Here is an article about the perils of roof painting yourself.
Without the proper equipment you are literally taking your life in your hands.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/latest/109087344/when-roof-painting-goes-bad

Everyone claims they have the best, the fastest, the shiniest.....but what really is in a roof coating warranty?
Very simply, with any roof coating, you should get two warranties - a workmanship warranty and a product warranty - let us explain each:
Workmanship warranty - by law (the Consumers Guarantee Act), tradesman should give a 5 year workmanship warranty. This is THE most important part of the service as 99% of issues will be caused by faulty workmanship, or simply something that arises that wasn't evident at the time and needs addressing afterwards.
In a re-coating job, if anything goes wrong it will do so days or weeks afterwards - not years later - hence immediate follow up is important.
The biggest issue with workmanship warranties, is that later down the track, the roofer has gone out of business and therefore you have no follow up.
Kowhai operate a franchised area system, and the parent company is always there to address issues - even if your then Kowhai Guy has retired, or moved on for some reason.
We hear sooooo many stories of dodgy jobs done by "fly by nighters" - whilst it makes work for us to repair such, it is very disconcerting for the customer to have paid the money with no come back.
Lastly - the product warranty. Kowhai guarantee the products we use. If anything goes wrong due to a product fault - we step in to rectify the whole job.
Please note - many will claim they use a big brand product with "X" number of years warranty, but when it comes to the crunch - these companies only cover the original cost of the product - not the making right!
Kowhais product warranties are the best around - without argument.....and the reality is that we never have to enact them as the product just doesnt fail - period! (if they do - we are there to put right!).
So always confirm that your roof coater is giving a 5 year workmanship warranty and that the product warranty is for at least 10 years....and what does it cover?

It's almost like when you become a roofer, you use the innate ability to operate a phone?!
We know! We hear this all the time!
Like many trades, once you are on the job/tools, its invariably hard to break the flow and answer that mobile phone.
Luckily enough, under the Kowhai brand, most of our Kowhai Guys are that busy, that they develop the need for an admin support person who does answer the phone, organise quote visits, sort the paperwork etc etc
Once you have a good backroom person, you then need to ensure you are earning enough to pay them.
This brings about another pull on the Kowhai Guys' time. He must ensure that the workload is enough to feed more than one mouth. They can only do so many hours a day - hence enter the second, third, fourth worker etc is required - and who is going to manage them?.....you guessed it - the Kowhai Guy!
With all the competing forces for the time of your local Kowhai Guy, its a wonder he ever gets on a roof and does what he does best.
At Kowhai we make sure that the Kowhai Guys have a really solid support structure around them - both nationally and locally, so that their time is maximised doing what they do best - including direct interaction with the home owner. 
This all starts with the 0800KOWHAI (569424) number where you are always guaranteed in getting someone!
If the crew at the support office are already on calls, you will get an answer service who will ensure we call you back at the earliest possible opportunity.
So if you simply need to ask a few questions about your roof and whats involved in restoring, re-roofing, costs involved, timelines etc - give Sophie or Brett a call on 0800KOWHAI and they can ensure you are well prepared for when you do find that elusive roof guy!
 

One of the worst things about our business is not being able to help our customers  - on the rare occasion.
We often hear from disgruntled customers who we are unable to help, because their roof is beyond re-coating.
We are very clear about what state a roof needs to be in, before it can be re-coated and when we encounter one that is beyond help, its a hard thing for the home owner to hear.
We wont re-coat a roof that we cant apply our full warranty to - and sometimes that means the roof needs a full replacement.
Unlike other companies, most of our Kowhai Guys do not re-roof, so there isn't anything in it for them to say no. Many companies who do both, will push for a re-roof, as it generally involves far bigger sums of money (3-5X the cost of a re-coat).
Often people are after a quick patch up job as they intend selling, or are just wanting another couple of years life so they can budget to pay for a re-roof. 
Whatever the reason, we would be silly to re-coat something that isn't going to last, as who do you think gets the blame when the roof does finally give up the ghost?
Yes - we can do a re-coat and contract out of all liability, should the roof fail in the short- medium term, but that doesn't alleviate the disappointment to the home owner, should the roof fail and they are faced with significant re-roofing costs, ahead of when they thought they would.
The other thing to note, is that by simply getting on the roof and re-coating it, current damage can be amplified and the roofs end date is effectively "brought forward".
So if your Kowhai Guy turns down a job as he deems the roof not worthy of a re-coat, be very careful about simply ringing around to find someone who will do it.
If you do find someone who is prepared to put their name to a re-coat in this situation, be meticulous in understanding their warranty conditions and what they will and wont do, in the event of the roof failing ahead of your expectations.
Kowhai has been around for 40 years servicing NZ, backing up our work and fixing the work of others.......we will most definitely be around another 40 years doing the same.