Short answer: As of October 2026, the five highest-scoring roofing contractors in the Kalamazoo-Portage, MI metro on The Roofing Brief Contractor Score are Advantage Roofing & Exteriors (95.9), Patriot Exteriors, LLC (88.4), Property Revolution, LLC (79.6), Adam Garland Construction, Inc. (74.3), Top Tier Roofing LLC (74.2). Each is certified by a manufacturer whose register we checked by hand, each rating has been tested against a source outside that register, and nobody bought a place on this page.
The Roofing Brief scored 9 certified roofing contractors serving the Kalamazoo metro on a published, reproducible formula, then researched each of the top five individually to confirm its record. Michigan licenses this trade and backs the licence with a sanction most states do not have. MCL 339.2403(f) exempts only projects under $600, and a reroof on any house clears that by an order of magnitude, so a licence is required. MCL 339.2404 requires the applicant to pass an examination. And MCL 339.2412(1) provides that an unlicensed person shall not bring or maintain an action in a court of this state to collect compensation for work requiring a licence, so an unlicensed roofer cannot sue you for the money. The gap on this page is that we could not verify a single licence number for any of the five firms: none publishes one and the state’s public lookup is effectively unusable. Which makes asking for the number the one task this page cannot do for you.
Wind, terrain and the Kalamazoo housing stock
By report count this is one of the quietest markets in the programme and one event dominates it. Across 2016 to 2025 Kalamazoo County logged 10 hail reports, 8 of them at an inch or more with a maximum stone of 2.00 inches, and 41 severe wind reports of which only 8 reached 58 knots, with a maximum gust of 66 mph. Then on 7 May 2024 an EF2 tornado touched down near South 10th Street and West R Avenue at 16:55 and tracked east-northeast for 10.86 miles, 300 yards wide, lifting at 17:17. NWS recorded that over 500 homes were impacted, 305 of them in Portage, with 23 destroyed, 12 people injured and $50 million in damage. That single afternoon accounts for essentially all of the decade’s damage total in this county.
The licensing position is genuinely strong and worth using. MCL 339.2403 is framed as a list of exemptions from the requirement, and subdivision (f) exempts a person working on one undertaking where the aggregate contract price for labour, material and other items is less than $600. The same subdivision blocks the obvious workaround, providing that the exemption does not apply if the work is only part of a larger or major operation, whether undertaken by the same or a different contractor. MCL 339.2401 defines a residential maintenance and alteration contractor broadly enough to cover reroofing, and MCL 339.2404 requires evidence of good moral character and a pass in an examination establishing a fair knowledge of the obligations of the trade to the public.
The ice barrier requirement here is statewide and absolute, which is unusual. Table R301.2(1) of the 2015 Michigan Residential Code is a single statewide row rather than a per-jurisdiction table, and it gives ice barrier underlayment required: yes, along with severe weathering, a 42-inch frost line depth and a 90 mph design wind speed. Section R905.1.2 sets what the barrier must be, and R806.2 sets the companion ventilation requirement at a minimum net free ventilating area of 1 part in 150 of the vented space, reducible to 1 in 300 where a Class I or II vapor retarder is installed on the warm-in-winter side of the ceiling. Compare Indiana, whose equivalent table is filled in county by county and answers no for the Evansville counties. A Michigan roof must have the ice barrier; an Indiana roof 150 miles south need not.
One point of genuine confusion is worth settling, because a contractor may quote you the wrong code. The edition in force is still the 2015 Michigan Residential Code. The 2021 Michigan Residential Code was filed on 1 May 2025 to take effect on 29 August 2025, but on 7 July 2025 it was stayed by a stipulated order in the Court of Claims before Judge Redford, in litigation brought by the Home Builders Association of Michigan and the Michigan Manufactured Housing Association. The stay was agreed rather than contested: the department agreed to delay implementation of both the Residential Building Code and the Uniform Energy Code updates until the lawsuits conclude. So if a quote cites the 2021 code, that edition is not in force, and if it cites the 2015 code, that is correct. The City of Kalamazoo reroof permit is a flat $52 on its 2026 fee schedule, doubled where work commenced before permit issuance. Outside the city, the Kalamazoo Area Building Authority processes permits and inspections for several participating townships.
