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Friday, November 25, 2011

Roofers and Website Plagiarism

This preface was written within an hour of the initial posting. After googleing the words "Notify your mortgage and insurance companies the day your roofing job begins. This will expedite the inspection and payment processes" I discovered many roofers with the same page with exactly the same wordage or some slight changes. There was one named "John White Roofing" but he changed his name a little. Ha! After reading below come back and click the link above but not until then. Now to my original jump the gun conclusion:



"What a joke. These guys use other roofers stuff verbatim without shame. They must not have had that course in school. you know: plagiarism. Just glimpse over the first two examples. Too much time to read all.
Example one from a roofer in Kansas:
Free Estimate
The first step in the Garrison Roofing process is handling your estimate request. Whether you call in and speak to us or submit an online estimate request form, we will be able to provide you with a free estimate handled by one of our roofing professionals.
The Contract
Once a roofing professional has come out, you will receive a proposal for the work that we are able to perform. After your approve the proposal, call our office for help with your color choice.
Scheduling Your Job
The third step in the Garrison Roofing Process is to prepare for the work to begin. We will select the best crew for your project and a time for the work to begin (weather permitting). You will be notified with a date for work to begin.

Example two from  North Carolina:
FREE ESTIMATE
The first step in the Graham Roofing Process is handling your estimate request. Whether you call in and speak to one of our team members or submit an online estimate request form, we will be able to provide you with a free estimate handled by one of our roofing professionals.
THE CONTRACT
Once a roofing professional has performed an estimate, you will receive a proposal for the work that we are able to perform. After you accept of offer, your job goes directly into the scheduling department to be setup for completion.
SCHEDULING YOUR JOB
The third step in the Graham Roofing Process is to prepare for the work to begin. We will select the best crew for your project, and a time for the work to begin (weather permitting). Once we are ready to begin the job we will order any material that is needed, and have it delivered, or brought to the job site by the roofers themselves.

Now for the dilly whopper. Here's something I noticed on an Irving Roofer's page:

10. For each day it rains, work on your roof will be delayed. Trident Roofing roofers are instructed not to tear off more shingles than they can replace in one day so that your roof is not exposed to inclement weather.

The problem is that this is not from Trident Roofing's website. The plaigerist forgot to remove the name of the company he lifted the piece from. In fact, the whole page is a copy of Trident's page. Here's some more:
  1. Notify your mortgage and insurance companies the day your roofing job begins. This will expedite the inspection and payment processes.

  2. Be prepared for the noise! There will be constant hammering for one or more days, depending on the size of your roof. You may want to plan a day away from the house while the job is in progress.

  3. When shingles are delivered to your home, please check the color. Notify Evans & Horton Roofing immediately if the color is not what you ordered.

  4. Remove all loose items from wall shelves and walls: pictures, plates, figurines. Hammering may create vibrations that shake these items off of shelves and walls.

  5. Do not loan your tools or equipment to the roofers.

  6. Remove all items from around the house where roofing debris or bundles of shingles might fall: patio and pool furniture, potted plants, gardening equipment, and grills. Leaves or blooms may be knocked off plants near your home during the job. We try to protect the plants but many times the layout of the landscape prevents us from doing so.

  7. Precautions are taken to prevent gutter damage. However, there are instances when damage to gutters is unavoidable, especially on very steep roofs or ones that are completely surrounded by gutters or homes with rusted gutters. Your homeowners insurance should cover any damage.

Now here is Tridents:

Preparing your Residence for a Quality Roofing Job

  1. Notify your mortgage and insurance companies the day your roofing job begins. This will expedite the inspection and payment processes.

  2. Be prepared for the noise! There will be constant hammering for one or more days, depending on the size of your roof. You may want to plan a day away from the house while the job is in progress.

  3. When shingles are delivered to your home, please check the color. Notify Trident Roofing immediately if the color is not what you ordered.

  4. Remove all loose items from wall shelves and walls: pictures, plates, figurines. Hammering may create vibrations that shake these items off of shelves and walls.

  5. Do not loan your tools or equipment to the roofers.

  6. Remove all items from around the house where roofing debris or bundles of shingles might fall: patio and pool furniture, potted plants, gardening equipment, and grills. Leaves or blooms may be knocked off plants near your home during the job. We try to protect the plants but many times the layout of the landscape prevents us from doing so.



  7. Check heater vents upon completion of your roof to make sure that they haven’t become loose in the attic. Also check hot water heater and stove vents. The roofer will do this for you if allowed access to your attic.

  8. Occasionally, we will use power tools to cut decking or shingles. When we do so, please check your power breakers and outside electrical outlets to make sure they are operating correctly.

  9. For each day it rains, work on your roof will be delayed. Trident Roofing roofers are instructed not to tear off more shingles than they can replace in one day so that your roof is not exposed to inclement weather.

  10. We will need access to your driveway to load shingles and clean up. Please park your cars, motorcycles, bicycles, boats, etc, out of the driveway/garage.

  11. Keep small children and pets away from the work area.

  12. Nails that fall from the roof during the job will be picked up with a magnetic nail roller. We will make every effort to pick up all nails. Please be advised; however, that a few nails, hidden in the grass or shrubbery, may remain.

  13. Make all payments to Trident Roofing. Please do not pay in cash and do not make checks payable to salesmen.
If this was purchased content, then the second guy got ripped off. I think the second guy just left some evidence in #10 and I noticed it.

I hope no one is offended because I saw something that I was taught was wrong. Reworking a good piece of writing is great but lifting it verbatim is downright  plagiarism. Here's what Webster's says:

pla·gia·rize

verb \ˈplā-jə-ˌrīz also -jē-ə-\
pla·gia·rizedpla·gia·riz·ing

Definition of PLAGIARIZE

transitive verb
: to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own : use (another's production) without crediting the source
intransitive verb
: to commit literary theft : present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source
pla·gia·riz·er noun



Examples of PLAGIARIZE

  1. He plagiarized a classmate's report.
  2. She plagiarized from an article she read on the Inte
Enough enough. Believe it or not this goes on everywhere, just like false Google Reviews, see Eclat in Dallas and dive back on the people's reviews and see how many places they review all over the country, or John Wade Roofing's attempt to put a low rating on 103 or so roofers in one day. Brad Carver at BC Roofing was really mad as was Ark Roofing, Heartland Construction, Joe Hall Roofing, and the few who saw it before it was taken down. I got pics though.

Hopefully Google, our benevolent leader will police these actions soon and keep honesty as much a part of the net as it can be. Until then keep your eyes open.





Jon Alan Wright
Jon Wright Roofing, Siding, and Windows
1915 Peters Rd., Suite 310
Irving, TX 75061
972.251.1818 Office
214.718.3748 Cell
972.554.8090 Fax
    Follow jwrightroofing on Twitter

1 comment:

The Roof Forum said...

What is Plagiarism?

Plagiarism occurs when a person uses another person's ideas, writing or work and does not acknowledge the original source. Plagiarising the work of another can result in severe penalties possibly subject failure.

To pretend that another person's work is your own is unethical and dishonest. Please refer to the Use of TAFE NSW Internet and Intranet Services Policy and "Plagiarism and copyright infringement" under Computer use and facilities at Sydney.

To avoid plagiarism all students are expected to acknowledge the work of others, most often by using in-text citations and a list of sources used in all written assessment tasks. This list of references is called a Bibliography and should be located at the end of your assessable work.

Please contact your teacher for specific requirements.