Compare roofing quotes on what stays and what goes

A century-old row home may carry shingle over its original slate, or cement shingle over that, and each layer is weight and labor. Stripping slate is slow, heavy work and the disposal is not the same as asphalt. A quote priced for one layer of shingle on a roof that has slate beneath it is not the same job at all.

Under slate the deck is board laid with gaps for a covering that was hung on hooks, and a modern shingle needs a continuous surface. Add the soft runs along the eaves where a century of meltwater has sat. A stated price per sheet and an assumed count is what keeps that from being negotiated on the roof.

Felt and synthetic are different materials at different prices, and only one of them can be left exposed while a crew waits out a wet week in April. "Underlayment included" is not a specification. Ask for the product by name and where it goes.

Winters in the valley freeze and thaw rather than staying cold, and ice at the eave is ordinary. Whether the membrane runs the code minimum, past the wall line, up the valleys, or around the chimney and every pipe is a different roll count and a different day, and the quote should say which.

On these houses the flashing is often copper, and it is often worth more than the labor to remove it. Whether it is kept, replaced with copper, or replaced with aluminum are three different jobs at three different prices, and sealing over the old metal is a fourth that fails soonest.

A brick chimney through slate needs counterflashing let into the mortar, a sound crown, and a decision about whether it still serves anything. That is separate trade from the field, and it tends to be missing from the first number and present in the change order.

A row home attic vents through the ends or not at all, and reinstalling what was there changes nothing. Adding intake and exhaust where the party walls block the usual paths is real work, and the quote should say whether it includes that.

The metal at the eave and the starter strip under the first course are where ice sits every winter. Both are cheap, both are simple to leave off a quote, and both are where the failure starts when they are absent.

Built-in gutters lined in copper or tin on the older houses are specialist work that some crews will not price. Hung gutters on the newer ones come down and go back, get replaced, or get dented. The quote should say what happens to yours.

Every city and borough in the valley runs its own building department with its own fee and schedule. Whether the contractor pulls the permit, bills it separately, or leaves it to you are three different arrangements and only one puts a license on the file.

The manufacturer stands behind the shingle or the slate. Somebody has to stand behind the installation, and on a roof with copper details it is the installation that decides. A quote with only a material warranty has covered the half that lasts.

Slate comes down heavy and sharp, on a street where the dumpster sits at the curb and the neighbor's steps are two feet away. A magnet sweep, protection for the planting strip, and a plan for the broken slate are small lines that produce most of the complaints afterward.