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Why Is My Roof Life Bid Higher?

Posted July 10, 2018 by Daniel White
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We’ve talked in the past about some cost-driven roofing factors and the reasoning behind a higher roof bid. One of the major differences between Roof Life of Oregon and the other guys is that we pay our teams by the hour, rather than the piece, incentivizing slow, correct installations. But some roofing companies hide additional costs by not quoting them upfront.

On a roof, you have trusses, and then typically you have plywood, paper and shingles. But some of the older homes don’t have plywood.  Manufacturers don’t allow you to put modern architectural shingles over old shiplap or tongue in groove; they require a plywood deck.

A lot of contractors don’t put the cost of installing the plywood in their bid. They say, “Here’s the cost to tear off the old roof and put the new one on.” And then later they give you a change order including the cost of the plywood. We don’t do things that way.

We want you to know what to expect upfront, so we include the cost of replacing the plywood deck. That sometimes causes our bids to be a few thousand dollars higher.

We include everything that needs to be done, rather than tearing off the roof, getting the contract all signed, and then blindsiding you mid-process. The roofers really know about the plywood before they start the job, but it’s their way of sneaking in a lower bid.

That’s why we do an attic inspection. We want to know everything that’s going on with your roof. We may miss things, but we’re going to do our best.  I would rather be the more expensive contractor because that’s the real cost.

Sometimes there are some things that we just can’t see. Let’s say there’s no attic space. It’s a vaulted ceiling and we can’t see anything. I’ll say, “Look, I physically don’t know what I’m going to find when I get in here. You may have a change order.” It’s very rare that it happens, because of that attic inspection.

However, we would still know if you have a shiplap deck. We can pull up on the edges and look inside and see that. It’s the rot issues that we sometimes can’t see. But as far as the deck issue, that’s something that the roofer knows from the start.

If you’ve got a lower bid from another contractor, call us to schedule an Apples to Apples consultation. We can compare our bid to another contractor and explain line by line why we charge what we do, and possibly what the other company is leaving out.

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