The homeowner in Colonie held up the paperwork from the roofer his neighbor had used the year before. Fifty-year warranty, printed in bold at the top. He asked me whether we could match it.
I told him yes and no. Yes, because we can match it. No, because “50-year warranty” isn’t what he thinks it is.
I want to walk through what a roof warranty actually covers in plain language, because the marketing has moved so far ahead of the reality that most homeowners are signing paperwork they don’t understand. This is worth twenty minutes of your time before you accept any replacement quote, whether it’s from us or somebody else.
The two warranties on your new roof
Every properly installed replacement carries two separate warranties. They cover different things. Homeowners routinely conflate them, and roofers routinely let them.
The manufacturer warranty covers the shingle material. It comes from Owens Corning, GAF, CertainTeed, or whoever made the shingles. It says: if these shingles fail because of a defect in the material — they crack prematurely, they shed granules faster than they should, they delaminate — the manufacturer will cover some portion of the replacement cost. Not the whole cost. Some portion, on a sliding scale that gets less generous as the roof ages.
The workmanship warranty covers the installation. It comes from the roofing contractor. It says: if we make an installation mistake — a poorly seated flashing, an under-nailed shingle field, a mis-installed valley — that causes damage, we will come back and fix it at no cost to you.
Almost every roof failure in the first ten to fifteen years of its life is a workmanship issue, not a material defect. Which means the workmanship warranty is doing the actual work of protecting you, and the manufacturer warranty is doing the marketing.
What “50-year warranty” actually means
A 50-year manufacturer warranty is real, but it’s structured in a way most homeowners don’t realize. The typical version has three layers.
Years 1-10: Full replacement coverage. If a proven material defect causes shingle failure in this window, the manufacturer will cover the cost of new shingles and typical installation labor. This is the piece that actually matches what most people picture when they hear “warranty.”
Years 10-25: Prorated coverage. The manufacturer will cover a percentage of the cost that declines each year. By year 20, the coverage might be 30% of material cost only — no labor, no disposal, no tear-off.
Years 25-50: Very limited coverage. By this point, coverage is typically just a small percentage of material cost. Almost never worth filing a claim on.
None of that includes storm damage, ice dam damage, tree damage, animal damage, foot traffic damage, or damage from any workmanship issue at any point. Those are all excluded from the manufacturer warranty and either handled by the workmanship warranty (if it’s a workmanship issue in the first ten years) or by your homeowner’s insurance.
Where the Owens Corning Preferred Contractor system matters
The reason we became an Owens Corning Preferred Contractor — one of a handful in the Capital Region — is that their Preferred Contractor program lets us offer a materially better version of both warranties on the same job. The specific tier depends on the exact system we install, but the outline:
Extended non-prorated coverage. The full-replacement window expands from the standard ten years to a longer window on qualifying installations.
Workmanship covered by the manufacturer. On the highest tier, Owens Corning underwrites the workmanship warranty themselves — meaning even if we as a contractor went out of business (we’re not going anywhere, but hypothetically), you’d still have workmanship coverage from Owens Corning directly.
Transferable coverage. The warranty transfers to a new homeowner if you sell the house within the warranty period. This is worth real money at resale.
This only works when we install the full Owens Corning system to their spec, on a proper tear-off. It does not work if we cut corners on ice-and-water shield, use off-brand underlayment, or install over an existing shingle layer. That’s why we’ve been strict about how we do replacements since we became Preferred — full tear-offs only.
The workmanship warranty we write
On top of whatever the manufacturer covers, every replacement we do carries a written, transferable 10-year Elite workmanship warranty. Signed, dated, transferable to a new owner if you sell.
The coverage is straightforward. If a leak or damage occurs during that ten years and the cause is our installation, we come back and fix it. No prorating, no percentages, no fine print about proof of defect. The roof is what we said it was, or we make it right.
This warranty gets used. Not often — we don’t have a lot of workmanship claims because we do the work carefully and the same crew doing your roof is the crew doing the next one — but it gets used. The Aug 2025 Google review that’s up on our profile is exactly this: a homeowner with a trivial issue in year four, called us, we were out the day after next, fixed it under the warranty, no charge. That’s what it’s for.
Questions to ask before signing anything
“Is this warranty prorated or non-prorated, and for how long?” If they can’t answer both parts of that question in one sentence, they don’t understand what they’re selling you.
“Is the workmanship warranty in writing and transferable?” In writing yes, transferable yes. Verbal-only workmanship coverage isn’t coverage.
“Are you a certified installer with the shingle manufacturer?” Some warranties are only available if the installer is certified. If not, you don’t get the coverage that was advertised.
“What actually voids the warranty?” Common voiders include unauthorized subsequent repairs by another party, satellite dish installation without notification, and pressure washing. Know what your obligations are before you sign.
Paul Sandul, Elite Contracting. Family-owned. Clifton Park.
The full walkthrough of replacement decisions is in The 27-Year Roof pillar. Service page: Roof Replacement.