Is this normal for roofing "companies"?

[Miramonti]

That's 1/2-@ss for anybody.

 

[DrPizza]

wait... $2600 for a full tear-down new roof? 4 days? 3-4 guys? Shakes?!!?
Crap!

Not a huge house. Hip roof though, with 2 dormers. But, with *American* workers! The owner probably made next to nothing after labor and materials. (and it was cedar shakes that were torn off - two layers, plus two layers of asphalt on top of that; I had new asphalt shingles put on.) If I recall correctly, materials for me would have been around $1800 without having shopped around. I'm sure that contractor was able to get them significantly cheaper. The price of shingles, afaik, has gone up significantly in the past decade. I'm still amazed at prices though like "30k" for a roofing job, especially if they're asphalt shingles & the deck isn't replaced. The companies doing this, particularly the ones hiring Mexican workers must be making out like bandits. What's a square of shingles cost these days? $100? $200? Even if it was $300, that's 3 dollars per square foot. Toss in a bit more for felt, drip edge, flashing, etc., and you're probably talking $5 per square foot, tops. In RCPratt's case, 3 days of labor. Not sure how many guys were working, but even with 10 guys working 10 hour days, that's 300 hours of labor. Even at $20 an hour, that's still only $6k. I'm just amazed.

Heck, hail storm? Bring it on! If my insurance company will write me a check for even $20k to replace my own roof, I'll do it myself in a heartbeat & pocket the huge difference. (Planning on reroofing anyway. The shingles are just fine, but it's been reshingled 4 times, plus sections patched with rolled roofing, without a single shingle ever having been removed. That's 8-10 layers thick! (A lot of weight up there!)

 

[0roo0roo]

Looks like something you need to bring with you when you head into the server room. :awe:

heh that would be the giant electromagnet sweeper

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

Pitchfork is normal, stuff in lawn is normal, they should have a sizeable waste bin though. They need to do a magnet sweep of the yard to pick up hidden debris

Roofing jibs should only take a day absent some massive decayed roofing sheaths needing replaced

Crap like nails in the lawn is NOT acceptable. It may be common, but only because lousy contractors are common.

 

[IronWing]

You couldn't even attach the shingles without a deck...what do you nail/staple them to?

Built up roof, no shingles. This is kind of a southwestern thing.

Rafters (joists?) => plywood deck => cardboard backer crap (don't know what's called) => tar paper => elasto-polymer sealant is the general progression from bottom to top. The slumlord left out the plywood.

The roof was wavy, showing where every rafter was.

 

[murphy55d]

Ask your $2600 guy if he'll come do a roof in central PA for me. I was quoted $3700 the other day for just my main roof. Waiting to hear from a few other guys.

 

[zCypher]

Came in here to say good luck!

 

[DrPizza]

$3700 isn't too bad, compared to $30,000. My guy didn't do the porch roof either though - the porch roof was low enough that I was quite comfortable working on it.

 

[SunnyD]

Well, the pickup truck has been removed from our driveway. Tonight it is parked IN FRONT of our house instead, and tomorrow is trash pickup day - so it's precisely where my trash can is supposed to be. FAIL.

But wait, there's more! They appear to have cleaned up a bit of the shit left around the house today before they left. I discovered where they put it when I attempted to wheel the trash can out to the road. No... it's not in the trash can... it's in the trailer with a couple of mostly flat tires that is now sitting IN MY DRIVEWAY IN FRONT OF MY FUCKING GARAGE DOOR. FAIL.

My wife is going to be livid when she gets home. This should be fun.

 

[Greenman]

Our roofer had huge tarps extending out from each side of the house as they did the tear down, and had OSB board lining the bottom of each side of the house to prevent any possible damage from things bouncing back toward the house. At the end of each day, the place was spotless. Despite using the tarps, they still ran a magnetic sweeper over the entire area just to be certain they didn't miss any nails.

