Five lines roofers leave off the estimate
Roofing is estimated by the square, which makes it feel like a calculation. It isn't. The shingles are the one part of a reroof whose cost you know exactly, and they are rarely where the job goes wrong.
Here are the five lines that go missing.
1. Deck replacement you cannot see yet
You will not know how much sheathing is rotten until the old roof is off. Every roofer knows this and a surprising number still write a single price.
The fix is a unit rate agreed in advance:
Deck replacement, if required, billed at $X per 4×8 sheet installed. Quantity determined after tear-off, with photos provided before replacement.
Two things make this work. The rate is agreed before anyone is emotional about it, and the photo requirement tells the customer you are not inventing sheets. Take the photos — they end the conversation before it starts, and they belong on the invoice.
2. Disposal, properly counted
A dumpster is not one line. It is the dumpster, the permit to put it on the street in some towns, the extra haul if the tonnage goes over, and the hour somebody spends on cleanup and magnet-sweeping the lawn.
On a steep multi-layer tear-off, disposal can rival the cost of the underlayment. Writing it as "dump fee — included" means you have stopped measuring it.
3. Ventilation
Most reroofs on older houses are under-ventilated by current standards. You can either leave the roof the way you found it, or you can do it properly and say so.
Ridge vent, baffles at the eaves, a replacement for the three rusted turbine vents — all of it is cheap in parts and real in labour. More importantly, a roof installed over inadequate ventilation is a warranty problem waiting for you, not for the customer.
4. Flashing, every piece of it
Step flashing at the walls, counter-flashing, the chimney cricket, pipe boots, valley metal, drip edge. Reusing old flashing is the most common corner cut in residential roofing and the most common source of a leak on a brand-new roof.
List every piece. If the customer wants to reuse the chimney flashing to save money, that is a decision they can make in writing — and one you will be glad exists in writing.
5. Access and protection
The two-storey with a pool under the eave is not the ranch with a driveway next to it. Access costs time:
- staging and tarping the ground
- protecting landscaping, the deck, the pool
- distance from the dumpster to the roof
- whether a lift is needed, or everything goes up a ladder
None of this is visible in square footage, and all of it is visible in your crew hours.
A structure, not a price list
| Line | Example |
|---|---|
| Tear-off, 1 layer, 24 sq | $1,680 |
| Architectural shingles, 24 sq | $4,320 |
| Synthetic underlayment + ice & water at eaves/valleys | $720 |
| Drip edge, step and counter flashing, pipe boots | $485 |
| Ridge vent and eave baffles | $390 |
| Disposal — 20 yd dumpster + cleanup | $640 |
| Access and property protection | $275 |
| Deck replacement | per sheet, as required |
| Total excl. decking | $8,510 |
The customer comparing this to "reroof — $7,900" can see what the difference buys. Without the breakdown, they can only see $610.
Get it out before the next guy
A roofing estimate with eight lines and a named unit rate takes half an hour to type and two minutes to say.
That is what Pro Speak Artisan does: you stand in the driveway, describe the roof — squares, pitch, layers, the chimney, the access problem, the deck rate — and get back a structured, priced estimate in about three seconds, from your own catalog. The photos you take of the rotten decking attach to the same job, stay private to your records, and are there when you issue the invoice from the accepted estimate.
Roofs are not lost on shingle price. They are lost on the four hundred dollars of disposal nobody wrote down.