Compare roofing quotes on what each one actually priced

A good many houses from the sixties through the eighties carry a second layer of shingle, laid over the first when it wore out. Stripping two is close to twice the labor and twice the disposal of stripping one, and a quote priced for a single layer on a roof that has two is a quote that has not been finished.

Nobody sees the plywood until the roof is off, and after thirty humid summers there are usually soft sheets along the eaves and around the chimney. A price per sheet, and the count the estimate assumes, bounds that risk. A quote that says nothing about decking has left it to be settled on the day.

Felt and synthetic are different products at different prices, and only one of them holds up when a summer downpour beats the shingle to the roof. "Underlayment included" answers nothing. Ask which product, by name, and where.

Winters here cross the freezing line often enough that ice forms at the eaves on most houses, most years. Whether the membrane runs the eaves only, the valleys as well, around the chimney and every pipe, or the minimum the county will accept is a different quantity of material and a different number of hours.

Where a brick chimney passes through the slope or a dormer meets the main roof, re-using the step flashing and running sealant over it is quicker and cheaper on the day. It is also the single most common reason a roof installed three years ago is now staining a ceiling several feet from where it leaks.

The brick chimneys on this housing need counterflashing let into the mortar joint, not caulked to the face of the brick, and a crown that sheds water. That is separate work from the field of the roof, and it is regularly absent from a headline number.

A summer attic here can run far hotter than the air outside, and that heat ages the shingle from underneath. Reinstalling the vents that were there does nothing about it. Adding intake at the soffit and exhaust at the ridge is real work with a real price, and a quote should say which of the two it is doing.

The metal edge and the starter course under the first row are where ice sits in winter and where water backs up under a clogged gutter in summer. Both are cheap, both are easy to leave off a quote, and both are where failure begins when they are missing.

Aluminum gutters on a rambler or a colonial come down and go back, get replaced, or get bent by a ladder and argued about later. On the older houses in town a built-in gutter is specialist work some crews decline. The quote should say what happens to yours.

Each county and independent city in both states issues its own permit and sends its own inspector, and the fee and the wait vary considerably. Whether the contractor pulls it, bills it separately, or leaves it to you are three different arrangements.

The shingle manufacturer stands behind the shingle. Somebody has to stand behind the installation, and installation is what fails on these roofs. A material warranty with no stated labor warranty leaves the part that matters uncovered.

A dumpster on the driveway, a magnet sweep for nails across a lawn, protection for the foundation plantings and the air conditioning unit below the eaves. Small items individually, and the source of most of the complaints that arrive after the crew has left.