Updated September 2026 · Written by the Denali Roofing team in Farmington, UT
After a big hailstorm, Davis County fills up with out-of-state trucks. Here's how to pick a contractor who'll still be here next year, including the questions to ask, the red flags to walk from, and how to check a Utah license in a minute. Hold every roofer to this list, including us.
Ask for a current certificate of insurance. If a worker is hurt on your property and the contractor isn't covered, that can become your problem. A legitimate company produces the certificate without flinching.
Utah licenses contractors statewide through the Division of Professional Licensing. Ask for the license number and check it on the DOPL license lookup before you sign; it takes a minute and shows the status, the classification, and any discipline. A roofer who won't give you the number is telling you something.
Read the recent Google reviews — not the star number, the actual text. Look for how they handle problems, cleanup, and communication. Reviews from your own town beat reviews from three states away.
Scope, materials, payment schedule, and cleanup — in the contract, before work starts. A good contractor puts it in writing without being asked; a great one walks you through it line by line.
A good contractor answers all ten without getting defensive — most of them should already be answered in the written quote before you ask. Print this, screenshot it, whatever works:
The last one matters more than it looks: any contractor who won't let a quote survive a week of thinking is telling you the deal doesn't hold up to thought. And when you compare answers on scope, here is what a complete replacement includes.
To be fair: knocking on doors after a storm isn't the crime. Plenty of legitimate local companies do it, ours included. The difference is what's behind the knock.
If the company didn't exist here before the storm, it probably won't exist here after it — and neither will your workmanship warranty.
“This price is only good right now” is a sales tactic, not roofing. A real quote survives a week of thinking it over.
Materials get paid when they're delivered. A contractor who needs half your money before a shingle arrives is financing something — and it isn't your roof.
Your deductible is your share of the claim under your policy. A contractor who offers to waive or absorb it is proposing that the claim be misrepresented to your insurer, and the exposure is yours, not theirs. A contractor willing to do that to win the job will cut corners on the roof too.
Utah regulates contractors statewide, and a few things follow from that:
Deciding whether the damage is even claim-worthy comes first, though. Here's what hail damage actually looks like, and how a Utah roof claim runs start to finish, plus the first 48 hours after hail. When the estimates come in, here is how to read them line by line.
A roof is a long relationship. The company that installs it should be reachable next season, for a warranty question, a follow-up, or just an honest look after the next storm. Ask where they're based, drive past the address if you want, and pick someone whose reputation lives in the same county you do.
We're in Farmington, ten minutes from Kaysville and Layton, and we plan on being here a long time. Hold us to everything on this page: ask for our DOPL license number and our insurance certificate, read our reviews, and take a week to think our quote over. That's how it should work.
Ask for the license number, then search it on the Utah Division of Professional Licensing lookup. It shows whether the license is active, the classification, and any discipline. Takes a minute.
Yes, two or three. Compare the scope line by line, not just the total. A bid that's far lower is usually missing something: ice-and-water shield, decking allowance, flashing, or the permit.
A modest deposit to order materials is common. Half or more of the job before a shingle arrives is not, and it's a red flag after a storm.
Licensed means DOPL has issued the contractor a license. Insured means they carry liability coverage, and it should be a certificate you can hold, not a line on a business card.
Free inspection, written quote, insurance certificate on request — and take your time deciding.
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