About us
The guy who walks your roof
I'm Tom Kessler. I started Drip Edge Roofing in 2011, and I still walk every roof myself before a proposal gets written.
The company
Drip Edge Roofing Co. is a residential roofing company in Huntersville, founded in 2011. Tom Kessler owns it, walks each roof before a proposal is written, and works alongside the same small crew on tear-offs, repairs and storm claims across north Mecklenburg and the Lake Norman towns.
Most of the houses we work on were built between the 1990s and the 2010s and are now on their first architectural shingle roof. That is why so much of the work is replacement and flashing: step flashing at walls and dormers, pipe boots, chimney crickets and drip edge along the eaves, the details a roof depends on and nobody sees from the driveway.
How the crew works, and what I won't do
- Tom walks the roof and writes the scope before any proposal goes out, no subcontracted estimators
- The same small crew shows up from tear-off through final inspection, not a rotating group of day laborers
- Underlayment goes down and penetrations get flashed before the crew leaves for the day.
- Any surprise found once the old shingles are off, rot, extra layers, bad flashing, gets shown to you before we proceed
- I won't knock on your door the day after a storm. If hail or wind came through your neighborhood, call us; we don't chase trucks around after weather events
- I won't play games with your deductible. Waiving, absorbing, or rebating any part of it is illegal in North Carolina, and I'm not going to build a business on that
- I won't sell a full replacement on a roof that has real life left in it. If a repair or a partial reflash gets you another several years, that's what goes on the proposal
- I won't write a number before I've been on the roof. Ground-level guesses don't account for layers, rot, or flashing work, and I'm not going to pretend otherwise
Every roof gets walked before it gets a number. That's not a slogan, it's just how I do it.
Tom Kessler, owner · Sample
What the work looks like up here
The roofs north of Charlotte have a few things in common. Wind comes off Lake Norman across open water and catches tall gables on the lakefront lots. Hail moves through Mooresville and Iredell more often than towns further south, and it bruises the shingle mat without showing from the yard. And most subdivisions have an HOA color list, so a replacement starts with a submittal as often as it starts with a tear-off.
None of that changes the walk. Twelve checkpoints, a photograph of each, then a written line-item proposal. See roof inspections for what the walk covers and how pricing works for what moves the number.
How a replacement day runs.
Most replacements on houses up here take one or two days. This is the order the crew works in, whatever the roof.
- Set upTarps over the beds, a dumpster at the driveway, plywood against the siding under the eaves.
- Tear-offShingles and underlayment come off to the deck, one slope at a time, so the house is never open all at once.
- Deck checkEvery sheet is walked and sounded. Soft decking is replaced and listed as its own line on the invoice.
- Underlayment and flashingDrip edge, ice and water membrane at the eaves and valleys, synthetic underlayment, new step and counter flashing.
- Shingles and ridgeStarter strip, field shingles, ridge vent and cap.
- Clean-up and walkNails swept from the lawn and driveway, gutters cleared, and a walk around the house with you before the crew leaves.
The workmanship warranty is written on your proposal with its term, alongside the manufacturer's warranty on the shingle line you choose.
Questions we get on the phone
Do you subcontract the work out?
No. The crew that tears off and installs your roof works for Drip Edge, not a rotating pool of subs bid out to the lowest crew that week. I'm involved from the walk-through through the final inspection, and the same faces show up each day of the job.
Why did you name the company after drip edge instead of your own name?
Drip edge is cheap, quick to install, and one of the first things a corner-cutting crew skips because nobody notices from the driveway. Naming the company after it was a way of saying we handle the parts that don't show, not just the parts that do.
Do you do roof replacements even if my roof still has life left in it?
Not if a repair or targeted flashing work will get you several more years first. I'll tell you what I see on the roof and what I'd do if it were my own house, and if that answer is a repair instead of a full tear-off, that's what goes on the proposal.
Will you show up after a storm before I call anyone?
No, and that's deliberate. We don't door-knock neighborhoods after hail or wind events. If you think you have storm damage, call us and we'll come document it, but we won't be the truck idling in your driveway uninvited the morning after.
Have Tom walk the roof before anyone talks about money.
Monday to Friday 7am to 6pm. Saturday 8am to 2pm. Active leaks answered after hours.