The template below is a roofing workmanship warranty that says who is covered, what you will fix, for how long and how a homeowner files a claim. Copy it onto your letterhead and fill in the brackets for each job.
It covers your labor and sends materials claims to the shingle maker. It also carries the disclosures federal warranty law asks for when a warranty covers materials.
This template covers your labor and leaves the shingles to their maker
LIMITED WARRANTY
Roofing workmanship by [Company name]
Homeowner: [Name]. Property: [Street address, city, state, ZIP]. Contract: [Number], signed [Date]. Work completed: [Date].
The work. [Full roof replacement / Repair of (area)] as described in the contract, using [shingle maker and product line], [underlayment], [flashing] and [ventilation].
Our promise. [Company name] performed this work in a good and workmanlike manner and followed the written installation instructions of the manufacturers named above. If a leak or other failure is caused by how we installed it, we will repair it at no charge for labor or materials.
Who is covered. [Pick one: The homeowner named above, while they own the home. / Anyone who owns the home during the warranty period.]
How long. Coverage starts on the date the work was completed and lasts [number] years.
Not covered.
- Defects in the shingles or other materials themselves. Their manufacturers warrant them, and copies of those warranties are attached: [manufacturer warranty name, and any enhanced warranty registered for this job].
- Damage from storms or fire after completion.
- Damage caused by anyone other than [Company name] working on the roof, such as satellite or solar installers.
- Leaks from parts of the home we did not work on, such as [chimney masonry].
How to make a claim.
- Call [free phone number] or write to [Company name], [mailing address], when you notice a problem. Give your name, address and contract number.
- We will inspect within [number] business days.
- If the problem is covered, we will repair it and tell you in writing what we did. If it is not, we will tell you why in writing.
Your other rights. Nothing in this warranty limits the implied warranties your state’s law gives you. This warranty gives you specific legal rights, and you may also have other rights which vary from State to State.
Signed: [Name and title], [Company name], [Date]
The template points back to your contract for the scope of work, so the two have to describe the same job, and Roofing Contract Template: The Clauses a Residential Roofing Contract Needs covers the contract side. When a claim comes in, Roofing Callbacks and Customer Disputes: Contracts, Warranties and the Review After covers the visit and the review that can follow it.
Covering the materials too brings in federal warranty law
The FTC’s rule under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act counts building materials as consumer products when a homeowner contracts for them to improve, repair or modify a home, and it names roofing as its example. Materials in a new house the homeowner hired a builder to construct do not count.
The rule leaves out “warranties which apply solely to a repairer’s workmanship in performing repairs,” while a document that warrants both the parts and the workmanship “must comply with the Act and the rules thereunder.” That exemption is written around repairs, so whether it covers a labor-only warranty on a full replacement is a question for a lawyer in your state, and the template is written to meet the rules either way.
Once the Act applies, a written warranty on anything over $10 may carry only one of two titles, “Full (statement of duration) Warranty” or “Limited Warranty,” set apart from the text as a caption. The FTC’s business guide calls a warranty full only if it passes five tests. One is that the buyer gets a replacement or full refund, at their choice, when repair fails after a reasonable number of tries. Another is that service goes to anyone who owns the product during the term. A roofer who offers repair only, or covers only the original owner, is giving a limited warranty, so the template’s top line says LIMITED WARRANTY.
The FTC’s disclosure rule lists what one document has to tell the buyer in simple language: who is covered, what is and is not, what you will do and pay for, when coverage starts and how long it lasts, and the claim steps with your name and a mailing address or free phone number. The template has a line for each, down to the “specific legal rights” sentence the rule requires. If you add a cap on how long implied warranties last, or exclude incidental or consequential damages, copy the rule’s set sentence beginning “Some States do not allow” beside each one.
GAF and Owens Corning leave your workmanship out of their standard warranties
GAF’s standard Shingle & Accessory Limited Warranty lists workmanship as “Not covered.” Owens Corning’s Standard Product Limited Warranty and System Protection show no workmanship coverage, and its Preferred Protection covers workmanship for the first 10 years.
GAF’s Silver Pledge and Golden Pledge add misapplication coverage, and Owens Corning’s Platinum Protection gives limited lifetime coverage. Only contractors with the maker’s higher certifications can offer them, and GAF, Owens Corning, CertainTeed and Atlas Certification: What It Takes and Whether It Wins Jobs covers what those take. GAF’s enhanced warranties need registration, and GAF tells homeowners to call if they have no copy within 60 days of installation, so register each one as soon as the job is done.
