Roofing
Roofing Company in Vicksburg, MS
Roofs for Vicksburg and Warren County, with an owner running every job.
On the roof
Roofing Company Serving Vicksburg, MS
Vicksburg is the farthest city we serve, about 45 minutes west of the Flowood shop, and it is the one where the ground matters most. The city sits on more than a hundred feet of windblown silt above the river, and that soil behaves in ways the rest of this metro does not.
Dickerson Contracting is licensed through the Mississippi State Board of Contractors, number 25203-MC, insured, BBB accredited and 5 star rated across more than 100 Google reviews. Jacob or Jordan runs every job with a superintendent on site, and the roof is built by one of the two crews we have trusted for over nine years.
Every job starts with an inspection on the roof and in the attic, photographs you keep whether you hire us or not, and one written price before anything comes off.
We set expectations up front and we do not over-promise. You approve every dollar before it becomes a bill.
Credentials
Licensed through the Mississippi State Board of Contractors, license 25203-MC. BBB accredited with an A+ rating since 2018. Home Builders Association and Rankin County Chamber members.
In the field
The Bluff Is Silt, and Silt Has Rules
Drilling at Vicksburg has measured loess 100 to 109 feet thick. It runs 75 to 90 percent silt with a porosity of 45 to 53 percent, which is why near-vertical road cuts 70 feet deep stand here without sliding. Twenty miles east the same deposit is only 15 to 30 feet thick.
The catch is what happens when that silt gets wet. The Corps of Engineers, whose research station sits inside the city on Halls Ferry Road, describes the material as consolidating and losing strength when wetted, a behavior it calls collapsible soil. Gullies with near-vertical banks 20 feet high are described as common in the Vicksburg area, and water entering through a rodent hole can hollow out a cavity underground until the surface above it drops.
Vicksburg loess is not normally saturated in place. Which means the failures are almost always man-made wetting: a leaking line, water ponded where it should not be, or a downspout putting a roof's worth of rain onto a slope. The Corps instruction is blunt, and it is the reason a roof job here is partly a water job. Keep water away from the base of the bank.
Roughly 37 percent of the city is slopes of 17 to 40 percent. If your house is on one, where your gutters discharge is a structural question, not a tidy-up.
Permits, the Bond, and What the City Calls a Roofer
Vicksburg enforces the 2018 family of international codes and the 2017 electrical code. A re-roof needs a permit: the city requires one to erect, modify, remove or repair a structure, roofing is not on the exemption list, and there is no separate roofing permit type, so it is pulled as a standard building permit. The fee is valuation based, $15 for the first $1,000 and $5 for each additional thousand.
Two things here catch contractors out. The city requires a $5,000 surety bond payable to Vicksburg before any permit is issued. And the ordinance says in plain terms that if the entire project is the repair, replacement or construction of a roof, the roofer becomes a general contractor. Working without a permit doubles the fee.
Zoning approval comes before the building permit. We handle all of it as part of the job rather than leaving you at the counter.
One Local Historic District, and Seven That Are Not
This is the distinction that costs people money in Vicksburg, and almost nobody gets it right.
The city has exactly one local historic district, plus 33 individually designated landmarks named by address, several of them outside the district boundary. If your property is in that district or on that list, a full re-roof needs a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Board of Architectural Review before the building permit can issue. The board meets on the second and fourth Tuesday. The fee is $11.
Vicksburg also has seven National Register districts, covering considerably more ground. National Register listing is an honor and it restricts a private owner spending private money precisely not at all. Four of those seven sit entirely outside the local boundary. A house there can look every bit as historic and need no review whatsoever.
One more thing worth knowing before you assume a like-for-like replacement is exempt. It is not. Repairing part of a roof with identical material is handled administratively with no fee, but replacing the roof in total needs the board, even in the same material.
Storm Damage and Insurance Claims
Warren County has logged 65 thunderstorm wind reports at 69 miles an hour or higher since 1996, and 61 hail reports at an inch or larger. Plenty of Vicksburg re-roofs start with weather.
We photograph the damage, meet your adjuster on the roof, and handle the supplement if the carrier scope comes up short. On a covered claim, you pay your deductible. That is it. Read how we handle storm damage and insurance claims, or request a free inspection.
On the job
Tear-Off to Finished Roof
Three frames from Dickerson jobs, in the order the work happens. Every photograph on this page is theirs, shot on site by the crew.
Photographs from Dickerson Contracting jobs. Project locations are not published, so no frame is presented as a particular street or city.
Get a Written Price on Your Vicksburg Roof
Free inspection, and photographs you keep whether you hire us or not. Get Your Written Price Call 601-724-4282
Roofing Services in Vicksburg
Residential Roofing in Vicksburg, Commercial Roofing in Vicksburg, Roof Repair in Vicksburg, Metal Roofing in Vicksburg. Not sure which one fits? Request a free quote and we will tell you after the inspection, not before it.
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Areas we serve
Common questions
Do I need a permit to re-roof in Vicksburg?
Yes. The city requires a permit to repair or modify a structure and roofing is not exempt. There is no separate roofing permit, so it is pulled as a standard building permit on a valuation-based fee. We handle it.
My house is historic. Do I need board approval?
Only if it is inside the one local historic district or on the city list of 33 designated landmarks. National Register listing alone restricts nothing. Where the board does apply, a full re-roof needs a Certificate of Appropriateness before the permit, even in identical material.
Why does a roofer care about my slope?
Because Vicksburg is built on loess. The soil stands vertical while dry and loses strength when it gets wet, and the documented failures come from water reaching the base of a bank. Where your downspouts discharge matters here more than anywhere else we work.
Will insurance cover a storm-damaged roof?
On a covered claim, you pay your deductible. That is it. We document the damage, meet your adjuster on site and handle the claim paperwork alongside the work.
Don't know where to start?
Call the office, or tell us about the job online and get one written quote.