Hear from Our Customers
When your roof is in good shape, you stop thinking about it — and that’s exactly how it should be. No ceiling stains catching you off guard on a Tuesday evening. No wondering whether that wind last week did something you haven’t found yet. Just a home that holds up the way it’s supposed to.
Cheswold has added hundreds of new homes across dozens of active communities since 2020, and a lot of those roofs are now hitting the 3-to-7-year mark. That’s the window where builder-installed roofing starts to reveal what was done right and what wasn’t — improper step flashing, ventilation that was undersized from day one, drip edge that was never quite right. None of it shows up immediately. It shows up after a few seasons of central Delaware weather have had their way with it.
Central Delaware’s flat, open terrain along US Route 13 gives seasonal wind events very little to push against. Spring and fall storms move through Kent County with real force, and the high humidity that comes with Delaware’s 45 inches of annual rainfall creates exactly the kind of environment where algae takes hold and shingles deteriorate faster than the warranty card suggested they would. Getting ahead of that — with a real inspection, real documentation, and a contractor who will still be reachable in Year 10 — changes the entire picture.
We’re based out of Smyrna — six miles up US Route 13 from Cheswold. That’s not a coincidence worth glossing over. It means when a storm moves through Kent County and you need someone fast, you’re not waiting on a crew dispatched from Wilmington or coordinated through a regional office that doesn’t know the difference between Cheswold and Clayton.
Richard McCain, our Owner and President, has been doing this work in Delaware for over 22 years. Our team is in-house — no subcontracting, no strangers on your roof who weren’t part of the original conversation. Every project is managed start to finish by the same people who gave you the estimate. That matters more than it sounds, especially in a community like Cheswold where homeowners have real equity on the line and word travels fast between neighbors.
We’re licensed through the Delaware Division of Professional Regulation, fully insured, and BBB accredited. Our 5.0-star rating across 63-plus verified reviews isn’t a marketing number — it’s what happens when a company consistently shows up, does the work right, and leaves the property clean.
It starts with a free inspection. Not a sales pitch dressed up as an inspection — an actual documented assessment of your roof’s condition, with photo evidence and written findings. For homeowners in Cheswold’s newer communities, this is often the first time anyone has taken an independent look at what the builder left behind. What gets found, gets documented. What gets documented can be used for an insurance claim, a warranty dispute, or simply a clear picture of what needs to happen and when.
From there, you get a written estimate with the full scope of work spelled out — materials, timeline, what’s included. If the damage involves an insurance claim, we work directly with your insurance provider to move that process along. A lot of homeowners don’t realize a contractor can help navigate that, and it makes a significant difference in the outcome.
When the work starts, Kent County’s permitting requirements are handled correctly. If your project involves replacing more than 25 percent of the roof sheathing or changing the roofing material, a building permit is required under Kent County code. We pull that permit. We do the job. We clean up the site — something that comes up consistently in customer reviews because it’s not something every contractor takes seriously. Then you have a roof that’s documented, permitted, and backed by a real workmanship warranty from a contractor who isn’t going anywhere.
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Roofing is our core, but it rarely exists in isolation. Gutters that can’t handle central Delaware’s rainfall back up and rot the fascia. Siding gaps let moisture into the wall system and show up as what looks like a roof leak. We handle roofing, siding, gutters, windows, and skylights — which means a Cheswold homeowner dealing with what looks like one problem doesn’t have to coordinate three separate contractors to address what is actually one interconnected moisture issue.
On the roofing side, our work covers residential and commercial projects — asphalt shingles, metal roofing, slate, rubber, EPDM, TPO flat roofing, and more. Algae-resistant shingles are worth a specific mention here: Delaware’s humidity makes Gloeocapsa magma algae growth a real and documented issue on asphalt roofs, and the dark streaking it causes isn’t just cosmetic — it accelerates granule loss and shortens the life of the roof. Choosing the right material for where you actually live matters.
We offer emergency roof repair around the clock. If a storm comes through overnight and you come home to something wrong, there’s a real contractor to call — not a voicemail. Financing is available for larger projects, and free estimates carry no obligation. For homeowners in Stonington or any of Cheswold’s other growing communities who haven’t had an independent roof assessment since moving in, that free inspection is a reasonable place to start.
Yes — and this is one of the most common misconceptions among homeowners in Cheswold’s newer communities. A new roof is not the same as a correctly installed roof. Builder warranties cover structural defects, but they don’t automatically cover workmanship issues like improper step flashing, inadequate attic ventilation, or undersized drip edge. These are the kinds of installation shortcuts that don’t cause visible problems immediately — they surface at Year 5 or Year 7, after a few seasons of Kent County weather have exposed the weak points.
