Getting quotes for a new roof

[HeroOfPellinor]

Lowest quote I got was for $9000 and I'm [------] that close to paying a company to remove the wood shake and put up plywood and then just nailing up the new roof myself with some help, but anyway.

Are these quotes typically negotiable? Or would I be breeching re-roofing protocol to suggest that an extra $800 to add a decorative edge to 2 gables is too much?

 

[woowoo]

Pray for hail?

 

[Leper Messiah]

normally yes to a certain degree, for labor. Material costs normally are not. How many square are you talking about here, and what kind of shingles?

 

[Patt]

It should be negotiable ... if they're not willing to do so, find another contractor who is cheaper (assuming this is an option). My house & garage cost around $8000 in the end when we did it last fall, and I must say, it was a good choice.

 

[OrByte]

did you try doing the demo/clean up yourself?

that might drop the price down.

 

[Saint Nick]

my parents just spent 8500 on their roof.

 

[Leper Messiah]

gah. you live in california no wonder its so expensive. Normally 9K for a roof is like frickin' huge.

 

[HBalzer]

The best way to negotiate is to get to or more people to fight for your business. Get some other quotes and then say well so and so will do it for this can you beat that? It also depends on supply and demand if you live in Florida or New Orleans your screwed.

 

[NogginBoink]

Everything in life is negotiable.

It just depends on how good of a negotiator you are.

In this case, if you don't have the knowledge/skills to install the roof yourself, and therefore don't know what costs the contractor is encountering, you're probably not in a very good position to get the best deal.

Remember also that with lower price typically comes lower quality. Since this roof will probably protect just about everything you own, that's worth thinking about as well.

(You ARE ensuring that your contractor is insured and bonded, right?)

 

[Scarpozzi]

Alright....what you need to do is go to Lowes or Home Depot and see about buying shingles or whatever roofing material you're looking at.

It's pretty easy to put up shingles as long as you square the shingle runs and make sure you overlap the keys enough. As far as labor goes, if you have a normal sized house, you should be able to learn and shingle the house with 1 or 2 other people in a weekend. If you have any friends that have done it before you'll see that it's pretty simple.


As for materials.....I can shingle my house (1500 square feet with a 4/12 pitch) for about $900-1200 and that's buying some decent shingles (20-40 year asphault). Most cheap contractors would charge me $2200-2500+ to do the job.

 

[Leper Messiah]

8500 on a roof? A friend of mine roofs for a living and he did an average sized ranch house for $2600, that was like 120 bundles of 3-tab and labor, he still made over 1000 too.

 

[Lothar1974]

The only way to really bring the cost down is to do the tear off and cleanup your self. Other than that prices are not negotiable. How many places have you called for a estimate?
You should at least call 4 or 5 contractors in your area and compare what they will do and what their cost is. How many sqaure is your roof? Either way, check around and good luck.

 

[Quasmo]

My dad negotiated the price of our new roof (like last month) From around $10000 down to $6900, he just knew what the going price was, he was like, "You know I heard you did my neighbors house for $6500" What can you do for me?" (little bit larger house). It is DEFINATELY negotionable.

 

[shimsham]

make sure you check your insurance policy before you make the decision to do it yourself. i admit my ignorance on that point, but as fickle as insurance companies are, they may not cover any damages in the future if it isnt done by a licensed contractor. i wouldnt be surprised either way, but better to make sure so you dont screw yourself down the road should you have to make a claim.


as others have said, just get quotes from as many as you can. then show the others the cheapest quote, and go with whoever can cut it the most. but remember, you get what you pay for, so cheapest may not always be the best.

 

[TallBill]

i need to get into the roofing business..

 

[Juno]

you need to see my dad but i don't think it'll work out since you are from california and my family is from new jersey.

my dad operates an incorporated construction business, his company does varies of building such as renovating, building from stratch and demolishing. my previous job was demolishing, it was so much fun getting rid of houses down.

anyways, i did renovated roof for a client who wanted to install an extra floor. it would probably cost you a lot because 2x10 rafters cost $$$!!! so just be wise with your budget spending.