If I recall correctly, the entire job took them 4 days. That was with either 3 or 4 guys working, included a complete tear down & putting a new deck on. (Ours was a plank roof, with planks spaced about 4" apart, and two courses of cedar shakes over the plank, and two courses of asphalt shingles over the cedar shakes. Total cost was $2600.

What part of Cambodia do you live in? Four roofs (4!) pulled off, new deck put down and new shingles for $2600 is nothing short of astonishing. Around here, 3 cheap laborers for 4 day's would run around $1440, mandatory insurance and taxes would bring that up to $2376, assuming the contractor had never had a claim and his comp rates were low. That leaves him $224 for material, which would buy 20 sheets of OSB, enough for a 500 square foot shed, and no roofing material in the budget.
Either they pay minimum wage and don't carry insurance, or they stole all the material. Probably both.

 

[Greenman]

Not a huge house. Hip roof though, with 2 dormers. But, with *American* workers! The owner probably made next to nothing after labor and materials. (and it was cedar shakes that were torn off - two layers, plus two layers of asphalt on top of that; I had new asphalt shingles put on.) If I recall correctly, materials for me would have been around $1800 without having shopped around. I'm sure that contractor was able to get them significantly cheaper. The price of shingles, afaik, has gone up significantly in the past decade. I'm still amazed at prices though like "30k" for a roofing job, especially if they're asphalt shingles & the deck isn't replaced. The companies doing this, particularly the ones hiring Mexican workers must be making out like bandits. What's a square of shingles cost these days? $100? $200? Even if it was $300, that's 3 dollars per square foot. Toss in a bit more for felt, drip edge, flashing, etc., and you're probably talking $5 per square foot, tops. In RCPratt's case, 3 days of labor. Not sure how many guys were working, but even with 10 guys working 10 hour days, that's 300 hours of labor. Even at $20 an hour, that's still only $6k. I'm just amazed.

Heck, hail storm? Bring it on! If my insurance company will write me a check for even $20k to replace my own roof, I'll do it myself in a heartbeat & pocket the huge difference. (Planning on reroofing anyway. The shingles are just fine, but it's been reshingled 4 times, plus sections patched with rolled roofing, without a single shingle ever having been removed. That's 8-10 layers thick! (A lot of weight up there!)

It's all labor and insurance. I know a fellow who owns a roofing company, his general liability is 20K a year, and his comp is 122% of payroll. He has about 50k worth of equipment on top of that.

 

[guyver01]

My wife is going to be livid when she gets home. This should be fun.

Maybe she'll have the pair of balls attached to complain to the landlord or the contractors than on an internet forum.

 

[SunnyD]

Maybe she'll have the pair of balls attached to complain to the landlord or the contractors than on an internet forum.

Complaining is pointless. The landlord will call the handyman "foreman", the "foreman" will feign listening, and shit will still end up fucked up tomorrow. I've complained to the landlord numerous times about her handymandickweed over the last two years, and yet here he is, heading up this roofing job.

So instead, I come here and let you enjoy the hilarity that ensues.

 

[guyver01]

Complaining is pointless. ... I've complained to the landlord numerous times about her handymandickweed over the last two years, and yet here he is, heading up this roofing job.

So instead, I come here and let you enjoy the hilarity that ensues.

So... i have to ask...

why exactly do you continue to live at the same place where the landlord doesn't care?

i'd have moved 2 years ago.

 

[SunnyD]

So... i have to ask...

why exactly do you continue to live at the same place where the landlord doesn't care?

i'd have moved 2 years ago.

Lease isn't up till November.

 

[guyver01]

Lease isn't up till November.

hopefully you're already looking for a new place?

 

[magomago]

hopefully you're already looking for a new place?

He did preface his post saying he was buying a new place; although that clearly doesn't state where in the home-buyer pipeline he is, I think it is safe to say that he is "already looking for a new place"

 

[SunnyD]

hopefully you're already looking for a new place?

I'll forgive you if you weren't paying attention, it's been 10 days since I updated it.