What we actually do
We get ice off roofs and water out of buildings, in the middle of winter, usually on short notice. That is the whole business. We are not a roofing company that also does ice dams in the off-season — winter emergency work is the thing we are set up for, staffed for and equipped for.
That focus is why the phone gets answered in a storm week. A roofing company in January is trying to run two businesses at once. We are running one.
The three companies, and who does what
Ice Dam Now is a division of Roof Gutter Now, a roofing, gutter and exterior restoration contractor working Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maine. They are the reason this operation has a storm-week phone system, insurance claim experience and a scheduling desk behind it rather than one person with a steamer and a voicemail box.
Heated roof and gutter cable installation is its own division, Roof Gutter Heat. Cable work is a prevention job done on a dry roof with a panel and a permit, not an emergency job done at 2am in a storm, so it is staffed and scheduled separately. If you are calling about ice dams this week, you want us. If you want cables on before next winter, that quote comes from them, and it is a video call rather than a visit.
We tell you which of the three you need rather than selling you the one you happened to call. A small dam on a one-story eave does not need a crew; it needs cables in September.
Why steam, and only steam
A low-pressure steam unit delivers water at roughly 290°F at a pressure you could hold your hand in. It removes ice by melting it, so nothing abrades the shingle surface, nothing pries at flashing, and nothing drives water up under the courses.
The alternatives all trade roof damage for speed. Hot pressure washers strip granules. Hammers and chisels crack cold shingles and puncture decking. Calcium chloride opens a channel and corrodes everything it runs over. We have seen all three, usually when we are called in to fix what they did.
How we price
By the crew hour, quoted on the phone before anyone is dispatched, with a realistic estimate of how many hours the job will take based on what you describe. The invoice matches the quote.
We do not quote a flat price sight-unseen, because a flat price on an unseen roof is either padded to cover the worst case or written to be revised upward on arrival. Neither is honest. The hourly rate plus an honest estimate is the cleanest version of this we have found.
What we will tell you that other people will not
That your dam is small enough to leave alone this week. That a repair you are being quoted for does not need doing. That your claim is not worth the deductible. That the real problem is six inches of insulation in an attic that needs sixteen, and no amount of steaming changes that.
Emergency work attracts a certain kind of operator, because the customer is stressed, the problem is urgent and the roof is somewhere they cannot see. We would rather be the people you call next winter.
Safety is not a line item
Everyone who goes on a roof is harnessed to a rated anchor. Crews carry liability and workers' compensation cover, and we will send the certificates without being asked twice.
Roof falls are the most common serious injury in this trade and they do not happen to careless people — they happen to experienced people on ice. That is also the honest answer to why this is not a job to do yourself.