Ideal Roofing Corporation

Jack C.

Ideal Roofing completed my re-roofing project on budget and on time. I interviewed and got estimates from a half a dozen roofing companies before selecting Ideal Roofing. They didn't complete the project without any issues, but they fixed everything that I brought to their attention (e.g., painting with base of the pipes on the roof, etc.).

Jim Merlone (President of Ideal Roofing) was recommended by a local realty company. After reading Yelp, I was a little skeptical about hiring Ideal Roofing, but Jim was very knowledgeable and very professional, so I decided to select them for my re-roofing.

Ken T.

Worth getting a quote. Recommended by several realtors and home inspection companies. Company has been in business for several years. That is important. They will be around if you need them to make good on the warranty.

Stephen G.

Began the job quickly but follow up to complete the job was frustrating. After 6 weeks of calling weekly, someone finally got back to me. They completed the roof job but I still have a leak. Called again due to the same leak and they never returned my call. I gave up. Would not recommend!!!

Peter R.

I recently bought a house in Oakland - it came with a roof report, paid for by the previous owner, and written up by Ideal Roofing. Jim Merlone recommended some minor work be done to bring it up to good repair. I did ask him to send someone out to do this work - paid him the $575 stated in his report and assumed that the work had been completed as described in his roof repair estimate.

During the first rain of this year, I went up on the roof to see how everything was - two drains were clogged. The curb edges, which were to be repaired with 3 course flashing, had some smears of roofing cement on them but nothing more. A roof scupper that drains one level onto another was completely sealed so water was standing on the roof in that area.

I also found a couple of bubbles under the roof membrane so called Jim to tell me what it would cost to fix these and to look at the other issues. We made a date - he didn't show up and has not returned my call since. I suggest that realtors be wary of using Ideal Roofing for roof estimates and that home owners look elsewhere for reliable service.

12/26/13 update: A few days after I posted this review, Jim called and said he wanted to come out and look at the work. He agreed that the work need to be redone and sent out someone a few days later. I appreciate his trying to make things right even though it took some effort on my part to get him to respond. So am adding two stars.

Eric D.

We had four jobs performed by Ideal Roofing. Unfortunately one of the jobs was done incorrectly. We tried to have it updated, but Jim did not accept our phone calls or emails.
I now have doubt as to the quality of the three other jobs performed by Ideal Roofing.

Update: bumping to 3 stars from 2 stars. I had 35 days of no responses to my emails or phone calls, but within 18 hours of me posting this review, I finally got a reply! Two guys came out to fix the issue - once the next rain comes, we will see if it worked or not!

Mary S.

horrible crooks! stay away from this company. first, they are very flacky and not responsive. second, they give estimates for very sloppy jobs and really do the minimum. third, they are very not responsive. even the owner or something like this, jim merlon, is not responsive to emails and phone calls. i heard people lost a lot of money because of their lack of responsiveness and this company is going to get a class action lawsuit one day. i know several people lost value because of it, and we plan to meet with an attorney.

in sum, watch out from this mafia and sloppy workers. there are many other, much better companies in the bay area.

Tell-it-like-it-is M.

Jim came highly recommended to me through my realtor. As I was doing more research, I was a bit concerned by the mediocre yelp reviews. I spoke to Jim some more and found him to be honest, responsible and knowledge.

Despite my initial hesitation, I hired Jim anyway. It turned out to be a great decision. Jim finished my roof in 3 days, his crewed cleaned up everyday before I came home from work. They ran such a clean site that you couldn't tell someone was doing work there during the day. More importantly, the new roof looks great. He walked my roof with me, giving advise on how to weather proof my house for the rainy season. He educated me on what additional work could be done to seal my windows, exterior walls, etc. He left it up to me to have him do that work or hire my own handy man, zero pressure. My neighbors on both sides complimented Jim and his crew to me on speed and quality since they both had their roofs done earlier.

As for the permit issue mentioned by an earlier review, I checked on that too. We are indeed permitted and passed our final inspection with the City of Piedmont. All is cleared. The city is known to be strict with codes and regulations.

I would certainly recommend Jim to a friend.

Cynthia S.

I hired Ideal Roofing to put a roof on my house in July 3.5 years ago. With the first winter rains, the roof leaked into my dining room. I immediately called Jim Merlone, the owner, and informed him. It took him 5 months to come back and repair it . The roof continues to leak and I found out that even though I was charged for a building permit, he never pulled one, hence no inspections either.
BEWARE OF THIS COMPANY!!!

Christine C.

When we bought our house, the roof was leaking during the open house. It was clear to every inspector we needed a new roof. Our inspector recommended Jim Merlone, and I got bids from two other roofing contractors. Jim's pricing was the most reasonable and his knowledge and recommendations were quite detailed. He also gave me the most reasonable bid to have some cedar shingle siding replaced. I didn't have any major difficulty with communication--if anything he had a harder time getting ahold of me. We'll have him back for all our shingling needs.

Sandy B.

Jim Merlone has been repairing and replacing our roofs (we have several properties) for years. He has been a remarkably good resource, has built several excellent roofs, one that was very complex (radiant heat barrier, 2 layers of fireproofing, a layer of waterproofing and a layer of extra thick wood shingles on the bulk of the roof, dibitin on the flat part of the roof). His price was exactly 1/2 of the competing top bid for that roof. He has a small shop and does all the estimating and job planning himself, so you have to be patient and wait sometimes to get things done. If you have an emergency, as in a leak, his crew will get to it right away, but a new roof might have to wait til he has time available. Unfortunately, sometimes he doesn't get around to telling you that, but he does a great job once he starts. The property is cleaned every day at the end of work, all trash is hauled away, and he finishes the job, not leaving pieces of it til some far away down-stream date, which a lot of contractors do. He's a nice man. Fair, conscientious, efficient, once he gets rolling. If you need further recommendations, ask your realtor. He does a lot of work for the real estate community in Montclair.