We are wittnesing the rise of many interior design referral services in many cities, from LA to NY. They spend their time looking for trusted and good quality contractors that can do the work, which brings a great profit to these businesses.

It really doesn’t take much to start. A home improvement referral service business takes only a little money and not more time than a regular 40 hour a week job. Even in the first business year these entrepenuers will see the money coming in.

What you need to to first is to think about what kind of home improvement business you want to refer. By this we mean remodeling, gutter replacement and cleaning, fencing, building additions, maintaining lawn and other similar jobs. Remember, all though you may like to paint a client may not like it or have the time. And this means that there is no business that should be overlooked.

When you figure out what kind of contractors you would like to include in your referral sevice business, you have to call related government offices. It is best that you get all the requirements and regulations connected to business registry, licensing and insurance for every contractor you have. And this is just a first step in building your list. It is good to have a policy which would exclude all contractors from your list in case they do not meet the government regulations.

If you understand and start using these requirements, you will see how your refferal business will improve and you will build trust with your clients. It will be very clear to them that in case a contractor is not meeting the requirements needed, they will simply be deleted from the list. Knowing that the job will be done as agreed and correctly is what will make your clients feel more satisfied and relaxed.

One more way that will bring good reputation to your business is that you only deal with those contractors that did the good job with their past customers. Bear in mind that this is not the end of a screening process. Recommendations are not enough.

You should always check the contractors quality and level of service, when you get the recommendation to your home improvement referral business. You will need to explain what your referral service is all about. A big number of contractors will be happy to give you all necesary information. This is your home improvement referral service business and you can take it wherever you want.

I know from experience that locating a leak in a flat roof can be very difficult and expensive.  In our house it took 3 different roofers to identify the place in our flat roof that a leak was coming from.  The reason why pin-pointing leaks in flat roofs is troublesome is that very often the point where the leak shows in the ceiling below can be quite far away from the place at which the leak is occurring in the flat roof itself.  

The best places to look for leaks on flat roofs are flashing or joints or seals of any kind.  Now, flashings are used at the point at which the roof joins non-roofing material such as brickwork.  For example above our kitchen extension we have a parapet wall at one edge of the roof and flashing closes the gap between the roof and the wall.  

As described at flat roof company, a capable roofer will first examine such flashings to identify gaps through which water could perhaps pass. Flashings are usually made of a metal material such as lead.  

It is usually difficult to test for leaks on a flat roof in the way you would on other types of roofs. It could take hours for water to trickle down to the ceiling from the moment you poured it on a suspect area on the roof. What this amounts to is that pratically, its very hard to test and then track multiple suspect places.  This is explained a bit more at the epdm flat roof site.

The key to effective flat roof repair is to recognize in upfront the areas that are likely to be susceptible to leaks. The best test alas is to carry out the work to close suspect gaps and then wait to see if the leak persists. So flat roof repair is heavily dependent on the integrity and intelligence of the contractor you hire.