Classic Products Metal Roofing Systems

Had a metal roof installed 2 years ago and have gone back and forth as to whether or not to post a review. I feel both the good and the bad need to be out there and each person can make up their own mind. Maybe we got (un)lucky with all of our problems.

Pros:
Crew was efficient, fast and even worked with a storm rolling in.
Looks great (minus the dormers that can't be completed despite Patrick's—Classic salesperson—assurance that this would not be a problem to have done after).
No raccoons and squirrels on our roof since we got it.
Got a reduction on our home insurance.
Got a grant from the City of Toronto for having an eco-roof/cool roof.
Have noticed a difference in our house's heating and cooling. Our third floor is nice and warm in the winter and cool in the summer. I work from home and, in the summers, I would not be able to work on the third floor as it got too hot. These past two summers, not only was I able to work from the third floor, I didn't have to turn on the air conditioning until much later in the season than I normally would.
Ken from Classic was a *huge* help in finishing up all the little detail stuff that should have been done in the beginning. Not sure if he is still there.
Great (and true) lifetime warranty.

Cons:
Poor communication; weeks between updates (usually involving me reaching out).
Lack of attention to detail: the front lip of the window in the front versus the back of the house was not done the same way (minor, but, again, attention to detail; makes one wonder what else is getting missed); incorrect number of skylights indicated on the quote; wrong type of skylight indicated (despite the salesman being on our roof for a long time); poor cleaning done: had to come back to pick up lots of metal bits in our eavestroughs (months later; delay only partly due to weather—not 3 months' worth) — years later and I am still finding very sharp bits of metal in our garden—be careful if you have kids and/or pets.
Misled by salesperson on several issues. One of them being that we would have no trouble finding someone to add aluminum cladding to our dormers (over the shingles). So far, no one wants to come and work on a metal roof, and when we ask for advice from Classic, we receive no response. So our house looks incomplete from the front and the back. When people ask us about our roof, they always ask about the dormers and why they were left like that. Not good advertising for the end product, unfortunately. Update to the dormers—we ended up having Classic do the dormers at a much higher cost as no other roofing company wanted to go on the metal roof); another issue we were misled on was the need for snowguards. I specifically asked about the closeness of our house to our neighbour's and was assured I did not need them. This is completely false and we had to have some installed after the fact (by Classic). And they are still not enough to stop the snow from damaging our neighbour's property.

When problems happen is when a company's true colours come out. Some of the problems could not have been avoided; others definitely could have. Still, this is no excuse for leaving the customer in the dark.

I would not recommend a metal roof if you already have skylights (unless you plan on replacing them). Ours had to be replaced (at Classic's cost; we paid for labour) and as much as they look great from the outside, again, the flashing and attention to detail on the inside are not great. I will have to take some of the flashing off and paint the wood framing that is showing through myself.

I would also not recommend if your house is very close to your neighbour's (ours is about 3 feet away from our neighbour's). The snow falling off our roof (even with snowguards) has caused damage to our neighbour's windows and front porch railing and roof. They now have to place outside protection on their windows in the winter in order to avoid further damage. As well, with all the snow falling from our roof now (instead of staying on the roof), it renders the passageway between our two houses unuseable in the winter due to the amount of snow that falls between the houses and the speed at which the snow comes down.

I wanted to give Classic a glowing review but for the many reasons above, I cannot. It is a shame as I love the product and many of our neighbours have commented on how good it looks.

Another update—this past summer, when we had very high winds (90-100 km/h), we had some of our aluminum shingles fly off. This should not have happened as they are guaranteed to withstand winds up to 193 km/h. These shingles are super light but also super sharp. If they land flat on someone, no problem, but if they land on their sides, they are razor-sharp! Classic crew came within a week and fixed the shingles (labour and materials were completely covered by their excellent warranty), though when we emailed them asking them about details of what was done and if they had checked more of the roof for damage, we received no response.

2020 update:
We finally had snow rails installed in 2019 in order to try and stem the flow of snow coming off our roof (this on top of our snow guards, which were not very helpful). These have greatly helped; however, the snow still falls between our house and our neighbour's and requires a lot more snow clearing than in the past, it just doesn't fall at a dangerous speed anymore. The thing with metal roofs is that the snow has to come off—that's the whole point; the speed at which it does can be an issue. I would recommend snow rails for any roof under which people walk.

Darryl at Classics was instrumental at sourcing these rails for our metal roof. He never gave up (even when we thought he had) until we were fully satisfied, even though it took a few years. We are now very happy with our metal roof and our snow rails. Companies will often ignore/drop a customer when there are problems but Darryl showed that he/his company will not give up until everything is perfect. Thank you, Darryl!

The roof was a month late and the work was done improperly. The salesmen / owner said it was correct( four times ) without even looking at it. Buyer beware.

I waited a few months to write my review because I wanted to see how the roof fared through the winter. No issues with rain or snow. Just make sure you get enough snow guards. It's a good product which sells itself so the sales pitch is no-pressure and informative. If you're worried about noise from rain, don't be. We noticed no difference from asphalt. The staff were all exceptional: very professional, responsive to inquiries (even replying to emails after hours), and very quick to resolve issues (of which there was only a minor one that they corrected immediately). Great company with folks that work in good faith to sell, install, and service a solid product that they believe in. It was only a little bit more expensive than asphalt. All my neighbour's are on their second and third roofs now; while previous owners replaced my roof at least twice in 15 years, this one is my first and last. Highly recommended!

First if all its no small feat to shell out tens of thousands of dollars on home Reno projects; but when you do you want to know it's appreciated and that you are treated with some respect as the person dolling out the doh! In this regard, I had nothing but an extremely professional and pleasant experience with Pat Bolger, the sales rep for this company. Whilst there was no pressure; he knew his stuff.

