For homeowners

This is general guidance for homeowners anywhere in the country. It is not a quote, a contract, or a permit determination. The price for a specific house depends on the roof that is actually there, the local code the city has adopted, and the scope a contractor writes down.

What a replacement quote is describing

A roof replacement quote should describe a whole roof assembly, not only the visible covering. On a steep-slope house that usually means the covering, the underlayment beneath it, the metal at edges and walls, the way water and air move at penetrations, and the condition of the deck the system is fastened to. The Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association and the National Roofing Contractors Association’s technical library both treat those layers as parts of one system. Leaving one of them out of a proposal does not make it optional.

Read every quote as a scope of work. A lower total that omits tear-off, flashing, or ventilation is a different job, not a better price on the same job.

Line items worth seeing in writing

• Measurement. Roof area is counted in squares. One square is 100 square feet of roof surface, which is not the same number as the house’s footprint. Hips, valleys, and pitch change the surface area.
• Tear-off and disposal. How many existing layers come off, and who hauls them. An overlay over an old covering is a different job, and many manufacturers and local rules limit it.
• Deck. What happens if the wood under the old roof is soft, wet, or poorly fastened. A lump-sum quote with no deck allowance is guessing about something nobody can see until the covering is off.
• Underlayment and ice-barrier. Which product, and where a self-adhered barrier is included. Whether ice-barrier is required depends on the code adopted where the building stands and on the climate, not on a national map this site can draw for you.
• Flashing and edge metal. Chimneys, walls, valleys, pipe boots, eaves, and rakes. These are common leak points. “Reuse the old flashing” should be an explicit sentence if that is the plan.
• Ventilation. Intake and exhaust together. Adding exhaust without intake is not automatically an improvement.
• Penetrations and accessories. Vents, skylights, satellite mounts, and gutters, and whether they are in this contract or someone else’s.
• Permit. Who pulls it. The authority having jurisdiction decides whether one is required. Do not assume a national yes or no.

Use the written scope, not a borrowed total

Two roofs with the same street address can still be different jobs. A neighbor’s total leaves out your layers, your deck, your flashing, and your local labor. Ask each contractor for the line items above and compare those. The homepage form only records squares, pitch, and a material family. That record is not a quote.

How to compare two proposals

Put the scopes next to each other. Check tear-off, deck allowance, underlayment, flashing, ventilation, and who warrants the workmanship before you compare the totals. A manufacturer warranty and a contractor’s workmanship warranty are different documents. Read both, and do not assume a year count that is not written on them.

Sources

• Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association — asphalt roofing as a system, not a single shingle.
• NRCA technical library — roofing details and practice used across the trade.
• International Code Council — model codes. Your city or county adopts and amends them.

Repair and replacement are both legitimate outcomes. This page cannot see your roof. It is general guidance, not a diagnosis. Do not go onto a roof to decide. Falls from roofs are a leading cause of death in construction, which is why OSHA’s roofing topic page exists for people whose job is to be up there.

What you can learn from the ground and from indoors

• Where water shows up inside, and whether it lines up with rain, ice, or a plumbing vent.
• Ceiling stains, their dates, and whether they grow.
• From the ground: missing or cupped shingles, exposed underlayment, debris in valleys, sagging lines, and gutters that overflow.
• Age of the covering, if you know it, and whether a previous owner already installed a second layer.

Those notes are useful to an inspector. They are not a substitute for one. The deck, the flashing hidden under the covering, and the number of layers are often invisible from the curb.

When a repair is the coherent scope

A repair fits a limited, identified defect when the rest of the covering is still serviceable and a matching product is available. A pipe boot, a small flashing defect, or a handful of damaged shingles can be that kind of job. Ask the roofer to name the defect, the area, and what is excluded. “We’ll patch whatever we find” is not a scope.

Matching matters for appearance. A repaired patch of a discontinued shingle will not look like the field, and color lots differ even when the product name matches. Whether an insurer must pay to match undamaged slopes depends on the policy and on state rules. Ask the insurer. There is no single national matching requirement to assume.

When replacement belongs in the conversation

• The covering is worn across the field, not only at one flashing.
• There are several active leaks that are not explained by one detail.
• The deck is soft or wet in more than a single spot. Someone qualified has to confirm that. The exterior picture on the homeowner hub is not that inspection.
• An extra layer is already installed, and the manufacturer or the local code limits another overlay.
• Repairs would require opening so much of the roof that the remaining service life of the field is the real question.

IBHS roofing research describes how roof coverings perform in wind and impact in their tests. It is research about assemblies, not a rating of your house.

What not to do

Do not climb a ladder onto the roof to “just look,” and do not walk a wet, icy, or steep surface. Do not let a canvasser start tear-off the day they knock. A written scope can wait until you have compared it with at least one other. Hiring questions are on Hiring a roofer. Storm and insurance questions are on Insurance claims.

