Siding companies do not have to report to anyone regarding their conduct or ethics. We are not saying that siding companies are dishonest or unethical, but we are saying that the profits and commissions being made are sometimes astronomical.

Siding companies are usually made of three parts:

The responsibility of the company to the salesperson is to build the job which includes buying the material, furnishing the labor, taking care of building permits, arranging for financing and collecting the money for the job.

For this the company usually takes a percentage of the selling contract: anywhere from 5%-l5%, with some companies charging as much as 25% of the selling contract. They then pay for the labor, material and any other applicable fees and the remaining money is paid to the salesperson as commission.

The higher the selling price, the higher the commission.

If the company also furnished the lead or the names of the people sold, the company sometimes charges the salesperson for that lead. This can be a percentage of the selling contract (5%-l5%) or sometimes just a flat fee ($50.00-$300.00). Some companies charge as much as $500.00 for a lead if the job is sold.

Keep in mind that when you answer an ad, reply to a mailer, or talk to a telemarketer it has cost the siding company money for that advertising and those costs are passed on to you through the selling price of the job.

Companies that employ more than one applicator or carpenter almost always pay these people by how much siding they install on each job. They are paid a certain amount of money for each hundred square feet of siding installed plus any out-of-the-ordinary work they do to complete the job.

The other aspect of siding companies is the one-man operation who sells and installs the job. This person may work out of his home and truck and can sometimes do a job for less. However, he is probably a handyman-type contractor and not a siding specialist.

Our job is to help you make a good decision, no matter what siding or insulation you choose.

There are national retail companies that advertise siding. These companies are not actually selling or installing the product; they let contractors or another company use their name to promote the product for a fee or a percentage of each contract sold. Always read your contract as to who the company really is before signing it.

In other words, know exactly who you are doing business with.

BUYER BEWARE

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