I needed a new roof to replace my 10 year old decrepit shingles. I wanted something more permanent and was ready to invest into a lifelong solution for my investment property. I researched the companies around and got several quotes, I decided to go with Classic Roofing.
Pat came to my home in Scarborough at the time to present his company to me. A week later I let him know I was going with him. Once the deposit was paid it took about a week to complete the job. Their installation staff were great as well and very accommodating, and did everything I requested of them.

The site was left clean and the home stands out in the crowd. Great product! Great service! Wonderful employees! I would definitely use them again and recommend them! Kudos!

Classic Products Metal Roofing Systems is an awesome company.
Every aspect of planning and receiving our new roof was service-oriented. The salesman, Joe, was friendly and easy to negotiate with. He was clear and precise in his explanations of what would work with our home, figured out how to give us some modifications that we wanted, and at a fair price. The administrator, Candice, was patiently helpful in every way, and answered my emails promptly even outside of typical office hours. The work crew, John, Shay, and Ben, worked diligently in the winter cold and cleaned up thoroughly at the end of each of the 4 days they were here. They were respectful and friendly. They also tweaked a few details on the last day of the installation to ensure my complete satisfaction with the job. They are craftsmen, and the result is beautiful! A steel roof is an expensive investment...our Classic roof is well worth every dollar.

Having a new roof installed is not usually on people’s list of enjoyable experiences, I have to let you know that from the initial visit from your sales representative, through day-to-day dealings with your installers, right up to the final clean-up and inspection, we had a great working relationship with all your people. As problems cropped up, as they tend to do so in a 36 year old home like ours, they were dealt with in a timely and professional manner.
I was unaware that your installers had been factory trained by Classic Products, but it quickly became evident that the work was being done by professionals. They were not only efficient but super friendly and courteous. We now have a beautiful roof that adds greatly to the curb appeal of our house, as well as to the resale value. We had several inquiries by neighbours as soon as the roofing material started to be applied. Not only do we have the most attractive roof in our neighbourhood, but the most technically sound. Speaking of sound, we had it thoroughly tested by a downpour and found the roofing made no more noise than our pre-existing asphalt shingles. I am looking forward to not having to clean particles of decaying asphalt from our eaves troughs.

I wanted to write and thank you for the recommendation you made to us to have a Classic Products Roof installed here at our new residence in St. Catharines. The roof continues to attract many favourable comments from our neighbours as they walk behind our home along the pathway following the lake. It has been over 10 years since we installed our Classic Aluminum Roof and it still looks great!

Less than three days after your installation team had completed putting our new rustic shingle roof on our home last week, summertime temperatures took off in Southern Ontario, and for several days now, have been well into the 30’s. We are extremely pleased to tell you that our new Classic Products roof is protecting us from the heat exactly as promised.
Under our old roof, with the temperatures that we have been experiencing, the in-house temperature would rise all day, in spite of our central air unit running constantly. With our new roof, the in-house environment stays at a comfortable 72 degrees, and the central air unit operates only as needed. There is almost no difference in the temperature between the ground floor and the second storey, where before, the upstairs might be five to ten degrees warmer. We are really pleased!
We are also very pleased with the appearance of our home with the new roof. The colour coordinates perfectly with our exterior brick, and the textured appearance of the rustic shingle really makes our house stand out. Several of our neighbours have already told me how much they liked the new look!
The staff at Classic Products was very knowledgeable and extremely helpful, from the first visit of the salesperson. We were well advised on our choice of product, and I can’t say enough good things about the help we received to ensure that the deal would be appropriately financed. We received courteous, prompt attention to every question.
The installation crew was prompt, courteous, and left our property tidy – no nails, scraps, or unused material were left around.
Are we pleased? You betcha!! And we would recommend Classic Products to anyone looking for a permanent roofing solution on the basis of performance, appearance, service, - and – yes - price. When we consider that NO ONE will EVER re-roof our house again under normal circumstances, EVER, we think the price is VERY good value.

The installation crew finished on the 8th (December 2004) and I wanted to say how pleased we are with the deep charcoal rustic shingles. We picked the right style and colour – it looks great from the street. Many people walking or driving by take a long glance!
The 2-man crew should be given a medal, since for three of the four days they were on the job, it was either very windy, cold, raining or snowing – or combinations. In spite of this they worked diligently and painstakingly. Each day they cleaned up and I was impressed by their professional and courteous manner.
I went up on the roof a few times while they were working and I gained an appreciation for the amount of work required to install an aluminum roof – I have no doubt that we will have a trouble-free roof for years to come. It appears to be a well designed system.
I would recommend an aluminum shingle roof to anyone. Please feel free to use this letter as an endorsement of the product.

This past June we had an aluminum roof installed at our cottage on Go Home Lake. Both my wife and I are absolutely elated with the outcome and are so thankful to Alan for convincing us to install your roof over either the traditional asphalt or any of the varieties of steel available.
We have had several severe storms since the roof was installed and it has held up perfectly. We had some initial concerns about the sound level during rainstorms but we actually feel there is less sound now than there was on the old asphalt roof.
We cannot say enough about the quality of installation. Alan took extra care to be sure the underlying roof structure was solid and secure before proceeding with the installation. Every detail was attended to and the job site was left spotless on completion of the job.
We will be constructing a major addition to the cottage in the next couple of years and will have no reservations at all in installing the aluminum shingles as they will not fade or weather at all.
Not to go on and on but we are extremely satisfied customers and will have no reservations at all in recommending your roof system to anybody. It was well worth the cost, which by the way was not as severe as I had originally anticipated. It was actually less than some steel quotes I received.