Sources

• OSHA — Roofing — why roof work is a fall hazard for workers, and why it is not a homeowner errand.
• IBHS — Roofing research — wind and impact performance research, separate from any one house.
• NRCA technical library — trade guidance on roof conditions and details.

Licensing is set where the building stands. Ask for the license and insurance that apply at that address, then confirm them with the board that issued them. This guide does not match you with a roofer.

Questions that belong in the first conversation

• Is the company licensed to do this work at this address? Ask which board issued the license. Rules differ by state and sometimes by city. Confirm with that board, not with a business card.
• Will they show current general liability insurance, and workers’ compensation where the job requires it?
• Who pulls the building permit, if the authority having jurisdiction requires one?
• Who will be on the roof: their crew, a subcontractor, or a day labor crew they will not name?
• What is written as included, and what is written as excluded?

Compare scopes, not slogans

Ask for the same information you would use on Roof replacement costs: tear-off, disposal, deck allowance, underlayment, flashing, ventilation, penetrations, and warranty documents. A manufacturer warranty covers the product on the manufacturer’s terms. A workmanship warranty covers the installer’s labor on the installer’s terms. Neither one is a promise this website can extend.

Get more than one written proposal when you can. A single number with no line items is hard to compare and hard to enforce.

Contract items worth reading before you sign

• The property address and a description of the roof area included.
• The price, and whether allowances (especially decking) are a fixed quantity or a per-sheet price after the roof is open.
• How a change is approved before the extra work happens.
• Start and substantial-completion expectations, and what weather delay means.
• Who is paid, and when. Be cautious about paying the full contract before materials are on site and the permit, if required, is issued.
• Cleanup, protection of landscaping, and whether interior drywall is in this contract. It usually is not.

Older houses and lead paint

If the work will disturb painted surfaces on a home built before 1978, ask whether the EPA Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting rule applies. That is a compliance question for the firm. This page cannot decide it for a specific house.

Pressure that is not an explanation

Walk away from anyone who will not put exclusions in writing, who insists the only price is good today, or who tells you to sign your insurance check over before you have read the scope. After a storm, unsolicited door-knocks are common. The company still needs a license you can verify and a scope you can compare. Insurance steps are on Insurance claims.

Sources

• EPA — Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting Program.
• NRCA technical library — what a professional roofing scope is expected to cover.
• International Code Council — model codes your local permit office adopts and amends.

Your insurance policy decides what is covered. This page is not a coverage opinion, a public-adjuster advertisement, or a claim strategy. The declarations, the roof-settlement clause, and your state’s rules outrank any general article, including this one.

Start with the policy and the insurer

Call the company on your declarations page and ask how they want notice of the loss. Read whether the roof is settled at replacement cost or actual cash value, and what depreciation or deductible applies. Those are contract terms. This site will not guess which ones you have.

For a plain-language orientation to how property insurance works in general, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners publishes consumer material. Your state insurance department is the regulator for your policy.

Document without getting on the roof

Photograph damage from the ground and from indoors. Include a date. Note which rooms leaked and during which storm. The checklist on the homeowner hub is the safe version of a storm walk-through: ground, gutters you can reach without climbing onto the roof, photos, and a professional for steep or wet surfaces.

Keep receipts if you pay for temporary protection. Mitigate further damage if you can do that safely or by hiring someone. Ask the insurer what they need to see before permanent repairs, because many policies expect you to limit additional damage and also expect a chance to inspect.

What a carrier’s inspection is, and is not

An insurer’s inspection is about the claim. A roofing contractor’s inspection is about the work they are willing to contract. They can disagree. Neither one is this website. Do not let a contractor tell you the claim is approved because they met an adjuster in the driveway.

Whether undamaged slopes must be replaced so the roof “matches” is not a national rule. It depends on the policy language and, in some states, on statute or bulletin. Ask your insurer and, if you need a regulator, your state insurance department.

Paper that needs a slow reading

• Direction-to-pay or assignment-of-benefits forms. Rules differ by state. Do not sign away the claim until you understand who will be paid and what you still owe.
• A contractor’s contract that assumes a claim amount you have not seen in writing from the carrier.
• Any request to inflate the scope. That is not a paperwork trick. It is fraud.

If you hire help, use the questions on Hiring a roofer. A storm does not suspend licensing.

Sources

• NAIC consumer content — general insurance education from the state regulators’ association. Not a decision on your claim.
• OSHA — Roofing — why inspection from the roof is work for people trained and equipped to be there.
• IBHS — RICOWI weather investigation guidance — how wind and hail investigations are framed in the roofing industry. Not an adjustment of your loss.