The 5 best roofers in Kalamazoo, MI
Scored 2026-10-02. The metro mean rating used as the Bayesian prior for Kalamazoo is 4.87, across a pool of 9 certified contractors.
| Rank | Company | TRB Score | Certification | Rating (reviews) | Adjusted | In business since | Based in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Advantage Roofing & Exteriors | 95.9 | President’s Club | 4.9 (841) | 4.898 | 1999 | Kalamazoo, MI |
| 2 | Patriot Exteriors, LLC | 88.4 | President’s Club | 4.8 (244) | 4.812 | 2022 | Portage, MI |
| 3 | Property Revolution, LLC | 79.6 | Master Elite | 4.9 (314) | 4.896 | 2017 | Plainwell, MI |
| 4 | Adam Garland Construction, Inc. | 74.3 | Master Elite | 4.7 (62) | 4.776 | 2004 | Kalamazoo, MI |
| 5 | Top Tier Roofing LLC | 74.2 | Certified | 5.0 (330) | 4.983 | 2022 | Kalamazoo, MI |
1. Advantage Roofing & Exteriors — TRB Score 95.9
Advantage Roofing & Exteriors is based in Kalamazoo, MI, in business since 1999, led by Timothy C. Brown, founder, listed by BBB as President and Owner, BBB accredited, A+ rating, and holds President’s Club standing on the GAF certification registry.
| Score component | Points | Max |
|---|---|---|
| Certification tier | 35 | 35 |
| Adjusted rating | 35.9 | 40 |
| Review corpus depth | 15.0 | 15 |
| Metro proximity | 10.0 | 10 |
| Total | 95.9 | 100 |
Independently corroborated:
- Accredited with an A+ rating, a business start date of 24 March 1999, and Timothy C. Brown as President and Owner, at 4266 Ravine Rd.. BBB business profile
- Reported as acquired by Ridgeline Roofing & Restoration, a private-equity backed platform in the Bertram Capital portfolio, on 24 September 2026.. Trade press
What they actually do. Residential roofing, commercial roofing, siding, gutters, windows, insulation, decks, storm damage restoration.
Why it ranks here. The top score in the metro by a wide margin, with President’s Club certification and 26 years of trading from a named founder, at 4.9 across 841 reviews, much the deepest review base on this page. Roofing is the lead trade: the company name, the BBB category and the firm’s own framing all put it first, though siding, gutters, windows, insulation and decks are in scope too.
Best fit for: Larger multi-trade exterior projects, and anyone who wants the longest record in the metro, with the ownership change below understood.
What we would want clarified. The most important thing on this entry is eight days old at the time of writing. On 24 September 2026 the business was acquired by Ridgeline Roofing & Restoration, a private-equity backed platform in the Bertram Capital portfolio. Any description of this firm as locally owned, including the statement to that effect on its own site, is now out of date, and you should ask who holds the workmanship warranty, whether the crews and management are unchanged, and which entity your contract is with. Separately, the 841 reviews are a whole-business Google aggregate accumulated since 1999 across all its trades, not a roofing-only count, and corroboration is thin: Yelp shows 13 reviews and BBB 3, so nothing except Google supports a figure anywhere near 841. Trade press gives 1998 against BBB’s 1999. Its Michigan licence number could not be verified. GAF tier self-reported. We publish this because a ranking that only prints the flattering findings is an advertisement, not an assessment.
Verify the certification yourself on the GAF registry listing. The number carried on that listing is (269) 372-1691, which is the registry’s contact line and is often a directory tracking number rather than the contractor’s own: take the number from the company’s own website and compare the two.