An owner on r/Roofing got a harsh review after a 30-year shingle lasted 22 years. The company sent a shingle to the manufacturer, which “prorated her at basically nothing,” and the customer held the roofer responsible. The template’s “Not covered” list and the attached maker’s warranty put that split in writing before the roof goes on.
Under the FTC rule, a seller who only passes along another company’s warranty is not liable for that warranty’s compliance. The seller’s “other actions and written and oral representations” can still create obligations, and a state may treat a seller who adopted the warranty as a co-warrantor. Have reps call the shingle warranty by its maker’s name and keep “our warranty” for your own certificate.
Four clauses to strike from a roofing warranty
- “Void if any other contractor works on the roof.” The FTC’s business guide says a warranty generally cannot require the buyer to use a particular company’s service to keep coverage. Excluding damage caused by service you did not provide is allowed, and the template’s third exclusion is written that way.
- “Void if the customer posts a negative review.” The Consumer Review Fairness Act makes a form-contract clause illegal if it restricts a customer’s review or charges a fee or penalty for one.
- “Sold as is, with no other warranties.” The FTC guide says anyone offering a written warranty the Act covers cannot disclaim or modify implied warranties, though a limited warranty may cap them at its own length. Outside the Act, state law decides. In Texas, the Supreme Court held in Gonzales v. Southwest Olshan Foundation Repair (2013), a foundation repair case, that parties “cannot disclaim but can supersede” the implied warranty of good and workmanlike repair with an agreement that “specifically describes the manner, performance, or quality of the services.” The template’s promise names a standard and the makers’ instructions for that reason.
- “Lifetime warranty,” with no word on whose lifetime. The FTC’s advertising guides say a “lifetime” claim should disclose “the life to which the representation refers,” and its business guide calls the original-owner reading “an inaccurate application of the term.” Write the term in years instead.
Pick a warranty length you can pay for through the whole term
Someone in the office of a DFW roofing company posted on r/Roofing that it gives five years of workmanship coverage on replacements. The poster explained the added manufacturer warranty to one client, and “He was indignant that it wasn’t 10.”
Another poster’s company gives one year from install on Atlas shingles that carry a lifetime manufacturer warranty, and a competing roofer told them five to ten years was the industry standard.
One commenter on r/Construction suggests putting 3% of every job into a warranty or callback fund. Whatever length you choose, price it in, because the FTC’s advertising guides say to advertise a warranty only if you “promptly and fully” perform it. The FTC’s business guide also warns that a seller who loses a suit over a warranty the Act covers “may have to pay the customer’s costs for bringing the suit, including lawyer’s fees.”
Extra years sold for a fee count as a service contract under the FTC’s rule, and so does an inspection-only plan, “even when offered at the time of sale and without charge.” Service contracts are not titled full or limited, and some states regulate them as insurance. Put a paid upgrade or inspection plan on its own document, and check how your state treats it before you sell one.
Show the homeowner the written warranty before the contract is signed
The FTC’s warranty rules call a sale door to door when the seller personally solicits it, even after the buyer’s invitation, and the buyer agrees somewhere other than the seller’s place of business. A kitchen-table signing fits that wording. Before such a sale closes, the rep has to say out loud, and show in any written materials, that they carry copies of the warranties and the buyer can inspect them at any time during the presentation. Since 2016 the copy can be electronic if your terms are posted online.
The FTC’s advertising guides add that an ad mentioning a warranty should tell buyers they can see the written warranty before the sale. Post your blank warranty terms on your website, and have reps say the line before the contract comes out.
Check these before the first certificate goes out
- “LIMITED WARRANTY” sits at the top, set apart from the text.
- The warranty covers your labor, and the maker’s warranty is named and attached.
- Any enhanced manufacturer warranty is registered.
- The “specific legal rights” sentence is in, and no “as is,” review or other-contractor clause is.
- The term is written in years, with no bare “lifetime.”
- Reps tell homeowners out loud that copies are available, and the terms are on your website.
- A lawyer in your state has read the final version.
A warranty only matters once a homeowner has found your company. Zentora’s free Google Maps heatmap lets you pick your Google profile and a search, and in a few minutes shows your rank at 49 points around your office.