# How can a locally owned roofing company offer a 50-year warranty on their work? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 12, 2021, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-locally-owned-roofing-company-offer-a-50-year-warranty-on-their-work/948550 "2021-08-12T22:59:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2021, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-locally-owned-roofing-company-offer-a-50-year-warranty-on-their-work/948550/21 "2021-08-14T08:42:59Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > A friend of mine once took a pair of shoes back to the shop I haven’t got the company name, but a friend of mine buys his shoes by mail from a New Zealand company. After 5 years, a seam failed. He thought he’d got fair wear out of them and needed a new pair. When he called, they apologized and sent him a replacement pair. ---
**Author:** ![Dereknocue67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Dereknocue67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dereknocue67)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-locally-owned-roofing-company-offer-a-50-year-warranty-on-their-work/948550/22 "2021-10-25T07:31:58Z")
My local roofer offered a lifetime guarantee on my roof replacement. Three years later, he went out of business. Fortunately, the guarantee is also honored by the manufacturer but that applies to material only. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-locally-owned-roofing-company-offer-a-50-year-warranty-on-their-work/948550/23 "2021-10-25T07:50:23Z")
My mother-in-law paid way too much for a set of carving knives at a state fair booth many years back. When I told her she got ripped off, she replied, “The price is worth it, because it comes with a lifetime guarantee!”. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-locally-owned-roofing-company-offer-a-50-year-warranty-on-their-work/948550/24 "2021-10-25T21:07:14Z")
RadioShack branded vacuum tubes came with a lifetime guarantee. Until around 1970 the replacement tubes also came with a lifetime warranty but sometime after that they stopped selling the RadioShack brand tubes and the replacement tubes had no guarantee. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-locally-owned-roofing-company-offer-a-50-year-warranty-on-their-work/948550/25 "2021-10-25T21:19:02Z")
I remember Craftsman hand tools (wrenches, sockets, etc.) had a lifetime guarantee. And they honored it, even without a receipt. Not sure if that still applies, since Sears is no longer around. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-locally-owned-roofing-company-offer-a-50-year-warranty-on-their-work/948550/26 "2021-10-25T21:23:05Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Not sure if that still applies, since Sears is no longer around. Sears sold off the Craftsman brand to Stanley Black & Decker in 2017, but it looks like they are still honoring the warranty (even with some strings attached). [As per Wikipedia:](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craftsman_(tools)#Warranty) > [@](#): > > [Stanley Black & Decker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Black_%26_Decker) has stated that all previous warranties on Craftsman products will be honored[[31]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craftsman_(tools)#cite_note-warranty-31) after the purchase of Craftsman in 2017. Some of the newer packaging (as of 2018 onward) on some Craftsman products does indicate that there may be a limit on returning warranty tools. As of February 2019, the “non-Sears” Craftsman does not have “open stock” in the stores as Sears does to replace individual items from a set that may require warranty. Stanley Black and Decker has indicated that they are working on introducing more individual tools to stores. > > Power tools have a one-year warranty.[[31]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craftsman_(tools)#cite_note-warranty-31) > > Customers are able to exchange any version of the Sears Craftsman product at the stores that sell Sears Craftsman products such as Sears, Kmart, Ace, etc. Stores such as Lowes that sell Stanley Black & Decker Craftsman products will only exchange replacement items at Stanley Craftsman supplied stores. For example, you cannot replace a broken Sears ratchet at Lowe’s. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-locally-owned-roofing-company-offer-a-50-year-warranty-on-their-work/948550/27 "2021-10-25T21:29:26Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > I remember Craftsman hand tools (wrenches, sockets, etc.) had a lifetime guarantee. And they honored it, even without a receipt. Not sure if that still applies, since Sears is no longer around. In the last few years, I’ve taken Craftsman tools back to Lowes and Ace Hardware. Generally it’s not too much of a headache but a few times I’ve run into issues where the store doesn’t stock the same/similar item or the manager either doesn’t know they’re supposed to be exchanging it or doesn’t want to. One of the times the manager gave me a phone number and told me to call them and I couldn’t get him to understand I had just been on the phone with those people (same number I already had) and they told me to come here, to this specific store. In any case, I’ve slowly started migrating from Craftsman to Kobalt. Sure, Lowes might go out of business too, but I find it easier dealing with these types of lifetime warranties when there’s only one store that sells the stuff so you don’t have to worry about keeping receipts to prove where you bought it. Besides, I kinda treat the lifetime warranties with a grain of salt. It’s nice to walk a 50 year old Craftsman ratchet into a Sears and walk out with a brand new (and sometimes expensive) one for free, but it’s not the end of the world if I can’t. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-locally-owned-roofing-company-offer-a-50-year-warranty-on-their-work/948550/28 "2021-10-25T21:49:09Z")
And I apologize for the Craftsman hijack, but can’t help it. 😊 On a related note, I bought hundreds of Craftsman hand tools in the 1980s and 1990s. I still have them, and they all say “Made in the USA” on them. If I broke one, am I correct in assuming the replacement would be made in China? And if so, would it be the same quality as my Made-in-the-USA one? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-locally-owned-roofing-company-offer-a-50-year-warranty-on-their-work/948550/29 "2021-10-25T22:16:37Z")
The random tool I looked at (a ratchet on the Lowes website) appears to be made in China. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-locally-owned-roofing-company-offer-a-50-year-warranty-on-their-work/948550/30 "2021-10-25T22:19:44Z")
Apparently foreign components assembled in the U.S. [Where It’s Made | CRAFTSMAN®](https://www.craftsman.com/support/where-its-made) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2021, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-locally-owned-roofing-company-offer-a-50-year-warranty-on-their-work/948550/31 "2021-10-25T22:48:27Z")
One of my relatives once was digging in their garden and found an ancient, rusted hammerhead, with an engraved “Craftsman” just barely legible on it. Sears still honored the guarantee, and gave them a new hammer. Though that was back when Sears itself still existed. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2021, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-locally-owned-roofing-company-offer-a-50-year-warranty-on-their-work/948550/32 "2021-10-26T00:11:33Z")
There’s a roofing company in St. Louis that dates to 1929 and another that was started in 1947. There are probably some others, but those two demonstrate it’s possible. ---
**Author:** ![ThisSpaceForRent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisspaceforrent/32/345_2.png) [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2021, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-locally-owned-roofing-company-offer-a-50-year-warranty-on-their-work/948550/33 "2021-10-29T02:11:33Z")
For a hole in your roof … or a whole new roof! I waited on the owner several times, twice they were in the company of #6 “Stan the Man”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-a-locally-owned-roofing-company-offer-a-50-year-warranty-on-their-work/948550.md?page=1)