2. Patriot Exteriors, LLC — TRB Score 88.4
Patriot Exteriors, LLC is based in Portage, MI, in business since 2022, led by Joseph A. Goldsberry, Owner, Not accredited; A+ rating; one complaint closed in the last three years, and holds President’s Club standing on the GAF certification registry.
| Score component | Points | Max |
|---|---|---|
| Certification tier | 35 | 35 |
| Adjusted rating | 32.5 | 40 |
| Review corpus depth | 12.3 | 15 |
| Metro proximity | 8.7 | 10 |
| Total | 88.4 | 100 |
Independently corroborated:
- Rated A+ though not accredited, with a business start date of 31 May 2022, Joseph A. Goldsberry as owner, at 8108 Shaver Rd in Portage, and one complaint closed in the last three years.. BBB business profile
What they actually do. Residential roofing, commercial and office building roofing, asphalt shingles, metal shingles, roof rejuvenation, roof inspections, vinyl siding, replacement windows.
Why it ranks here. President’s Club certification at 4.8 across 244 reviews, from a Portage firm with a named owner whose published telephone number matches its BBB listing. Portage is where 305 of the 500-plus homes impacted by the 7 May 2024 EF2 were, so a contractor based on Shaver Road is working in the part of this metro that actually took the storm. It is also the only firm here documenting metal shingles.
Best fit for: Portage addresses, metal shingle work, and roofs with enough life left that rejuvenation is worth pricing against replacement.
What we would want clarified. It is not BBB accredited, although BBB rates it A+, and BBB records one complaint closed in the last three years which we could not retrieve the detail of and so do not characterise. Three years old, which is the shortest history among the ranked firms. Note what roof rejuvenation is: a maintenance treatment, not a reroof, and a legitimate product on a roof with remaining life but not a substitute for replacement on an older one, so make the firm state which it is quoting. Its Michigan licence number could not be verified, and its GAF tier is self-reported. We publish this because a ranking that only prints the flattering findings is an advertisement, not an assessment.
Verify the certification yourself on the GAF registry listing. The number carried on that listing is (269) 599-7370, which is the registry’s contact line and is often a directory tracking number rather than the contractor’s own: take the number from the company’s own website and compare the two.
3. Property Revolution, LLC — TRB Score 79.6
Property Revolution, LLC is based in Plainwell, MI, in business since 2017, led by Curtis W. Visser, President, BBB accredited since 6 May 2023, A+ rating, zero complaints closed in the last three years, and holds Master Elite standing on the GAF certification registry.
| Score component | Points | Max |
|---|---|---|
| Certification tier | 24 | 35 |
| Adjusted rating | 35.8 | 40 |
| Review corpus depth | 12.8 | 15 |
| Metro proximity | 7.0 | 10 |
| Total | 79.6 | 100 |
Independently corroborated:
- Accredited since 6 May 2023 with an A+ rating, a business start date of 1 March 2017, Curtis W. Visser as President, at 917 E Allegan St in Martin, with zero complaints closed in the last three years and a stated 35-mile service radius.. BBB business profile
What they actually do. Residential roofing, commercial roofing, siding, decks, fences.
Why it ranks here. Master Elite certification at 4.9 across 314 reviews with zero complaints closed at BBB in the last three years, which is the cleanest complaint record among the ranked firms here. Eight years of trading under a named president, BBB accredited since May 2023.
Best fit for: Northern parts of the metro toward Plainwell and Allegan County, where it is the nearest ranked firm.
What we would want clarified. Its address is further out than the directory suggests. BBB places it at Martin, in Allegan County, roughly five miles north of Plainwell and outside Kalamazoo County, serving a stated 35-mile radius that reaches Kalamazoo, so confirm it covers your address rather than assuming. We could find no company website at all, so there is nothing to read about method or warranty in advance. Its scope extends beyond roofing to siding, decks and fences. Its Michigan licence number could not be verified, and its GAF tier is self-reported. We publish this because a ranking that only prints the flattering findings is an advertisement, not an assessment.
Verify the certification yourself on the GAF registry listing. The number carried on that listing is (616) 315-2777, which is the registry’s contact line and is often a directory tracking number rather than the contractor’s own: take the number from the company’s own website and compare the two.