An independent inspection from a licensed contractor gives you a documented, unbiased picture of your roof’s actual condition. That documentation matters. If you ever need to dispute a builder warranty claim, file an insurance claim after storm damage, or simply want to know what you’re working with before something becomes an emergency, having that written assessment on file is genuinely useful. For homes in Cheswold that were built during the recent construction boom, this is a reasonable and low-cost step — the inspection itself is free.
The honest answer is that you won’t know until someone documents it properly. Most standard homeowner’s insurance policies in Delaware cover sudden wind damage — shingles that were lifted or torn off, flashing that was compromised, damage to the underlying structure. What they don’t cover is wear and tear or pre-existing deterioration, which is why the documentation from a post-storm inspection matters so much.
High winds are a recurring reality in Kent County, particularly during spring and fall storm seasons. The flat, open terrain around Cheswold gives those wind events very little resistance, and newer subdivisions with young landscaping don’t have the mature tree cover that older neighborhoods use as a natural buffer. When a storm comes through, the damage isn’t always visible from the ground — lifted shingles, compromised seals, and damaged flashing often require a trained eye to identify.
We work directly with homeowners’ insurance providers and can help you understand what’s documented, what’s covered, and how to move the claim forward. You don’t have to figure that process out on your own.
For most single-family homes in Cheswold, a full roof replacement is typically completed in one day. The timeline depends on the size and pitch of the roof, the materials being used, and the current condition of the decking underneath — if the inspection reveals sheathing damage that needs to be addressed, that adds time. But for a standard residential replacement with architectural shingles on a home in the 2,000-to-2,500-square-foot range, one day is the realistic expectation.
This matters practically for Cheswold residents because the average commute in this community is over 30 minutes each way, and most households are away from home for the better part of the day. The goal is to have the work completed, the site cleaned up, and the property back to normal before you’re home from work. That’s not a promise made lightly — it’s something that comes up specifically in customer reviews because it’s something we actually deliver on.
It depends on the scope of the work. Under Kent County’s building code — which applies to Cheswold — a building permit is required when a roofing project involves replacing more than 25 percent of the roof sheathing or when you’re changing the roofing material type, such as switching from asphalt shingles to a metal roof. For a straightforward like-for-like shingle replacement that stays under that threshold, a permit may not be required, but it’s always worth confirming with the town directly before work begins.
What you want to avoid is a contractor who skips the permit process to save time. In a community like Cheswold where homes are turning over as the population grows, permit records matter at resale. A roof replacement that was done without the required permit can create real complications during a home inspection or title review. We pull permits correctly and work within Kent County’s requirements — that’s not an upsell, it’s just how the work should be done.
For most Cheswold homeowners, architectural asphalt shingles are the practical starting point — they’re durable, cost-effective, and widely available with strong manufacturer warranties. But the specific conditions of central Delaware make a few material choices worth thinking about carefully. Algae-resistant shingles are strongly recommended in this region. Delaware’s high humidity and 45 inches of average annual rainfall create ideal conditions for Gloeocapsa magma, the algae strain responsible for the dark streaking you see on roofs throughout Kent County. Standard shingles are susceptible to it; algae-resistant shingles are treated to resist it.
Attic ventilation is the other factor that doesn’t get enough attention. In the newer construction communities around Cheswold, ventilation was sometimes installed at minimum specification during the building process. Poor ventilation accelerates shingle deterioration from the inside out — heat and moisture build up in the attic and break down the shingles above. When selecting materials, it’s worth having a contractor assess the ventilation system at the same time, because the best shingles in the world underperform on a roof that’s being cooked from underneath.
Yes, financing is available through us, and for most homeowners in Cheswold, it’s a practical option worth knowing about. A full roof replacement on a home in this area is a significant project — Delaware roof replacement costs run approximately 5 percent above the national average, and a full tear-off and replacement with architectural shingles on a 2,000-to-2,500-square-foot home can run into the range of $30,000 depending on materials and scope. That kind of expense is almost never sitting in the household budget.
Financing makes it possible to address the problem now rather than defer a repair that will cost more the longer it waits. A small leak that goes unaddressed through a Delaware winter — with its freeze-thaw cycles and nor’easters — can become a structural issue that multiplies the original repair cost several times over. For homeowners in Cheswold who stretched their budget to get into the market during the recent building boom, financing isn’t a last resort — it’s what makes the right decision financially workable. The application process is straightforward, and it’s worth asking about when you request your free estimate.
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