When the community picks the tile
In a large part of this county the material decision has already been made for you. That sounds limiting, and in one way it is. It also usefully clears the table: what is left to compare is everything that matters more.
- 1 The ridge. The highest, hottest course, and where a shared roof usually begins and ends.
- 2 The field. Tile or shingle above, and the underlayment that actually keeps water out below.
- 3 The valley. One channel carrying what two slopes shed, and where debris settles between rains.
- 4 Wall flashing. Where an addition or an enclosure meets the house, and where neither trade owns the seam.
- 5 Penetrations. Collars, curbs and skylights: holes cut on purpose, then sealed. They open first.
- 6 Eaves and metal. Drip edge and fasteners. Near the water they end the roof; twelve miles west they do not.
What the rules typically fix
Profile and colour, most often, sometimes the manufacturer, occasionally the exact product. The intent is that a street should still look like one street after thirty owners have each replaced a roof, and it works. The consequence is that the visible layer stops being a choice.
Many communities also require written approval before work begins, and some require it before a permit is pulled. That adds time, not money, but a job that stalls waiting for approval is a job that was quoted without it.
What is left to compare, and it is the important half
Everything under the tile. Which underlayment and how long it is rated for. Whether the tile is lifted and reset over new material or fully replaced, and who pays for breakage. What fasteners, for this distance from the water. Whether flashing is rebuilt or sealed at each wall and curb.
Those four lines account for most of the spread between two honest quotes on the same address, and none of them is governed by the community rules.
The question to ask first
Ask the management company for the current architectural specification in writing before you call anyone. It takes one email, it tells every bidder exactly the same thing, and it removes the most common reason quotes are not comparable: each contractor having assumed a different product.