4. Adam Garland Construction, Inc. — TRB Score 74.3
Adam Garland Construction, Inc. is based in Kalamazoo, MI, in business since 2004, led by Adam J. Garland, President, Not accredited; A+ rating, and holds Master Elite standing on the GAF certification registry.
| Score component | Points | Max |
|---|---|---|
| Certification tier | 24 | 35 |
| Adjusted rating | 31.0 | 40 |
| Review corpus depth | 9.2 | 15 |
| Metro proximity | 10.0 | 10 |
| Total | 74.3 | 100 |
Independently corroborated:
- Rated A+ though not accredited, with a 2004 business start date and Adam J. Garland as President at 6825 Stadium Dr, filed under Remodel Contractors rather than Roofing Contractors.. BBB business profile
What they actually do. General contracting, roofing, remodeling.
Why it ranks here. Twenty-one years in business under a named president, the longest history on this page after Advantage, with Master Elite certification and 4.7 across 62 reviews. It presents as a general contractor offering roofing among its services, family owned and operated, with a working website, and on a 1959 city housing stock a general contractor is sometimes the right call: if the reroof turns into deck, framing or soffit work, the capability is already in the firm.
Best fit for: Older city houses where the roof work is likely to turn into carpentry, and jobs bundled with other remodelling.
What we would want clarified. Roofing is explicitly not its primary trade: BBB files it under Remodel Contractors rather than Roofing Contractors, and its own site presents it as a general contractor. It is not BBB accredited, though BBB rates it A+. Its own site claims over 40 years of experience, which does not reconcile with a 2004 start date and most likely refers to the principal’s personal experience rather than the company’s trading history, so do not rely on it. Its 62 reviews are a thin base. Its Michigan licence number could not be verified, and its GAF tier is self-reported. We publish this because a ranking that only prints the flattering findings is an advertisement, not an assessment.
Verify the certification yourself on the GAF registry listing. The number carried on that listing is (269) 544-7663, which is the registry’s contact line and is often a directory tracking number rather than the contractor’s own: take the number from the company’s own website and compare the two.
5. Top Tier Roofing LLC — TRB Score 74.2
Top Tier Roofing LLC is based in Kalamazoo, MI, in business since 2022, led by Brandon W. St Clair and Alexandra A. St Clair, BBB accredited since 22 October 2022, A+ rating, zero complaints closed in the last three years, and holds Certified standing on the GAF certification registry.
| Score component | Points | Max |
|---|---|---|
| Certification tier | 12 | 35 |
| Adjusted rating | 39.3 | 40 |
| Review corpus depth | 12.9 | 15 |
| Metro proximity | 10.0 | 10 |
| Total | 74.2 | 100 |
Independently corroborated:
- Accredited since 22 October 2022 with an A+ rating, a business start date of 3 March 2022, Brandon and Alexandra St Clair as owners, at 852 47th St SW in Wyoming MI, with an 80-mile service radius and zero complaints closed in the last three years.. BBB business profile
What they actually do. Residential roofing, roof repair, roof maintenance, exterior services.
Why it ranks here. A 5.0 across 330 reviews, the highest rating in the metro over a substantial base, with BBB accreditation since October 2022, zero complaints closed in the last three years, two named owners and a working website. BBB categorises it as roofing contractors, so roofing is the business rather than a line of it, which is true of only two firms on this page.
Best fit for: Repair and maintenance as well as replacement, from a roofing-only firm with the best rating in the metro.
What we would want clarified. It is not a Kalamazoo business, notwithstanding the Kalamazoo address in the manufacturer’s directory. BBB gives its address as Wyoming, Michigan, in the Grand Rapids area, with an 80-mile service radius, and the company’s own site states it serves the Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids areas; its telephone number does carry a 269 area code. Treat it as a Grand Rapids firm serving Kalamazoo and ask whether a separate Kalamazoo premises exists, because travel distance matters on a warranty callback. It holds base-tier GAF certification, which is why it ranks fifth despite the strongest rating. Three years old. Its Michigan licence number could not be verified, and its GAF tier is self-reported. We publish this because a ranking that only prints the flattering findings is an advertisement, not an assessment.
Verify the certification yourself on the GAF registry listing. The number carried on that listing is (269) 290-3805, which is the registry’s contact line and is often a directory tracking number rather than the contractor’s own: take the number from the company’s own website and compare the two.
