Your roofer says the job is done. The crew is packing up, the dumpster is getting hauled away, and someone is handing you a final invoice. Before you write that last check or authorize the final payment, take 30 minutes to look at the work. A bad roofing job is a lot easier to fix before the contractor leaves your property than after they cash your money and move on to the next house.
Here is what to look for — from the ground, from the attic, and up close — so you can catch problems before they become expensive headaches down the road.
What You Can See From the Ground
You don't need to climb a ladder to spot the most obvious signs of sloppy roofing work. Walk to the street and look at your roof from a distance. Then walk around the entire house looking up at every section.
Shingle Lines Are Not Straight
Stand at the street and look at the horizontal shingle lines running across your roof. They should be ruler-straight from one side to the other. If the lines waver, dip, or look crooked, the shingles were not aligned properly during installation. This is not just a cosmetic problem — misaligned shingles leave gaps where water can get underneath.
Most Charlotte roofing companies use chalk lines on the underlayment to keep shingle courses straight. If the crew didn't bother with chalk lines, that tells you something about their attention to detail on everything else too.
Uneven or Wavy Roof Surface
The roof surface should look flat and uniform. If you see bumps, waves, or areas that look like they are bulging, the underlayment or decking underneath may not have been laid properly. Sometimes this means the crew installed new shingles over damaged decking without replacing it. Other times it means they laid the underlayment with wrinkles and just shingled right over them.
Ridge Cap Problems
The ridge cap — the row of shingles along the peak of your roof — should form a clean, straight line. If the ridge cap looks uneven, has gaps between pieces, or does not overhang the field shingles equally on both sides, it was installed carelessly. A sloppy ridge cap is one of the first places wind-driven rain will penetrate during Charlotte's spring and summer storms.
Visible Nails or Nail Pops
From the ground with binoculars, or from a ladder at the eave line, look for nail heads poking through shingles. In a proper installation, every nail is covered by the shingle above it. Exposed nails rust, create holes, and cause leaks. If you can see nail heads from the ground, there are likely many more you cannot see. This is one of the most common shortcuts bad roofers take.
Check the Edges and Gutters
Drip Edge
Walk along the bottom edge of the roof where it meets the gutters. You should see a metal strip called drip edge running along the entire bottom edge and up the sides (rakes) of the roof. Drip edge directs water into the gutters and prevents it from wicking back up under the shingles.
North Carolina building code requires drip edge on new roof installations. If your roofer didn't install drip edge, that's a code violation and a future leak waiting to happen. Some cut-rate contractors skip drip edge to save $200-$400 in materials. Don't accept this.
Gutter Reattachment
During a roof replacement, gutters often need to be detached and reattached. Check that your gutters are properly secured, hang at the correct angle for drainage, and do not have new dents or damage from the roofing crew. If gutters weren't reattached properly, you'll notice water overflowing in the next heavy rain.
Starter Strip
At the very bottom row of shingles, there should be a starter strip underneath — a row of shingles installed upside down or a purpose-made starter strip product. This starter strip seals the bottom edge. Without it, wind can lift the first row of shingles and water gets underneath. You can check this from a ladder by gently lifting the bottom edge of the first shingle row. You should feel or see a sealed layer underneath.
Flashing: Where Most Leaks Start
Flashing is the metal pieces installed wherever the roof meets a vertical surface — chimneys, walls, dormers, vent pipes, and in valleys. Bad flashing work is the number one cause of roof leaks in Charlotte, and it is also one of the easiest things to do wrong.
Chimney Flashing
If you have a chimney, look at where the roof meets it on all four sides. You should see step flashing (L-shaped metal pieces woven into the shingle courses) on the sides, counter flashing (a second layer of metal tucked into the mortar joints) overlapping the step flashing, and a cricket or diverter on the uphill side of the chimney that directs water around it.
If the flashing is just a glob of roof cement smeared along the chimney base, that is a hack job. Roof cement isn't flashing — it's a temporary patch that dries, cracks, and leaks within a few years. Proper roof inspections in Charlotte always flag cement-only chimney flashing as a deficiency.
Pipe Boots
Every plumbing vent pipe sticking through your roof should have a rubber or neoprene boot around it. The boot should sit flat against the shingles with no gaps. If the boot is crooked, cut too large, or sealed with just caulk instead of being properly integrated with the shingle courses, it will leak. Pipe boot failures are one of the most common repair calls Charlotte roofers get within two years of a roof replacement.
Valley Flashing
Roof valleys — where two sloped sections meet and water flows down — should have either woven shingles (where the shingles from both sides are interlaced) or cut valleys with metal flashing underneath. The shingles should be trimmed cleanly along the valley line. If the valley shingles are ragged, overlapping unevenly, or the metal flashing underneath is visible where it should not be, the crew rushed through it.
