For contractors

Write the bid from this roof’s quantities and from quotes you can date. A total copied from another job leaves out this tear-off, this deck, and this crew.

A bid is a scope plus a price basis plus exclusions

Homeowners compare what they can see. If tear-off, decking, flashing, or ventilation is missing from the page, they cannot tell your number from a cheaper number that skipped the work. Write the scope the way you would want to be held to it. The NRCA technical library is the trade reference for the details those line items are describing.

Put these in the proposal

• How you measured. On-roof, aerial, or plans. Say what that method does not show. Aerial images miss rotten deck, extra layers, and flashing buried under the covering.
• Area. Squares of roof surface. One square is 100 square feet of roof, not of floor.
• Tear-off and disposal. Number of layers you have priced, and how an extra layer will be billed.
• Deck allowance. A quantity you have included, and the unit you will use when the open roof exceeds it. Write the unit before you open the roof.
• Underlayment, ice-barrier, flashing, ventilation, and penetrations. Name them. “Standard install” is not a scope.
• Permit. Who pulls it, if the jurisdiction requires one.
• Warranty. The manufacturer document you will register, and the workmanship warranty you actually offer. Do not quote a year count you have not printed.
• Exclusions. Structural carpentry, interior finishes, satellite remounts, hidden rot beyond the allowance, and hazardous materials.

Build the number from this job

Add materials you can buy, labor you actually pay, equipment, disposal, permit fees, and overhead you can explain. Estimating tools lists what a takeoff still needs after you know the squares. Put the supplier’s quote date on the worksheet so the customer can see the price is for this scope, not a leftover from another city.

Change orders belong in writing before the extra work, not as a surprise on the final invoice. Homeowners are told the same thing on Hiring a roofer.

The crew is not a detail for the last page

Fall protection for employees is an employer duty under OSHA, including residential roofing. Read 29 CFR 1926.501 and OSHA’s roofing page. This guide does not describe how to rig an anchor. If you need a procedure, use your competent person’s program and OSHA’s materials, not a consumer article.

Sources

• NRCA technical library.
• OSHA 29 CFR 1926.501 — Duty to have fall protection.
• International Code Council — model codes the permit office adopts.

A bid is built from supplier quotes, payroll, and the conditions on this roof. A form that only asks for size, pitch, and material is a measurement note, not a price.

What to record before you price

The homepage form is a short way to write down three facts. It does not return a bid. Those facts are:

• Roof area in squares. One square is 100 square feet of roof surface, not the footprint of the house.
• Pitch band. Low, medium, or steep. Pitch changes access, which product instructions apply, and how long the work takes. Read the time off your own crews, not off a universal multiplier.
• Material family. Asphalt, metal, tile, wood, or a low-slope membrane. The family narrows the system. The product name, color lot, and supplier quote still have to be filled in.

Keep that note with the rest of the takeoff. Do not hand it to a customer as the price.

What a real takeoff still needs

• Waste, hips, valleys, starter, and ridge. Field squares are not the whole order.
• Penetration count and flashing condition.
• Layers to tear off, and deck you cannot see yet.
• Intake and exhaust ventilation, not a single vent added out of habit.
• Access, steep-slope equipment, disposal, and dump rules where the job is.
• Code and permit items the jurisdiction actually enforces.
• Labor and material prices from your suppliers and your payroll, with the date of each quote.

How to present that takeoff is on Pricing & bidding. Product families are on Material supply.

Tools that are not this website

Aerial measurement reports, supplier quotes, and the manufacturer’s installation instructions are the working papers. Attach them to the job file under their own names. An aerial report still misses rotten deck, extra layers, and flashing hidden under the covering.

Sources

• NRCA technical library — trade measurement and detail practice.
• Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association — asphalt systems and installation context.
• Sources & methodology — which public references these articles use.

Business rules for roofing companies are local. This page maps the questions. It does not list a 50-state license chart, sell a franchise, or invite you into a contractor network. There isn’t one here.