The 41 wind reports that shape a Kalamazoo roof
Aggregate hail counts tell you very little about a specific roof. These are the individual events: every severe-weather report logged by the National Weather Service across the 1 county of the Kalamazoo-Portage, MI statistical area over ten years, with the dates, the stone sizes and the towns they landed on. Over that decade the metro logged 10 hail reports, 41 severe thunderstorm and high wind reports and 2 tornadoes. Reported property damage from hail, severe wind and tornado over that decade totalled $54.6 million; flood and winter-storm losses are counted separately and are not included.
The biggest hail to fall on Kalamazoo in a decade
| Date | Stone size | Reported near | County |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 April 2020 | 2.0 in | Howlandsburg | Kalamazoo |
| 7 May 2024 | 2.0 in | Oakwood | Kalamazoo |
| 15 August 2020 | 1.0 in | Milwood | Kalamazoo |
| 20 July 2023 | 1.0 in | Vicksburg | Kalamazoo |
| 27 February 2024 | 1.0 in | Texas Corners | Kalamazoo |
| 28 February 2024 | 1.0 in | Climax | Kalamazoo |
The largest stone on record for this metro fell on 7 April 2020 near Howlandsburg, measured at 2.0 inches. That is hen-egg sized. Two inches is the threshold at which insurers expect functional damage and full replacement claims.
Wind. The strongest thunderstorm gust logged in the metro was 66 knots, about 76 mph, near Comstock on 16 June 2024. Asphalt shingles begin lifting at roughly 67 mph when they are correctly nailed, and considerably below that when they are not.
Tornadoes. 2 tornadoes touched down in these counties over the decade, the strongest rated EF2 near Texas Corners on 7 May 2024.
What the National Weather Service wrote about it
The NWS logs a written account of each severe-weather episode. This is its description of the 16 June 2024 event near Comstock, reproduced verbatim:
There were numerous reports of downed trees and limbs. A peak wind gust to 76 mph was measured at the Kalamazoo airport ASOS.
That account is the design case for a roof here, and it comes from the agency that recorded it rather than by a contractor selling the repair.
When it happens. Severe weather reports cluster in May (14), June (11), August (8). The worst years on record were 2025 (17), 2024 (12), 2020 (8). If you are scheduling non-urgent work in Kalamazoo, the months outside that window are when crews are least stretched and least likely to be triaging emergency callouts ahead of your job.
Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, county-level detail files 2016 to 2025, filtered to the counties of this statistical area by The Roofing Brief. Damage figures are as reported to the NWS and undercount insured losses.
What to do with this. Hail is not the governing risk in Kalamazoo. Weight your decision toward wind rating, ventilation and flashing detail rather than paying extra for impact-rated shingles.
A majority-renter city inside a majority-owner county, and a 1959 housing stock
Kalamazoo County as a whole is 35.5 percent renter-occupied, 38,004 of 107,110 occupied units, which is close to the national picture. The City of Kalamazoo is 57.7 percent renter-occupied, 17,044 of 29,523. That is a majority-renter city sitting inside a majority-owner county, and the mechanism is not subtle: Western Michigan University reported 17,331 total enrolment for Fall 2025, a student body equivalent to roughly 59 percent of all occupied housing units in the city.
The age gap runs the same direction and compounds it. The median year of construction in Kalamazoo County is 1975. Within the City of Kalamazoo it is 1959. A 1959 house is on at least its third roof covering, and in a state whose code requires an ice barrier everywhere, much of that stock was built before ice barriers were required at all. So the city’s older, more leak-prone housing is also its most heavily tenanted, and the person choosing the specification on a large share of those roofs is a landlord rather than an occupant.
What that means practically is that the questions worth asking in Kalamazoo are about the two details the code cares about and a cheap job skips. First the ice barrier: R905.1.2 requires it, and on a 1959 house with a shallow overhang the test is how far inside the exterior wall line it runs. Ask for the product by name and for the coverage at the eaves to be written down, because it is buried under the shingles by the time anybody could check. Second the ventilation: R806.2 requires a minimum net free ventilating area of 1 in 150, or 1 in 300 with a compliant vapor retarder, and an under-ventilated attic on an older house is the mechanism behind both ice dams and premature shingle ageing. A reroof is the one moment the ventilation can be corrected, and a quote that does not mention it is a quote to put new shingles over the existing problem.
