What a contractor has to pass before we'll put our name on them.
We publish this on purpose.
Anybody can say they "only work with the best." This is the actual list. If a contractor fails a single one of the first four, the conversation is over — there's no discussion and no exception.
Licensed and registered — checked at the source
We verify every license and registration directly with the State of Kansas and with Sedgwick County — not from a certificate the contractor emails us. Roofers must hold a current Kansas Attorney General roofing registration. We re-check all of it every quarter, because a license that lapses mid-job is still a lapsed license.
Insured, and confirmed by the insurer
At minimum $1,000,000 in general liability plus workers' compensation in force. We require the certificate to come directly from the insurance carrier or their agent — a forwarded PDF proves nothing. We're also named on the policy, which means we find out before you do if it lapses.
Three finished jobs inspected in person — one at least two years old
We drive them and we photograph them. A roof looks good the week it goes on; the shortcuts show up in year two. That's why one of the three has to be old. We're looking at flashing, valleys, ridge lines, fastener spacing — the parts nobody photographs for a brochure.
Five past customers called — picked by us, not by them
We ask for twelve names and then choose our own five, including from the oldest end of the list. Every contractor can produce three happy customers. The question we care about most is the one they can't coach: "When something needed fixing, how long did it take them to come back?"
An unannounced visit to one of their active job sites
No warning, no appointment. We want to see how a crew works when nobody is expecting company — how the property is protected, whether the site is cleaned at the end of the day, whether anyone is supervising, whether they run a magnet over your driveway before they leave.
We hold back part of their money
A percentage of the contractor's payment is withheld until a Lummele inspector — never the person who sold you the job — walks the finished work and signs off. Photo documentation of every stage is required before anything is released. The person who earned a commission on your sale does not get to grade it.
If they don't fix it, we do — at their expense
Every trade has a second contractor already vetted and waiting. If our partner fails to correct something within the time our contract gives them, we send the backup and charge the cost to the partner. That isn't a promise, it's a clause — and it's the reason the rest of this list has teeth. See exactly how it works →
Two things kill most candidates before scoring even starts. A contractor has to accept that our name — not theirs — goes on the signage and the reviews, and they have to accept the holdback and the inspection. Plenty of good shops won't agree to that, and we'd rather lose them at the first meeting than after we've sold you a roof.
Passing once isn't the standard. Staying in is.
Vetting at the start is the easy part. What actually protects you is what happens after — so every partner is scored continuously on the things you'd care about: did the install start on the day we said, did it pass inspection the first time, how did you rate it a week later, how fast did they answer a warranty call.
Slipping on those puts a partner on notice. Slipping repeatedly moves the work to the backup contractor. And a compliance violation — offering to cover an insurance deductible, working without a current registration, skipping your written cancellation rights — isn't a strike at all. It's immediate, with no warning and no second chance.
We re-run this entire standard from scratch on every partner once a year.