Read two roofing quotes the way a crew would

Plenty of ramblers from the sixties and seventies carry a second layer of shingle, laid over the first when the second one came due. Two layers mean close to twice the labor and twice the disposal, and a quote that assumed one will grow on the day the crew finds two.

Nobody sees the sheathing until the roof is off, and on a house that has had ice at the eaves for twenty winters the bottom two feet of it are the likely casualty. A stated price per sheet, and how many sheets the estimate assumes, is what keeps that from becoming a phone call mid-job.

Synthetic underlayment can sit exposed through a week of bad weather; felt cannot, and a Minnesota spring delivers those weeks. The two are not the same price either. A quote that says only "underlayment" has not told you which one you are buying.

This is the row that separates quotes here more than any other. The membrane can run the code minimum at the eave, two full courses past the exterior wall line, up every valley, around each vent and chimney, or all of it. On a low-pitch rambler with a wide overhang the difference is several rolls and a day of labor.

Where the garage roof meets the house wall, or where a dormer sits on the main slope, the step flashing can be replaced or it can be sealed over and left. The second is faster and it is where the leak shows up two winters later.

A brick chimney through a roof that sees ice every year needs its own flashing and counterflashing, cut into the mortar. It is separate work, often missing from the first number, and it tends to reappear as an extra once the roof is open.

The reason ice forms at the eave is warm air reaching the underside of the deck. Putting the old vents back does nothing about it. Clearing the soffits, adding baffles and balancing intake against exhaust is real labor, and a quote should say plainly whether it includes that or not.

The metal edge and the starter course are the last defense where ice sits all February. They are inexpensive, they are easy to leave off a quote, and when they are missing the first sign is water inside the soffit.

Aluminum gutters on a rambler come down and go back up, get replaced, or get bent by a ladder and argued about later. The quote should say which. If heat cable runs in them, it should say what happens to that too.

Each city in the metro issues its own building permit for a re-roof and inspects on its own timeline. Whether that is in the price, on a separate line, or left for you to arrange are three different deals.

The shingle carries a manufacturer warranty. The installation carries whatever the contractor puts in writing, and in this climate it is the installation that decides how the roof holds up. A quote with only a material warranty is half a warranty.

Where the dumpster sits on a driveway that will be frozen in a month, a magnet pass over the lawn for nails, and covering the shrubs along the foundation. Minor items that account for a large share of what people complain about afterward.