Most of the difference between two roofing quotes is not the shingle. It is the work around it: the deck, the flashings, the underlayment and the attic. The pages here walk each service the way a careful owner would walk a quote.
Five lines that make two quotes comparable
- Authority. Is this roof yours to commission, or does the association own it? Everything else follows from that answer.
- Reset or replace. Is the tile lifted and put back over new material, or fully replaced? Two different jobs at two different prices.
- Underlayment. Named by product, with a rating? This is the layer that decides when the roof is finished.
- Hardware. Specified for this distance from the water? On the Intracoastal it ends the roof; twelve miles west it does not.
- Junctions. Rebuilt or sealed at every wall, curb and enclosure tie-in? Sealed is a maintenance item under this sun.
- 1 The ridge. The highest, hottest course, and where a shared roof usually begins and ends.
- 2 The field. What is on top is the wear layer. What is under it does the waterproofing.
- 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.
The work
Why roofs struggle across this county
This county is narrow and it crosses two worlds. Within sight of the water, salt reaches the metal long before it touches the covering, and a roof can end at its hardware while the tile above still looks new. Twelve miles west that stops being the story and the underlayment governs instead. The address decides it, not the county.
- Whose roof is itWho actually owns the roof
- Salt, mile by mileTwenty miles from salt to none
- Rules that pick for youWhen the community picks the tile
- Phased replacementWhen the whole community is re-roofed in phases
- Two eras meetingWhere an addition meets the original roof
- Holes in the roofEvery hole in the roof