Hear from Our Customers
There’s a specific window where a roof goes from “aging but fine” to “actively failing.” Most homeowners in Highland Acres don’t find out they’ve crossed that line until there’s water on the ceiling or a home inspector flags it before a sale. A professional assessment changes that entirely.
You get documented answers, not guesswork — and you get to decide what happens next on your terms, not under pressure.
The housing stock in Highland Acres was built across several decades, and a lot of those original roofs were installed with materials that simply weren’t designed to last past the 25-to-30-year mark. Add in Kent County’s humidity, the freeze-thaw cycles that crack shingles and weaken flashing every winter, and the nor’easters that push through Delaware from fall through spring — and you’ve got conditions that accelerate wear faster than the calendar alone would suggest.
Living adjacent to Dover Air Force Base also means decades of low-frequency vibration from some of the largest military transport aircraft in the world. It’s background noise to most residents, but that kind of sustained vibration does have a cumulative effect on the fasteners, ridge caps, and flashing seals that keep a roof watertight. It’s a local factor specific to Highland Acres that matters, and it’s worth knowing about.
We’ve been working in Kent County for over 22 years. That’s not a tagline — it means our team has worked on homes of the exact vintage that make up most of Highland Acres, pulled permits through Kent County, and dealt with the same climate patterns that affect every roof from here to Camden and beyond. Our experience is specific, not general.
Richard McCain, our owner and president, is the person behind the business. His name is on the work, which means there’s a real individual accountable for every project — not an anonymous regional LLC that set up a local landing page last month. When you reach out to First State Roofing & Exteriors Co., you’re reaching a team that’s been rooted in this part of Delaware for more than two decades, with a 5.0-star rating across 63-plus verified reviews to back it up.
We’re licensed through the Delaware Division of Professional Regulation, fully insured, and BBB accredited. Those aren’t extras — they’re the baseline for what a legitimate contractor operating in Highland Acres should be able to show you.
It starts with a free inspection. A member of our team comes out, evaluates the current condition of your roof, documents what we find, and gives you a clear picture of what’s actually going on up there. No pressure, no upsell — just an honest assessment.
For homes in Highland Acres built in the 1980s or 1990s, that inspection often surfaces things homeowners didn’t know to look for: granule loss on aging shingles, flashing that’s lost its seal, or ventilation that’s no longer adequate by current standards.
From there, you get a written estimate with the full scope of work laid out clearly. Because Highland Acres is an unincorporated CDP, permitting runs through Kent County rather than a municipal building department — and we handle that process in-house. You don’t have to navigate county permit requirements on your own.
Once the project starts, the team on your roof is the same team that gave you the estimate. No subcontracting, no unfamiliar crews showing up unannounced. We get the job done, clean the site thoroughly — multiple customers have specifically called out how thoroughly we clean up after the work is finished — and you’re left with a roof that’s documented, warranted, and built to handle what Delaware throws at it.
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We cover the full exterior — roof replacement, roof installation, roof repair, emergency roof repair available around the clock, roof inspections, and ongoing maintenance. For Highland Acres homeowners dealing with aging asphalt shingles, we can assess whether algae-resistant materials make sense given Kent County’s humidity levels, which are high enough that dark streaking from algae growth is a common issue on older roofs throughout the area.
Beyond roofing, we handle siding installation — including vinyl and fiber cement — gutter installation and repair, windows, and skylights. That matters for a neighborhood like Highland Acres where homes sit on half-acre to full-acre lots and the entire exterior envelope tends to age together. Getting the roof sorted and then realizing the gutters need replacing in two years means coordinating another contractor, another schedule, another estimate process. Handling it through one team saves time and avoids the gaps that come from multiple contractors working on the same structure independently.
For homeowners dealing with storm damage — whether from a nor’easter pushing through along U.S. Route 13’s corridor or a summer hail event — we work directly with insurance providers to help navigate the claims process. Financing is available for larger projects, which is a practical consideration for residents on fixed incomes or anyone managing a replacement that wasn’t in the budget.
The honest answer is that you often can’t tell from the ground, and even a visual inspection from the attic only tells part of the story. The clearest indicators of a replacement rather than a repair are age, the extent of granule loss on asphalt shingles, and whether the underlying decking has taken on moisture damage.
For homes in Highland Acres built in the late 1970s through the 1990s, the age factor alone puts a significant number of roofs at or past the point where repairs stop making financial sense — you’re patching something that’s going to need full replacement within a few years anyway.