License and insurance where the job is

Confirm the contractor license, if one is required, with the board that covers the job site. Some states license roofing. Some license only the general contractor. Some leave it to the city. A license from another state is not automatically valid. General liability and workers’ compensation are what many permit offices and general contractors ask to see. Ask the office that issues the permit which certificates they require, and keep them current.

Fall protection is an employer duty

OSHA’s duty to have fall protection is in 29 CFR 1926.501. Residential roofing is not a casual exception you can invent. OSHA’s roofing page is the starting point for employers. This article will not describe anchor layout, harness rigging, or roof access. Build that into a competent-person program, not into a marketing blog.

Contracts, changes, and getting people paid

Use a written scope, a price basis, and a change-order habit. The homeowner-facing version of that advice is Hiring a roofer and the estimator version is Pricing & bidding. Mechanics-lien and prompt-pay rules are state law. Do not rely on a national summary. If you use subcontractors, know who is responsible for their insurance and their fall protection before they show up.

Lead paint and other job-site rules

Firms that disturb painted surfaces in pre-1978 housing may need to comply with the EPA Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting rule, including firm certification. Whether a given roof job triggers it depends on the work, not on a slogan. Read the rule or ask counsel. This page is not that advice.

Papers worth keeping in the job file

• The license that applies at the job site, and the date you confirmed it with the issuing board.
• Current certificates for general liability and, where required, workers’ compensation.
• The written scope, the price basis, and any change approved before the extra work.
• Manufacturer instructions for the product you are installing, not a generic contract from another state.

Lien and prompt-pay rules change at the state line, so the contract should name the property, the parties, and the payment schedule under the rules that office uses. A form borrowed from another state is a poor substitute for that.

Sources

• OSHA 29 CFR 1926.501.
• OSHA — Roofing.
• EPA — RRP rule.

Build from the product’s current instructions and the code adopted locally. An exterior photo does not show underlayment, deck, or fasteners, and it is not an endorsement of a brand.

Material families, not a ranking

• Asphalt shingles. The common steep-slope covering in a lot of the country. Start with the Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association for how the industry describes the system, then use the shingle manufacturer’s own installation instructions.
• Metal. Standing seam and other metal profiles are a different trade practice, not a thicker shingle. The Metal Roofing Alliance is an industry introduction. Clips, oil-canning, and finish warranties are product-specific.
• Tile and slate. Heavier systems. The Tile Roofing Industry Alliance resources are the industry library. The structure has to be checked by someone qualified before you sell the weight. A picture of the finished outside does not perform that check.
• Low-slope membranes. A different assembly from steep-slope shingles. Use the NRCA technical library and the membrane manufacturer. Do not detail a flat roof as if it were a shingle roof with less pitch.
• Wood shakes and shingles. A separate product class with its own fire, maintenance, and installation constraints. Do not treat them as a rustic asphalt shingle.

Service life, wind rating, and fire classification belong on the product’s current data sheet and listing, not in a sentence on this page. NFPA is where fire-test standards are developed. Which classification a given roof needs is a code question at the building.

What to buy besides the covering

• Underlayment specified for that covering, including a self-adhered barrier where the adopted code and the manufacturer require it. That location follows the code and the climate at the building, not a single national diagram.
• Edge metal, valley metal, and penetration flashings sized for the detail, not leftover coil from another job.
• Intake and exhaust that work as a pair. Adding one without the other is a common reason ventilation “upgrades” disappoint.
• Fasteners the instructions name. A generic nail is not a system.

IBHS roofing research is useful background on wind and impact. It is not a purchasing spec and not a label you can stick on a bid.

Order for this job

Color lots, lead times, and what the yard has in stock change by region and by week. Confirm them with the supplier, and put that quote’s date on the worksheet in Pricing & bidding.

Homeowners see an exterior asphalt eave, not a cutaway of these layers, on the homeowner hub.

Sources

• Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association.
• Metal Roofing Alliance.
• Tile Roofing Industry Alliance — resources.
• NRCA technical library.
• NFPA.
• IBHS roofing research.