GUIDE / BEFORE YOU SIGN
Two roofing quotes,
the same roof,
different jobs.
A homeowner with three quotes in hand is usually comparing three numbers. The numbers are the least useful part. What separates them is what each one actually commits to doing, and most proposals are written so that is hard to work out.
THE QUESTION WORTH ASKING
“What exactly is this price buying, and what happens if you find something underneath?”
01 / WHY THE NUMBERS DIFFER
It is usually
not margin.
When one quote is thousands lower, the common assumption is that someone is greedy and someone is hungry. Occasionally true. Far more often, the two proposals describe different work.
WHAT ACTUALLY VARIES
Four places
the difference
hides.
- Tear-off or overlay — removing the old roof, or covering it
- What goes underneath — the underlayment specification, which is where cheap roofs are made cheap
- The details — flashing, valleys, penetrations, wall abutments
- What happens on discovery — damaged decking found once the roof is open
Any of those four can account for a five-figure difference on the same house. None of them is visible in a price. All of them should be visible in a written scope.
A proposal that does not address them has not priced them. That does not mean the work will not happen. It means the conversation about who pays for it happens later, while your roof is open.
02 / WHAT A PROPOSAL SHOULD SPECIFY
Six things
worth checking
line by line.
Not a legal checklist. Just the things that, in our experience, separate a proposal you can hold someone to from one you cannot.
01
Tear-off, and how many layers.
Removing one layer and removing three are different jobs with different disposal costs. If the roof has never been torn off, nobody knows what is under there, and the proposal should say how that is handled.
02
The underlayment, by name.
This is the single most useful line in a tile roofing proposal, and the one most often left vague. “New underlayment” tells you nothing. A product name and a rated service life tells you what you are buying.
03
Flashing: replaced or reused.
Valleys, wall abutments, chimneys, vents. Reusing old flashing under a new roof is common, sometimes acceptable, and should be a decision you were told about rather than one made for you.
04
The decking contingency.
Nobody can see the deck under a roof that has not been opened. An honest proposal prices the known work and states a rate per sheet for damaged decking. A single confident number on an old house should raise a question.
05
Ventilation.
Whether existing vents are reused, replaced, or added to. Ventilation affects how long the roof lasts and it is frequently omitted entirely from quotes.
06
Breakage allowance, on tile.
Lifting and re-laying tile breaks some of it. A stated allowance is a sign of a proposal written by someone who has done the work. Silence usually means a conversation on the day.
03 / THE BIGGEST SINGLE LINE
New tile,
or your tile
put back?
On a tile roof this one line can be most of the difference between two quotes, and plenty of proposals leave it ambiguous.
Re-laying your existing tile
- The tile is lifted, the underlayment beneath is replaced, the same tile goes back
- Appropriate when the tile is sound, which concrete tile often is
- You are not buying material you already own
- Needs a breakage allowance, because some will break in handling
Buying all-new tile
- Correct where the existing tile is failing, obsolete, or cannot be matched
- Substantially more expensive, because tile is the costly part
- Worth questioning on a roof whose tile is in good condition
Ask which one a proposal has priced. If two quotes differ sharply and one assumes new tile while the other assumes re-laying yours, you are not comparing like with like, and the cheaper one may be the more thorough.
04 / WORDING WORTH QUESTIONING
What vague
phrasing
usually means.
None of these is proof of bad faith. All of them are worth one clarifying question before you sign.
01
“Replace roof as needed”
As needed by whom, decided when? This phrasing moves the scope decision to the person holding the invoice.
02
“Includes all necessary materials”
Necessary is doing a lot of work in that sentence. Named products and quantities are checkable; necessary is not.
03
“Subject to inspection”
Reasonable, provided the proposal also says what happens if the inspection finds something. Without that, it is an open-ended cost.
04
A single number with no breakdown
You cannot compare one lump sum with another. You can compare tear-off against tear-off and underlayment against underlayment.
05 / COMMON QUESTIONS
Worth asking.
Should I always take the most detailed proposal?
Not automatically, but detail is evidence that someone looked. A proposal naming specific products, quantities and contingencies was written by somebody who assessed the roof. A one-line price may have been written from the driveway.
Is the cheapest quote always cutting corners?
No. Sometimes the cheapest is the one that correctly identified your tile is reusable while the others priced new tile. That is why comparing scopes rather than totals matters more than any rule of thumb about price.
What if a contractor will not put the scope in writing?
That is your answer. Everything discussed should survive into the written document, because the written document is what governs if there is a disagreement later.
How many quotes should I get?
Enough to see a pattern, which is usually three. If all three describe the same work and one is far cheaper, ask what it leaves out. If all three describe different work, the useful next step is deciding what the roof actually needs before comparing prices at all.
Does a longer warranty mean a better roof?
Not on its own. A warranty is only worth the specification it covers and the company standing behind it. A long warranty on unspecified work is a weaker promise than a shorter one on a clearly described system.
Comparing quotes right now?
Find out what the roof actually needs first. It is the only fair way to judge which proposal describes it.