Third, and specific to this market: ask what the quote assumes about the deck. A 1959 roof has often been reroofed over rather than torn off, and Michigan’s $600 exemption threshold means there is no small-job loophole, so the licensed contractor is on the hook for what is underneath. Get a price per sheet for sheathing replacement agreed in advance, because that is the item most often discovered mid-job and renegotiated from a position of weakness.
And one thing to be careful about in the sales conversation. One firm on this page markets roof rejuvenation alongside replacement. That is a maintenance treatment rather than a reroof, and it may be the right answer on a roof with life left in it, but it is not a substitute for a replacement on a 1959 house that has reached the end of its covering. Make the contractor say which one they are selling you and why.
Kalamazoo, by the numbers that matter for a roof
| Measure | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Renter share, Kalamazoo County | 35.5 percent, 38,004 of 107,110 occupied units | ACS 2020 to 2024 five-year, B25003 |
| Renter share, City of Kalamazoo | 57.7 percent, 17,044 of 29,523 | ACS 2020 to 2024 five-year, B25003 |
| WMU total enrolment, Fall 2025 | 17,331 | Western Michigan University |
| Median year built, county | 1975 | ACS 2020 to 2024 five-year, B25035 |
| Median year built, city | 1959 | ACS 2020 to 2024 five-year, B25035 |
| Licence exemption threshold | Under $600 aggregate contract price, and not where the work is part of a larger operation | MCL 339.2403(f) |
| Examination | Required | MCL 339.2404 |
| Sanction on unlicensed work | Cannot bring or maintain a court action to collect compensation | MCL 339.2412(1) |
| Ice barrier | Required statewide, single row in the table | 2015 Michigan Residential Code Table R301.2(1), R905.1.2 |
| Attic ventilation | 1 part in 150 of the vented space, or 1 in 300 with a Class I or II vapor retarder | 2015 Michigan Residential Code R806.2 |
| Design wind speed | 90 mph | 2015 Michigan Residential Code Table R301.2(1) |
| Code edition in force | 2015; the 2021 edition was stayed on 7 July 2025 | Court of Claims stipulated order, HBAM and MMHA v LARA |
| City reroof permit | $52 flat, doubled if work started first | City of Kalamazoo 2026 CPED fee schedule |
| 7 May 2024 EF2 tornado | 10.86 miles, 300 yards wide, over 500 homes impacted, 23 destroyed, 12 injured, $50 million | NOAA NCEI Storm Events, NWS survey |
Source: MCL 339.2401, 339.2403, 339.2404 and 339.2412; 2015 Michigan Residential Code Table R301.2(1), R905.1.2 and R806.2; Court of Claims stipulated order of 7 July 2025; City of Kalamazoo 2026 CPED fee schedule; Kalamazoo Area Building Authority; US Census Bureau ACS tables B25003 and B25035; Western Michigan University; NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database.
What to verify before a Kalamazoo contractor starts
Licensing is required in MI. Michigan requires a licence from the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs for any residential construction, alteration or repair costing more than $600 in combined labour and materials. Roofing-only contractors fall under the Maintenance and Alteration Contractor classification with the roofing speciality.
Applicants must complete a 60-hour state-approved prelicensure course and pass the PSI Residential Builder or Maintenance and Alteration Contractor exam with the roofing speciality. A Residential Builder licence covers roofing as part of broader construction; a Maintenance and Alteration licence is limited to repairs and non-structural changes such as a roof replacement.
Check here: Michigan LARA licence verification. The $600 threshold is low enough that essentially every roofing job in Michigan requires a licensed contractor. There is no meaningful unlicensed exemption.
Four checks to run before you sign anything, in any state.
- Verify certification at the source. Use the GAF verification tool rather than trusting a badge image on a company website.
- Get the certificate of insurance from the insurer, not the contractor, and confirm general liability and workers compensation are both active on the day work starts.
