Ask Each Roofer How Many Change Orders Their Last Ten Jobs Carried

A roof bid is a starting number. Once the tear-off opens the deck, the number changes whenever the crew finds rotten sheathing, a failed flashing, or a vent that was never on the paper. The written record for those changes is the change order, and how often a roofer uses one tells you how the bid was built. Asking each roofer how many change orders their last ten jobs carried gives you a count you can compare side by side, and it is a question most homeowners never think to ask.

The question is not whether a roofer ever writes a change order. Almost every roof has something hidden under it. Decking in older St. Louis houses is often plank, and boards that have taken years of freeze-thaw cycles at the eave do not always match what a roof measure predicted from the street. The real question is how the roofer handles the discovery: whether it becomes a written line with a price and a photo, or a verbal add that shows up on the final invoice.

What the count tells you

A roofer who can answer with a number has kept records. Ask for the count across the last ten completed jobs, not the last ten bids. A small firm may have finished only four or five roof replacements in a season, so it is fine to say four. What matters is that the answer is a count and not a shrug. Then ask a follow-up: of those jobs, how many change orders were signed before the crew did the extra work, and how many were written after the work was already done.

Two answers can point in different directions. A roofer with several change orders, all signed before work started, is showing you a process where the homeowner makes the decision. A roofer with several change orders written after the fact is showing you a process where the crew decides and the paper follows. Neither pattern proves a roofer is good or bad on its own, but the second one is the one to weigh against the total on the bid.

Read the bid for what it leaves open

Before you ask the question, read each bid for its open lines. Look for allowances, unit prices for decking, and phrases like "as needed" or "if found." Those lines are where change orders come from. A bid with three allowances and a per-square price for replacement sheathing will often produce more paperwork during the job than a bid that prices a fixed number of sheets. That does not make the first bid worse. It means the final cost depends on what the tear-off shows, and you should know that before you compare totals.

Ask each roofer to point to the lines in their own bid that could change. A roofer who can name them in a few seconds has thought about the job. A roofer who says the bid is all-inclusive and nothing will change has answered a different question, and you should write that answer down with the date.

How to ask it

Put the question in writing so each roofer answers the same words. A short message works:

How many change orders did your last ten completed roof jobs carry? For each one, was it signed before the work was done or after? What was the most common reason?

Send the same message to every roofer on your list on the same day. Keep the replies in one folder with the bid. If a roofer answers by phone, ask them to repeat the number in an email so the count is on record. A number given on the phone is easy to forget once the crew is on the roof.

Pay attention to the most common reason. Answers like "rotten decking under old flashing" or "a second layer of underlayment we did not expect" are specific, and they point to real conditions in St. Louis houses. Answers like "homeowners wanted upgrades" tell you the roofer tracks changes by who asked for them. Both can be fine. You want to know which kind of change is most likely on your roof.

A worked example

Take two bids for the same single-family house, each listing a shingle replacement at a fixed price with a separate line for decking at a per-sheet rate. Roofer A reports four change orders across ten jobs, all signed before the crew started the extra work, with rotten decking as the most common reason. Roofer B reports one change order across ten jobs, signed after the work was finished. On paper, Roofer B looks cleaner. Ask the follow-up before you decide. If Roofer B's one change order was a large deck repair written after the fact, the final invoice may carry a surprise the bid never showed. Roofer A's four changes may have been small, priced, and approved in advance, which means the final number is likely closer to the bid.

What to do with the answer

If a roofer reports a high count, do not treat it as an automatic disqualifier. Ask what each change cost the homeowner, and whether it was priced from a unit rate in the original bid. A roofer with many small, priced change orders may be more transparent than one with a few large surprises that were never discussed. If the count is low, ask how many of the ten jobs had the decking checked from the attic before the bid was written. Some roofers look at the deck from inside. Others only walk the roof. The method behind the number matters as much as the number.

For a homeowner whose roof is an older three-tab with a visible sag at the ridge, the change order question carries more weight. Three-tab shingles that are past their useful life often hide soft decking at the valleys, and a roofer who has priced that risk in advance will say so plainly. A roofer who calls the decking fine without looking at it has not answered the question yet.

If the answers are close, weigh the written replies. The roofer who names the open lines in the bid, gives a count, and explains which changes were signed first has done the work a homeowner needs. That roofer's total may still be higher, but the final invoice is more likely to match it.

Where to call with questions

Keys Roofing can walk through a bid line by line and explain which allowances and unit prices apply to a specific house. The office number is (314) 220-2333. Ask for the change order history in writing, and bring the bid you are comparing so the conversation stays on your roof.