage. But in the Midwest, specifically Innesota and Wisconsin,

(03:01):
and I say specifically because it is legitimately where weather
patterns have really changed and we've been seeing more hail
than typical. And if people don't know, you know, your insurance,
your homeowner's insurance is based on statistical probability. And we've
got really smart people called actuaries. Trust me, I'd never

(03:22):
heard of one of these until my best friends became one.
And they figure out the statistical probabilities that you're going
to get injured that you're going to have a storm
event on your home. They work for a lot of
insurance companies, and in the past, the statistical probability that
we were going to get a hailstorm in Wisconsin just
it wasn't that common. They stayed more south. You had

(03:45):
a hail belt that went across Nebraska and Iowa and
into Illinois, and of course Texas and Colorado, like they
got hit every single year. Well now we've been starting
to get hit every single year. So what's happening is
we've had a whole lot of people that they might
not think so, but I can tell you from knowing
people all over the country that our homeowner's insurance here

(04:08):
is dirt cheap, dirt cheap. I mean, there's a lot
of people that have paid nine hundred to twelve hundred
dollars a month for a full homeowner's insurance policy and
if anything happened to their home, they had a five
hundred or one thousand dollars deductible. Those days are done,

(04:29):
especially when it comes to your roof. For instance, my
father just got a letter, mister Greg Larson, a letter
from his insurance company, and it was it was as
black and white as you can get. You can listen
to my podcast. It's going to explain depreciation on your
roof and recoverable depreciation and a little bit more depth.

(04:50):
But basically, in order to get a full roof paid for,
you have to have recoverable depreciation on your policy. And
they just made no qualms about it. It's gone. There
is no more such thing. And on top of no
more recoverable depreciation, your rates are going to go up
by twenty five percent. So I did the math. Not

(05:11):
only that, last year they raised his deductible and it
went from one thousand dollars to one and a half
percent of his home's value. So let's just say hypothetically
his home is worth three hundred thousand, which is somewhere
between there three and three fifty. But we take three
hundred thousand. His deductible's four hundred or forty five hundred dollars.
Now we take his roof. It's roughly seventeen years old.

(05:34):
Your insurance company's gonna deem the full life of a
roof twenty years. So he's got three years left on
his roof, so they're going to appreciate it down to
probably I don't know a couple grand. Now, put on
top of that his deductible. If he was to get hail,
and hale was to wreck his roof, he would get nothing. Nothing.

(05:58):
And now here's the problem. Now he knows because he
opens all his mail and he saves the paperwork, two
things that I don't do either of. I feel like,
there's a bill in here, now throw it away. And
I think that's what a lot of homeowners did. In
the part that stunk last year with some of those
hailstorms is that we had homeowners that got bad damage
and they weren't reading. They didn't All your insurance company

(06:20):
has to do is send you a letter and say, hey,
your policy changed. Read this. But a lot of people
don't read it. They throw it away, and then they
get Then they have a storm event or some sort
of loss, and now they're going what I had. It
happen to multiple people where the insurance was only going
to give them half enough money to cover their roof,

(06:43):
and now now they're paying out of pocket. Now would
that change anything if they knew? Not really, but at
least they would know and they'd be prepared instead of shocked,
because the last time they looked, they had one thousand
dollars deductible and all would be good because they had
coverable depreciation. But the same thing that's happening to my
father happened to these people. They took away the recoverable depreciation,

(07:06):
which is what you need to get the entire roof
paid for, and they increase their deductible and they had
no idea, so they were shocked. Now, the point of
all this is just to know, make sure you're educated
and you know where your policy is at. Reach out
to your insurance agent, or reach out to your insurance
company and see if there is going to be any
changes or if there's already been changes. Then don't look

(07:29):
at a storm, say your roof gets damaged and they
say because the insurance company come out and say, yp
this needs to be replaced. Here you're getting almost nothing
to pay for it. Because I'm seeing it more and
more and more. Use a storm as not an opportunity
to get a free roof because those days are running out.
Look at us and look at it as an opportunity

(07:51):
in most cases to get a real nice down payment
on a roof that will last longer and withstand hail.
And that's always been our stance as we sell more
shingles that are Class four impact rated that when a
storm comes through, they've got a rubberized membrane and the
hail can bounce off them and not break the matting,

(08:13):
eventually leading to leaks. So that's what I want people
to look more at a storm for is an opportunity
as an upgrade and not something for free.

Speaker 1 (08:22):
Do we see people making it's kind of shifting there.
They're thinking as well. Obviously, as you mentioned, if you've
got the damage lesson learned and you've dealt with an
insurance company recently, you go, oh my goodness, yeah, we
need to we need to be looking at at more
durable shingles better. Are we seeing that? Also on the
new shingle side for folks having roof replacements, are they
are they becoming educated and wise the fact that guess

(08:45):
what the the you may want to shift from the
old days used to be like, yeah, we'll throw a
shingle up there, that's good enough, and if there's any damage, hey,
what the heck? We just get on the insurance. Therefore,
if not to replaces as that that's shifted. Are we
seeing more people saying, you know what Andrew. When we're
going to do whether it's whether it's a repair after damage,
or we're just going to do an overall replacement because

(09:06):
it's needed, we are going to start looking at these
the better shingles, things that withstand and stand up to
hail an other type of damage, just much better.

Speaker 2 (09:15):
From a homeowner standpoint, Is that what you're asking? Yes? Yes,
so from a homeowner standpoint, they are so grateful when
we talk about options, because most roofing companies don't talk
about options. Here's our shingle, here's our price, will beat
Larson like, I mean, that's literally what we I'm not
trying to toot my own horn, but that's what we run into.

