Why We Never Take Deposits for a Roof Replacement

No, a roofer does not need a deposit to replace your roof, and Roofing Army has never taken one. Michigan places no legal limit on what a contractor can ask for up front, which is exactly why a deposit is the single most common way homeowners lose money to a bad roofer. A reputable, financially stable company can buy materials and pay its crew without touching your money first.

Should a Roofing Contractor Ask for a Deposit in Michigan?

Plenty of legitimate roofers do ask for one, so a deposit by itself is not proof of a scam. Custom materials, a large commercial job, or a company with thin cash reserves can all be honest reasons a contractor wants money before the truck shows up. The problem is that Michigan does not regulate the practice at all. There is no statute capping a roofing deposit at a percentage of the contract, the way some other states do. A contractor can legally ask for 10 percent, 50 percent, or the full price of the job in advance, and nothing in Michigan law stops them. That is the gap scammers use, and it is why we built our entire payment policy around removing it rather than managing it.

How Do Roofing Deposit Scams Actually Work in Michigan?

The pattern is the same one we have watched play out across Southeast Michigan for years, especially after a hail or wind event. A crew, often from out of state, canvasses a storm-hit neighborhood, writes up a quote on the spot, and asks for a deposit before any materials are ordered. In July 2025, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel sued a construction company, Hummingbird Construction Co., and its owner, Matthew Ashline, for allegedly doing exactly this to customers across Eaton, Monroe, St. Clair, and Washtenaw Counties. One homeowner paid an $8,000 deposit for roof and porch repairs in June 2024 and was not refunded until months later, after filing a police report. Another paid a $7,000 deposit for a roof replacement in February 2025 and, according to the lawsuit, had still not been refunded. The AG's office alleged these practices violated the Michigan Consumer Protection Act. That is not a hypothetical. It is a filed lawsuit, naming a real company, over real roofing deposits that disappeared.

We cover the full pattern of out-of-area storm crews, including the other warning signs beyond the deposit ask, in our storm chasing roofer checklist.

What Does Michigan Law Actually Say About Contractor Deposits?

Two things are true at once, and homeowners often assume the opposite of both.

First, there is no cap. We looked for a Michigan statute limiting roofing or home improvement deposits the way California or Maryland limit theirs, and none exists. The Michigan Home Improvement Finance Act regulates interest and finance charges on installment contracts, not how much a contractor can collect up front.

Second, once you do pay, that money is not simply the contractor's to spend on whatever they want. Under the Michigan Builders Trust Fund Act, MCL 570.151, any building contract fund paid to a contractor "shall be considered by this act to be a trust fund, for the benefit of the person making the payment, contractors, laborers, subcontractors or materialmen," and the contractor holding it is the trustee of those funds for building construction purposes on that job. Diverting that money, spending a homeowner's roof deposit on a different job's bills, or on anything other than that project, can expose a contractor to both civil liability and, under a related statute, criminal penalties. It is a real protection, but it only helps after the fact, through a civil claim or a criminal referral. It does not stop a contractor from asking for the deposit in the first place, and it does not get your money back quickly.

Michigan's enforcement record shows the same pattern over and over. The state's licensing board, under the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA), has disciplined multiple residential contractors in recent years for taking a homeowner's deposit, never starting the job, and refusing to return the money despite repeated requests, in cases involving project types from home improvements to window installation. Michigan requires a residential builder license or a maintenance and alteration contractor license for any residential work valued at $600 or more, which covers every roof replacement. You can and should verify a contractor's license number on the LARA license lookup before you hand over any money, deposit or otherwise.

Why Doesn't Roofing Army Take a Deposit?

I am Aaron Scott, a licensed Michigan residential builder (license 262400936) and the owner of Roofing Army. We are based in Oxford, with offices in Rochester Hills, Ferndale, Plymouth, and Jenison. Our payment policy is one of the four promises in what we call the Mission Complete Guarantee: we do not take a dollar until your roof is finished and you have walked it with your project manager. If you are not satisfied, we are not done, and we have never collected a deposit on a single job.

We can do this because of how the rest of the business is built, not because we are taking on extra risk and hoping it works out. We run our own in-house crews instead of subcontracting to whoever is available that week, which means we are not fronting someone else's labor costs. We carry the cash flow to buy materials for a job before we are paid for it. And every roof comes with a 50-year workmanship warranty backed directly by us, not by a deposit we are hoping to keep if something goes wrong. Financing and payment questions come up often enough that they account for 217 of the calls and texts we field in a typical stretch, and 33 of those are homeowners asking specifically whether we require money up front. The answer is always the same: no, not before, not during, not after until you have inspected the finished roof yourself.

What Should You Ask Before Paying Any Roofing Deposit?

If a contractor you are considering does ask for money up front, these are the questions that separate a normal business practice from a red flag.

• What specifically is the deposit paying for? "Materials" is a real answer if it is tied to a specific order you can see, like a special-order color or metal panels on back order. "Getting started" or "holding your spot" is vaguer and worth pushing back on.
• Is the license current? Get the residential builder or maintenance and alteration contractor license number and the name it is issued under, then check it yourself on the LARA license lookup before any money changes hands.
• Is it in writing, in the contract? The deposit amount, what it covers, and when the balance is due should all be spelled out in the signed contract, not agreed to verbally on the driveway.
• Can you pay by a method with recourse? A check or credit card leaves a paper trail and, with a card, the possibility of a chargeback if the work is never done. Cash does not.
• Does the amount match the work? A deposit that approaches the full contract price, for any reason, before a single shingle has been delivered is the clearest warning sign there is.

What to Do If You Already Paid a Deposit and the Contractor Disappeared

If you are past the point of asking questions and a contractor has your money with no roof to show for it, you have a few real options, not just a license complaint that goes nowhere.

• File a complaint with LARA's Bureau of Construction Codes. Submit a written Statement of Complaint or email LARA-BCC-Compliance@Michigan.gov with proof of payment, such as a canceled check or receipt. LARA can discipline or revoke the contractor's license, which protects the next homeowner, though it will not force a refund on its own.
• File with the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Team. Call 517-335-7599 or use the online complaint form on michigan.gov/ag. The AG's office has pursued cases exactly like this one under the Michigan Consumer Protection Act, including the Hummingbird Construction case above.
• Consider a civil claim. Because your deposit is legally a trust fund under the Builders Trust Fund Act, a contractor who spent it on something other than your job may be liable beyond a simple breach of contract. For amounts within the limit, Michigan's small claims court does not require a lawyer and is built for exactly this kind of dispute.
• Report it to local police if you suspect fraud, particularly if the company used a fake name, an unlicensed crew, or has a pattern of complaints against it.
• Dispute the charge if you paid by credit card. Most card issuers allow a chargeback when a service was paid for and never delivered. This is often the fastest path to getting money back.

Get a Roof Quote With No Deposit, No Pressure

You should not have to gamble on whether a roofing company will still exist when it is time to start the job. Every roof replacement and roof repair we quote comes with five quotes at different price points, a project manager on site every day of the install, and a 50-year workmanship warranty, all without asking for a dollar until the work is done. You can check our past projects, prices included, in our job gallery. Schedule a free inspection, or if you are working through financing instead of paying out of pocket, see our roof financing options for how that process works, deposit-free either way.