- Confirm who pulls the permit. If a contractor asks you to pull it as the homeowner, that moves liability onto you. Decline.
- Get warranty terms in writing before any deposit, and check the manufacturer warranty being promised actually requires the certification tier the contractor holds.
The shape of the Kalamazoo contractor market
9 certified roofing contractors serve the principal cities of the Kalamazoo-Portage, MI statistical area, of which 2 hold the top President’s Club tier. The pool carries 2,209 customer reviews between them at a mean rating of 4.87. The statistical area had a 2024 population of 264,780, a change of 1.18% against the 2020 census base, per the U.S. Census Bureau Vintage 2024 estimates.
How these Kalamazoo rankings were produced
Every contractor in the Kalamazoo-Portage, MI pool was scored out of 100 on four published components: certification tier, a Bayesian adjusted rating, review depth and distance from the metro centre. In this metro that meant scoring 9 certified contractors, of whom 2 hold President’s Club standing and 3 Master Elite, against a metro mean rating of 4.87. The top five were then researched individually against Better Business Bureau records, state licence registers and manufacturer directories. Anything unflattering that research surfaced appears above alongside the rest, and no company bought its position.
Set aside in Kalamazoo. A contractor that would otherwise have scored into the top five was removed for the reason stated. The score is computed from public data, but where the research pass finds evidence undermining an input to that score, the score is set aside.
- AAA Renovations Roofing & Remodeling, which scored 76.3: Scored fourth and is not ranked, because we could establish nothing about it at all. BBB searches against both Vicksburg and Kalamazoo return no matching profile. No company website could be located at any plausible domain. No state or local register entry is reachable. No founding year, no principal or owner, and no street address could be found. The only attributes we could record, roofing and remodeling, come from the business name itself. This is not a judgement about the quality of its work, which we have no information about in either direction. It is that we will not publish an entry consisting of a name and a rating we cannot check, in a state where a licence is required and we could not confirm one, when the alternative is to name a firm we can actually describe.
The full method, the weightings, what the GAF certification tiers actually mean, who is eligible to be ranked and what we do not claim are all set out on our roofer ranking methodology page. Last updated: October 2026. Scoring run: 2026-10-02. Corrections go to the editor and are actioned on verification.
Questions Kalamazoo homeowners ask
Who is the best roofer in Kalamazoo, MI?
Advantage Roofing & Exteriors of Kalamazoo, MI scores highest in the Kalamazoo metro on The Roofing Brief Contractor Score, at 95.9 out of 100 as of October 2026. It holds President’s Club certification with a 4.9 rating across 841 reviews. Highest-scoring is not the same as best fit for your specific job, and the four companies behind it score within 21.7 points.
How many certified roofing contractors serve Kalamazoo?
9 contractors on the GAF certification registry serve the principal cities of the Kalamazoo-Portage, MI statistical area as of October 2026, of which 2 hold President’s Club status.
How much damaging hail does Kalamazoo get?
The Kalamazoo-Portage, MI statistical area recorded 8 hail reports of 1 inch or larger and 2 of 2 inches or larger between 2016 and 2025 in the NOAA Storm Events Database. The largest hailstone reported measured 2.0 inches.
Did any contractor pay to appear on this list?
No. The Roofing Brief takes no placement fees, no lead fees and no affiliate commission from any roofing contractor. Ranking comes entirely from the published formula applied to public registry data, followed by an individual research pass on the top five.
What was the worst hailstorm in Kalamazoo in the last ten years?
The largest hailstone logged by the National Weather Service in the Kalamazoo-Portage, MI statistical area between 2016 and 2025 measured 2.0 inches, reported near Howlandsburg on 7 April 2020. That is hen-egg sized. Two inches is the threshold at which insurers expect functional damage and full replacement claims. Across the decade the metro recorded 10 hail reports. Reported property damage from hail, severe wind and tornado over that decade totalled $54.6 million; flood and winter-storm losses are counted separately and are not included.
When is the worst time of year for roof damage in Kalamazoo?
Severe-weather reports in the Kalamazoo-Portage, MI statistical area cluster in May, June, August, on the NOAA record for 2016 to 2025. Booking non-urgent roof work outside those months usually means shorter lead times, because local crews are not simultaneously triaging storm callouts.