A professional inspection gives you documented evidence rather than a guess. We provide free inspections, and the assessment will tell you whether you’re dealing with isolated damage that’s worth repairing or a roof that’s reached the end of its functional life. That distinction matters a lot when you’re deciding how to spend money on a home that’s likely worth significantly more than it was when the roof was first installed.
For most residential homes in the Highland Acres area, architectural asphalt shingles are the most practical choice — they’re durable, cost-effective relative to other options, and widely available with strong manufacturer warranties. The key specification to pay attention to in this part of Delaware is algae resistance.
Kent County’s humidity creates ideal conditions for Gloeocapsa magma, the algae responsible for the dark streaking you see on older roofs throughout Highland Acres. Algae-resistant shingles have copper or zinc granules worked into the surface that inhibit that growth — it’s not an upsell, it’s a material choice that makes a real difference in how long the roof holds up and looks.
Metal roofing is another option worth considering for longevity — a properly installed metal roof can last 50 years or more, which changes the math significantly on a cost-per-year basis. For homeowners who plan to stay in their Highland Acres home long-term, that lifespan is worth factoring into the decision. The right material depends on your roof’s pitch, your budget, and your timeline, which is exactly what a free estimate conversation is designed to work through.
It depends on the policy and the cause of damage, but storm-related damage from wind and hail is covered under most standard homeowner’s insurance policies in Delaware. What trips people up is the claims process itself — documenting the damage correctly, communicating with the adjuster, and making sure the scope of the claim actually reflects what needs to be repaired or replaced. Underdocumented claims get underpaid, and that gap often becomes the homeowner’s problem.
We work directly with homeowners’ insurance providers as part of the process. That means if a nor’easter or a summer hail event damages your roof in Highland Acres, you’re not navigating the claims process alone. We can document the damage, communicate with your insurer, and make sure the claim reflects the actual scope of work needed. For homeowners who’ve never filed a roof claim before — which is most people — having a contractor who knows how that process works is genuinely useful.
Yes, roofing replacements in Highland Acres require a permit. Because Highland Acres is an unincorporated census-designated place rather than an incorporated municipality, permitting runs through Kent County rather than a local town building department. That’s a distinction some homeowners aren’t aware of, and it means the process is slightly different than it would be for a project in Dover or Camden proper.
We manage the permitting process in-house as part of every replacement project. You don’t need to research Kent County permit requirements, submit applications, or track approval timelines — we handle it. This matters because pulling permits correctly protects you: it ensures the work is inspected to code, and it protects your ability to sell the home later without a buyer’s inspector flagging unpermitted work. Any contractor who suggests skipping the permit to save time or money is creating a problem for you, not solving one.
For a standard single-family home — the ranch houses, colonials, and Cape Cods that make up most of Highland Acres’ residential streets — a full roof replacement is typically completed in one day. That’s the case for most straightforward residential projects, assuming the decking underneath is in sound condition and doesn’t require additional repair once the old material is removed.
If there’s decking damage from years of moisture intrusion, that adds time, but we’ll communicate that clearly before and during the project rather than surprising you with it after the fact.
Weather timing matters in Kent County. Fall nor’easters and the freeze-thaw conditions of late winter can complicate scheduling, and spring tends to be a busy season as homeowners discover damage from the winter months. Booking an inspection earlier in the season gives you more flexibility on scheduling and avoids the rush that follows a major storm event, when every roofing contractor in the area books up quickly.
After any significant storm — a nor’easter, a summer hail event, a tropical system remnant tracking through Kent County — out-of-town contractors show up quickly. They knock on doors, offer fast quotes, and sometimes ask for large upfront payments before work begins. These are storm chasers, and they’re a documented problem throughout Delaware. The work they do is often substandard, the warranties they offer are unenforceable once they’ve moved on to the next market, and the homeowner is left with no recourse.
The simplest protection is verifying credentials before signing anything. Ask for the contractor’s Delaware license number and verify it through the Delaware Division of Professional Regulation. Ask for proof of General Liability and Workers’ Compensation insurance — without the latter, you can be held liable if a worker is injured on your property. A legitimate contractor operating in Highland Acres will have no hesitation providing both.
First State Roofing & Exteriors Co. is verified through the Delaware Division of Professional Regulation, fully insured, and has been operating in Kent County for over 22 years — the kind of track record that doesn’t exist for a company that set up shop last week.
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