(09:37):
We can do it cheaper, well, of course you can.
I could do it cheaper too, but we choose to
give homeowners options and show them other shingles, other types
of processes that other people just don't do. I can't
tell you how many times our guys will go, our
guys or gals go into a home and show them
shingles that that are better, and they go, well, we've

(09:59):
had three estimates already, and nobody talked about any sort
of impact rated shingle. Well, that's because a lot of
roofers don't want to put them on. Because here's the thing.
We have a throwaway shingle culture. Put a roof up,
it's good for fifteen years, tear it off throat and landfill,
put a new one on, and a lot of contractors
look at it like if I put a good shingle

(10:20):
up there and they get a hailstorm, well I'm not
going to be able to replace that again. And that's
not our philosophy. I mean, don't like, don't take this
to heart if any of our customers are listening, but like,
our goal is to put a roof on and never
hear from you again in a good way. I don't
want to hear that your roof is leaking. I don't
want to hear that your roof is damaged from hail.

(10:41):
I love it when my reps go back to a
home and knock on a door to see how everything
is and whether they've got our roof or our gut.
The best is when they have our gutters. Hey, how
is that gutter shutter working out for you? Uh? Well,
I actually forgot that I even had gutters. Fantastic say
no less, Yeah, since you put them up. I don't
think about him anymore. That's a beautiful thing. And when

(11:04):
people say, hey, I got my new roof on, I
don't have to worry about my Every time a storm
was coming along, I was afraid shingles were going to
blow off, and I was afraid I was going to
get another leak. And I don't have to worry about
that anymore. And I sleep, I sleep while at night.
We want to put it on and never hear from
you again, unless we're reaching out to send you something special.
We want it to last forever. Now, if you do

(11:26):
have an issue, you call us, we take care of it.
But we try to put something up that's going to
last forever, whether it's an impact rated shingle from GAF
or it's f wave, which is what I have on
my home. We've done roughly one hundred of them, one
hundred homes in the past few years. Not a lot.
It's expensive, but I mean it is a It is
a It is like a rubberized shingle that I don't

(11:49):
know what can go wrong. You can blow it, you
can hit it with a blowtorch, you can hit it
with a hammer. You can't hurt it. You can't hurt it.
So again showing people options of roofs that will last longer,
because when a storm comes along, I'm telling you it stinks.
You're gonna have seventy five different people knocking on your
door asking if you can give you a roof inspection.

(12:12):
And the one thing I said in the podcast was
don't freak out because unless you had a six inch
piece of softball size hail go through your roof and
land in your living room, your roof is not gonna
leak tomorrow or next week, or next month, or probably
in the or probably in six months. Because of a hailstorm.

(12:36):
It takes time. What it does is it speeds up
the aging process because it breaks the fiberglass matting, you
lose your granules. Eventually it will leak. That's why it
has to be replaced. But don't freak out. Take your time,
and whether it be be Larsen or some other local
reputable company, I just say wait because you don't want

(12:56):
to put a roof on and then five years down
the road have an issue and have absolutely nobody to call.
Because when a restoration company comes into town, they're there
for twelve to eighteen months and then they're gone, and
then they're moved on to the next city. You will
not be able to get a hold of them. So
take your time, don't freak out. Know what's on your
insurance policy, and look at different shingle options.

Speaker 1 (13:18):
You Have you ever read the book or seen the
movie Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
I have not.

Speaker 1 (13:24):
I you should, and beside the movie is absolutely fantastic.

Speaker 2 (13:27):
The book is I'm writing it down.

Speaker 1 (13:30):
The first page of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
All it says is don't panic.

Speaker 2 (13:37):
Yeah, don't panic. I mean if you get a tornado
and your roof blows off, he panics. Yeah, yeah somewhere. Yeah,
but a little bit of hail, you're going to have
people knocking on your door and they're going to be
I'm not joking. I've seen this. It happened in Lacrosse
a couple of years ago. We had a storm hit
on a Friday. We had some of our people go

(13:57):
up there on Saturday just to go back to our
past cause corson just kind of get the feel. Okay,
there were storm chasers everywhere. They were replacing roofs on Monday.
Oh that's not necessary, you don't have don't panic, well panic,

(14:18):
don't panic because there's a lot of local companies that
can still help you with your insurance work and get
you a great and get you a great price, and
get you a great roof and give you other options.
So if storm hits again, your home is going to
be better protected.

Speaker 1 (14:31):
It's and as we talk with Andrew Larsen and of
Largstome Services, it's out there and unfortunately we're going to
go through the season, we'll hear horror stories and I
know Andrew, folks will call you and say, I don't
know what happened, but here's what happened. And you don't
want to make that mistake. As Andrew points out, when
it comes to damage, you know, roof damage and other things,
if you tail damage that stuff again, it can be
dealt with, it can be taking care of. As a

(14:52):
matter of fact, Andrew and the team at Large Home Services,
they do phenomenal work. It's not a high pressure thing.
It's hey, here's here's the education, here's what we can offer.
You take your time and you make up your mind
and make that right decision. That's as a matter of fact,
we've talked about this years ago we had Andrew put
a roof on our house. You wouldn't be able to
tell that it was years ago. It still looks brand new.
It is absolutely beautiful art telphone number six so eight
five three five forty three forty three. That's five three

(15:15):
five four three four three. Check them out online Larsenhomeservices
dot com. That's l A R. S O N Home
Services dot com. Andrew, it's always great chatting with you
and you enjoy this fantastic dam.

Speaker 2 (15:26):
We'll do it all again in seven sounds good. See
you next week.

Speaker 1 (15:29):
Kevin Hamham's Arbacare joins us next here on thirteen ten.
Do w u ib a