Do roofers need a licence in MI?
Michigan requires a licence from the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs for any residential construction, alteration or repair costing more than $600 in combined labour and materials. Roofing-only contractors fall under the Maintenance and Alteration Contractor classification with the roofing speciality. Applicants must complete a 60-hour state-approved prelicensure course and pass the PSI Residential Builder or Maintenance and Alteration Contractor exam with the roofing speciality. A Residential Builder licence covers roofing as part of broader construction; a Maintenance and Alteration licence is limited to repairs and non-structural changes such as a roof replacement.
What should I check before hiring a roofer in Kalamazoo?
The $600 threshold is low enough that essentially every roofing job in Michigan requires a licensed contractor. There is no meaningful unlicensed exemption.
A majority-renter city inside a majority-owner county, and a 1959 housing stock?
Kalamazoo County as a whole is 35.5 percent renter-occupied, 38,004 of 107,110 occupied units, which is close to the national picture. The City of Kalamazoo is 57.7 percent renter-occupied, 17,044 of 29,523. That is a majority-renter city sitting inside a majority-owner county, and the mechanism is not subtle: Western Michigan University reported 17,331 total enrolment for Fall 2025, a student body equivalent to roughly 59 percent of all occupied housing units in the city.
Is Kalamazoo a hard market to find a good roofer in?
Michigan licenses this trade and backs the licence with a sanction most states do not have. MCL 339.2403(f) exempts only projects under $600, and a reroof on any house clears that by an order of magnitude, so a licence is required. MCL 339.2404 requires the applicant to pass an examination. And MCL 339.2412(1) provides that an unlicensed person shall not bring or maintain an action in a court of this state to collect compensation for work requiring a licence, so an unlicensed roofer cannot sue you for the money. The gap on this page is that we could not verify a single licence number for any of the five firms: none publishes one and the state’s public lookup is effectively unusable. Which makes asking for the number the one task this page cannot do for you.
Is wind or hail the bigger risk to a roof in Kalamazoo?
Wind, by a wide margin. The Kalamazoo-Portage, MI statistical area logged 41 severe thunderstorm and high wind reports against 8 hail reports of an inch or more between 2016 and 2025. Wind damage shows up at the rake, ridge and edge rather than across the field of the roof, so the fastening schedule and edge detail matter more here than the impact rating of the shingle.
Why is AAA Renovations Roofing & Remodeling not on this list?
Scored fourth and is not ranked, because we could establish nothing about it at all. BBB searches against both Vicksburg and Kalamazoo return no matching profile. No company website could be located at any plausible domain. No state or local register entry is reachable. No founding year, no principal or owner, and no street address could be found. The only attributes we could record, roofing and remodeling, come from the business name itself. This is not a judgement about the quality of its work, which we have no information about in either direction. It is that we will not publish an entry consisting of a name and a rating we cannot check, in a state where a licence is required and we could not confirm one, when the alternative is to name a firm we can actually describe..
Roofer rankings for other metros
The Roofing Brief scores certified roofing contractors in the 400 largest U.S. metropolitan and micropolitan areas on the same formula.
- Best roofers in Elkhart, IN, about 45 miles from Kalamazoo
- Best roofers in Grand Rapids, MI, about 48 miles from Kalamazoo
- Best roofers in Lansing, MI, another MI metro on the same formula
- Best roofers in Ann Arbor, MI, another MI metro on the same formula
- Best roofers in Lynchburg, VA, a metro of comparable size
- Best roofers in Bend, OR, a metro of comparable size
- Best roofers in South Bend, IN, also scored, about 54 miles away
See the full index of all 400 metro roofer rankings, or read how to find and vet a roofing contractor anywhere in the country.
Cite this analysis
The Roofing Brief. “Best Roofers in Kalamazoo, MI: The Roofing Brief Contractor Score.” Published October 2026. Inputs: GAF certification registry; NOAA Storm Events Database 2016-2025; U.S. Census Bureau Vintage 2024 population estimates; Better Business Bureau and independent review-platform records for each ranked contractor.