Look here to find a roofing contractor in your area; I don’t know anyone in Chicago
http://www.crca.org/

I’ll try to answer your questions in order:

1) There are currently no rebates for Energy Star rated flat roof membranes; the tax credits available now only apply to a few metal and asphalt shingle roofs. Maybe next year the rules will change.

2) You are under the assumption that roofers a making a ton of money; most of us operate on a 10% profit margin, restaurants typically operate on an 80% markup of their product. (It’s a lot easier and safer to make a sandwich than it is to replace a roof.) Our main goal is to give you the best job at the lowest price; ours is an industry of intense competition and incredible liability. Property damage, injuries, astounding insurance costs, landfill charges, sudden material price increases and occasionally dishonest clients make our risks sometimes far greater than our rewards.
Again; we want to deliver the best product at the lowest cost, if there was a bucket of screws left over from another job you will be the beneficiary of that savings. Buying more material and charging you for it would be a foolish thing to do; it would only make the job more expensive and reduce our chance of winning the bid. When preparing an estimate I count every screw, nail and glue roller down to the very last one; accuracy and precision are the only way to stay as lean and competitive as possible.

My best advice is for you to ask a friend for a referral or find a contractor with the link I’ve provided you, meet each contractor when they estimate your project. Then check up on each company; look at years in business (look for more than 5 years), Better Business Bureau reports, local government sometimes has consumer complaint resources, ask each contractor for the address and contact info for their most recently completed job; call and see how they did.

When you find a roofer that has all of these attributes you will have found your man. Don’t worry so much about being ripped off, we don’t make as much as you think.

1. I think I can get energy rebated if specific types of materials are used and I think I need to be able to show cost in order to get the 30% tax credit.

2. Unfortunately, I have been told that roofers will do such things as overprice materials to make more money,
purchase more materials than necessary for your job and use it on another job, and thing so this nature. I have
no desire to tell professionals what they should make but I also don’t want to simply give money away for the
taking, I simply can’t afford that and I would like to protect myself from these types of practices. I’m getting
referrals but most of the referrals I get have been from girlfriends who wouldn’t know if they were the recipients
of bad practices such as this. Like most homeowners they just want the work done right and the problems that
required the work to be solved. Ultimately, I have to trust someone but I would like my trust to be based on
sound information that I can best determine as a consumer. I have no one to check the work or determine if
it is good work so I’m trying to learn as much before I start to prevent disappointment, loss, and problems
later. I don’t want to end up hunting someone down, having to go to court, or anything of this nature. I’m a
professional person with high standards and I simply want the same when I hire people to do work for me.
Any info you can provide will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your help.

Best Regards,
lyn