 

[archiloco]

love living where i do...hehe 1200 in labor for removal of old shingles and installing new shingles (composite shingle, 33 squares) total ended up 3000k with material and everything

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

1500 square feet plus+ a 2 1/2 car garage so it's like over 3000+ feet with the pitch and I'm getting ridgeline venting and flashing in the valey and high profile ridges and decorative gables all of which are pretty much standard with msot of the quotes I've got. I've got 10 so far and they've all been around 10K.

The tear off is something I DO NOT want to do as I have shake right now with no plywood underneeth. I watched my neighbor's roof being torn off and replaced and it was incredible how this bunch of guys used these huge curved bars to roll up the shingles in sheets. It was a few hours and the roof was gone.

Who do you get quotes from for somebody to just tear the roof off and put up plywood. I'm afraid any re-roofing company would be less than happy to do this and it might show.

 

[iamwiz82]

Do you need to do a tear off? Some cities allow 2 and even 3 layers of shingles.

 

[Baked]

Shop around, and ask fro recommendations from people who have had their roof done. I've heard a lot of bad things about scamming roofing companies. Yes, the price is negotiable, but make them print out a hard copy of the work to be done, mats and prices.

 

[Kelemvor]

We just did a friend's roof a cuple months ago. It's not hard work but it's time consuming. And depending on where you live it's Hot, Damn Hot!.

 

[ThePresence]

Crap, you're in Cali. If you were in my neck of the woods, I'd refer you to my buddy's company who will beat most anyone's price and collect my commission.

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

Originally posted by: FrankyJunior
We just did a friend's roof a cuple months ago. It's not hard work but it's time consuming. And depending on where you live it's Hot, Damn Hot!.

Yup, if I do it myself it will be during late spring or early summer when it very seldom rains. Bad part is temps in Sac County go from 90 - 115 during the summer. But I'd work from 5:00 AM till 10:00 AM a day.

How long did it take you and what did you read to learn how?

Anyway, we'll see. I got my last quote guy coming out tomorrow.

 

[Leper Messiah]

wow. That is UBER expensive. In Michigan that job would go for 3K tops.

 

[DrPizza]

I think some people here are delusional. There is no way that job "would go for 3K tops"
Read the thread. Digest the information. OP said there's roughly 3000 square feet.
It needs a complete tear-down.
It needs to be completely redecked before applying asphalt shingles (because it isn't decked now)

Here's a little math:
The normal sheet of plywood is 4 feet by 8 feet. That's 32 square feet.
Allowing for minimal waste, thats about 100 sheets of plywood. (or OSB)
Let's see... 100 times how much a sheet?? The market has been pretty volatile in the past couple of years. Last I was aware, it was $10 or $12 a sheet.

That's $1200 just for the decking. Shingles for 3000 square feet? Flashing? drip-edge? Nails? Felt? 15lb felt is one of the cheaper items, but just the other day I paid about $14 for 400 square feet. So even the felt is going to cost $100.
I think the "3K tops" figure is doomed.
I easily see it costing $5k. Although, I agree with the others that 10k is pretty steep. However, if that's what your market will bear, you may be stuck. If a roofer is having no trouble finding jobs and is booked for months in advance, why would he negotiate on the price? (Time of year, therefore, plays a factor when you contract such jobs. During the busy season, jobs are easy to come by and they can charge more. During the slow season, there's more competition for jobs, so prices are a bit lower.)

I had to have a similar job done; on a much smaller roof. It took a crew of 4 guys (who do this daily) nearly a week to complete it. I find it laughable that someone thought you and two buddies could do it in a weekend. I'll agree that if you just had to cover it with a layer of asphalt shingles, it'd be a piece of cake and take no time at all... but a complete tear-down and re-roofing is some pretty serious work.