The economy may be down right now, but the roofing business is up – way up – because of the September 14 windstorm that raked the Tri-state.
There was so much damage to so many houses, in so many areas, that roofing companies have a huge backlog of work.
"We're about 12 to 14 weeks out right now," said Nick Sabino, owner of Deer Park Roofing. "If somebody would call for a new roof it would take us that long to get to them."
Before the storm, customers could expect an eight-week wait for crews to begin work.
The mini-hurricane caused at least $553 million worth of damage in Ohio, according to the Ohio Insurance Institute.
That's based on 131,000 claims reported by just 24 insurance carriers so far.
When everything has been reported, the damage will likely be worse than the tornadoes of 1974 which struck Xenia, Sayler Park, Bridgetown, Mack, Elmwood Place, Sharonville and Mason.
Much of the September 14 loss was due to roof damage.
"The first day we got about 450 calls and it's tapered off slowly since then, but we usually have three people on the line every minute of the day," Sabino said.
Deer Park Roofing has added office workers to handle the current volume of 150 calls per day.
"Fortunately for us, most of them are very patient," Sabino added.
The storm hit as Kevin and Sarah Pressler were moving in to their new house in Evendale.
Deer Park Roofing is just now completing installation of their new roof.
The Presslers are among the lucky ones. They feared it would be 2009 before the work would be done.
On Blue Ash Road in Deer Park, Tom Camp stared at the blue plastic tarps still covering portions of the roof of his business, Camp Safety Equipment.
He's been waiting and waiting for repair work to begin.
"It is very frustrating," Camp said. "Thank God we don't have any leaks."
The problem is a disagreement with the insurance adjuster.
Camp says he believes the entire roof of the building needs to be replaced at a cost of $20,0000.
The insurance company only wants to pay $6,000 to put new shingles on half the roof, and just repair the other half.
"The roof's not that old, but we're at a stalemate right now." Camp said.
"I'd at least like to have the contractor under agreement so when he has time he can come in and get it done, but right now we're still at the point where we're discussing and negotiating a fair settlement to get this taken care of," said Camp.
Mitch Wilson, of the Ohio Insurance Institute, says if such disputes can't be resolved, consumers can call the customer service division of their insurance company.
If no resolution can be worked out, the matter can be heard by an arbitrator with the Ohio Department of Insurance.