What to Check in the Attic
After the crew finishes, go into your attic with a flashlight. This takes five minutes and can save you thousands of dollars.
Daylight Coming Through
Turn off your flashlight and look for pinpoints of light coming through the roof deck. Small points of light mean nail holes or gaps in the decking that were not covered. While a couple of stray nail holes might not cause immediate leaks, they are entry points for water during heavy rain and a sign of careless work.
Proper Ventilation
If your roof replacement included ridge vents (it should have — Charlotte's heat and humidity make proper ventilation critical), check that the ridge vent slot was actually cut through the decking. Some roofers install ridge vent caps on the outside but never cut the slot in the plywood underneath, which means the vent does nothing. You should be able to see daylight through the ridge line from inside the attic. Read our full guide on roof ventilation for Charlotte homes for more on what proper ventilation looks like.
Debris and Nails in the Attic
After a roof replacement, there should not be a pile of old shingle debris, nails, or broken plywood in your attic space. If there is, the crew was not careful during tear-off, and those nails can puncture insulation, damage HVAC ducts, or end up in your feet the next time you go up there.
Check the Cleanup
A professional roofing crew leaves your property clean when they leave. That means:
- No nails in the yard, driveway, or flower beds. A good crew runs a magnetic nail sweeper over the entire property — lawn, driveway, walkways, and landscaping — at least twice. Roofing nails in tires are not just annoying, they are expensive.
- No shingle wrappers, packaging, or debris. The dumpster should be gone and all packaging materials cleaned up.
- No damage to siding, windows, or landscaping. Walk around the house and check for dented siding, scratched paint, broken bushes, or cracked window screens. Roofing is rough work, and even careful crews occasionally cause minor damage. The difference is that a good crew points it out and fixes it. A bad crew hopes you don't notice.
The Final Walkthrough
Before you sign off, do a formal walkthrough with the project manager or foreman. This is standard practice for any reputable Charlotte roofing company. Walk the property together and point out anything that concerns you.
During the walkthrough, ask to see:
- The building permit and confirmation that a final inspection has been scheduled with Mecklenburg County (or your local jurisdiction)
- Photos the crew took during the installation — especially of the underlayment, flashing, and any decking replacement
- Manufacturer warranty registration information
- A written workmanship warranty from the contractor
If the contractor resists doing a walkthrough, cannot produce permit paperwork, or pressures you to pay before the final inspection, those are serious red flags.
What to Do If You Find Problems
If you spot issues during your inspection, don't panic — but don't ignore them either. Here is how to handle it:
- Document everything. Take photos and video of every issue you find. Date-stamp them.
- Put it in writing. Send the contractor a written list of the problems via email. Don't rely on verbal agreements to fix things.
- Withhold final payment. If you followed the standard 10-30% deposit / 70-90% on completion payment structure, you still have financial leverage. Don't release the final payment until the issues are resolved.
- Get a second opinion. If you are not sure whether something is actually a problem or just looks off, hire an independent inspector for a professional roof inspection. A third-party report costs $200-$400 and gives you documentation that carries weight if the dispute escalates.
- Contact your local building department. If the work does not meet code, the building inspector will flag it during the final permit inspection and the contractor will be required to fix it.
Charlotte-Specific Things to Watch
A few things are especially relevant to roofing work in the Charlotte metro area:
- HOA compliance. If you live in an HOA community — Ballantyne, Piper Glen, Cameron Wood, Providence Plantation — make sure the shingle color and style match what was approved by your Architectural Review Committee. A roofer who installs the wrong color will not be the one paying for a second replacement.
- Hurricane clip or strap connections. Charlotte is not on the coast, but we get enough tropical storm remnants that some newer homes and HOA requirements call for roof-to-wall connections. If your contract specified hurricane straps, verify they were installed in the attic.
- Ice and water shield in valleys. While Charlotte does not get the ice dam problems that northern states deal with, NC building code and most manufacturer specifications still require ice and water shield in valleys and at eaves. Make sure it was installed — you can check from the attic by looking at the valleys from below. You should see a rubberized membrane, not just felt paper.
The Bottom Line
Thirty minutes of inspection now can save you years of leaks, repair bills, and arguments with a contractor who has already moved on. Most roofing jobs in Charlotte are done well by honest contractors — but every market has bad actors, and storm-chasing crews that blow through town after hail season are notorious for sloppy work.
Trust your eyes. If something looks wrong, it probably is. And if your contractor will not stand behind their work during a simple walkthrough, that tells you everything you need to know about how they will handle a warranty claim two years down the road.