Our ancient metal roof was in sorry shape. The panels were sagging and streaked with red, as if they’d been raked by the claws of a winter storm. Rust was bubbling up through the paint. In fact, in some spots, a thin layer of paint seemed to be all that was standing between the house and the sky.

It wasn’t leaking — well, not seriously — but I don’t like to wait until a small problem becomes a big one. In my experience, the time to effect any repair is before the need is urgent, when there’s plenty of time to budget for the work, and you still have the luxury of shopping around for the right person to do it.

Unfortunately, finding a roofer was turning out to be more difficult than I imagined.

It’s been eight years since we settled on our house on St. Peters Church Road, but that’s a mere blip in Perry County, where residency is often reckoned in decades — if not generations. So I try to tread lightly. I want to be the outsider from Baltimore who turns out to be surprisingly good to work for: easygoing; knowledgable about the twists and turns of home renovation; flexible in terms of schedule; and prompt to pay.

Two years ago, when I started reaching out to roofers, I gave them plenty of time to get back to me. What I wanted — a galvanized standing-seam metal roof to match the look of the old one — was a little out of the ordinary.

Still, I knew it could be done. I’d managed to hire a roofer when I built my back porch. He’d done the standing seams the old-fashioned way, fabricating the roof entirely on site from flat rolls of steel. I liked the result, which had a nice hand-made feel, and was happy to bring him back to do the roof of the main house.

I called him a few times, several months apart, but the answer was always the same: too busy.

Then I tried calling a roofer whose name I’d seen on signs in the neighborhood, marking some very handsome metal roofs. I got a little farther with him — he actually came out and took measurements, but somehow never managed to produce a proposal.

I tried him twice, with an eighteen month breather between calls.

No dice.

Why was it so hard to find a roofer?

Was the economy booming? No.

Was there a sudden run on steel roofing? Nope.

Was I doing something wrong?

I turned to my friend Chad Shuman, an excavator, foundation guy, builder, and all around mensch who has helped us out with several projects over the years. You may remember reading about the time he spread some magnificent fossiliferous shale on our driveway. Or the time he bailed us out during a monster rainstorm, when our septic system was blocked, and nothing would drain — or flush!

Was there a special etiquette for roof work, I wondered, something I was missing? In all my years as a homeowner — and occasional contractor — I’d never come across such a strange problem: I couldn’t find anyone to do the work!

As usual, Chad had the answer. He hooked me up Lewis Yoder of L&R Roofing, a fellow he’s done a lot of work with.

Lewis was prompt, courteous, and direct. By the end of our first phone call, I knew he was the man for the job, but I waited patiently for his proposal. It didn’t take him long to get one in my hands. His price was excellent. I authorized the work immediately and sent him a deposit.

We were on his schedule for the end of this year, but the weather this fall has been favorable for roofing. Lewis called me up and asked if his crew could do the job early.

Music to my ears!

I was hoping to get up to Landisburg to meet him in person before the job got underway, but my work prevented it. I was the beneficiary, though, of tantalizing email reports from our neighbor, who wrote that the tear-off was happening very neatly; that the sheathing and tar paper were up; that the Galvalume panels were on and looking spiffy.

It was done in less than a week, so the first time I met Lewis in person was the day we did the final walk-through. There was only one hiccup — the steel delivery truck had torn up our neighbor’s yard a bit — but Lewis’s crew was on the scene with hoes and rakes to make it right.

The new roof looks great and should last a good fifty years, and probably more. For the first time in its two century history, our house now has sheathing over the rafters, which will help strengthen the structure and improve its energy performance.

So my hat’s off to Lewis Yoder of Mifflintown, who can be reached at 535-5431. Special thanks to Chad Shuman, as well, whose number is 438-3843.