Ask Each Roofer How Much Notice Comes Before a Moved Start Date

A start date on a roof bid is a promise with a moving part. The crew's calendar fills up, materials get ordered for a specific week, and a permit desk may already have been asked for an inspection window. So when a roofer needs to slide your start date, the question that matters is not whether it will move, because in St. Louis it often does. The question is how much notice you get before it moves, and whether that notice comes in writing. This page is about that one gap, so you can compare it across the roofers you are considering.

Start dates move for ordinary reasons. Spring rain keeps a deck wet, and nobody nails shingles to a damp deck. A freeze that lands after a warm week can stop work for a day or two. Hail season brings a rush of storm jobs, and crews already booked may be pulled to another street. Shingle deliveries can run late when a supplier counter is short-staffed. None of these is a sign of a bad roofer by itself. The sign is how the roofer handles the change once it is known.

Roofer comparison

Two roofers can give the same answer to a question about delays and still differ in what happens next. One may say they will call if anything changes. Another may say they will send a written note at least a set number of days ahead. Those are not the same promise. A phone call can be missed, and a call made the morning of the start leaves you no time to clear the drive, move patio furniture, or arrange for the dog to be out of the yard.

When you compare, put each roofer's notice terms in the same form. Ask for a number of days, not a feeling. "As soon as we know" gives you no date to hold them to. "At least five working days before the start, by email, with the new date" gives you something you can check on day five. If one roofer gives a number and another gives a phrase, you have learned something about how each one plans.

Watch also for what the roofer counts as a change. Some roofers treat any move in the start as a change and give notice. Others treat only a full cancellation as a change and simply reschedule the crew when the material arrives. Ask each roofer to define a change in one sentence. A roofer who says a change is anything that moves a day, a crew member, or a delivery has told you more than one who only mentions cancellation.

Ask whether the notice clock starts when the roofer learns of the delay, or when you are told. These can be days apart. If a supplier calls the roofer on a Thursday afternoon and the roofer emails you Monday morning, the roofer may have given notice within the terms, but you have lost the weekend you needed. Some roofers count the notice period from the moment they learn of the delay. Others count from the moment they send the message. Both are real terms. Only one of them protects your planning.

Finally, compare what each roofer offers when the move is theirs and what they offer when it is yours. A homeowner who has to push a start back for a family matter or a permit delay should know the roofer's rule too. Some roofers hold your slot for a set period. Others release it and put you at the back of the calendar. Those differences belong in the comparison, even though they come up after you sign.

What it costs

Moving a start date rarely shows up as a line on the bid, but it can cost money. A roofer who gives short notice may already have a crew staged at another job, and that cost is real even if nobody writes it down. Some roofers add a rescheduling fee or a standby charge when a crew is sent out and sent back. Others absorb it and build the cost into the bid. Neither approach is wrong, but you should know which one you are buying.

Ask each roofer whether a move they cause carries a charge to you, and whether a move you cause does. Ask also whether a standby day, the day a crew arrives and cannot work because of weather or a missing delivery, is billed, and at what rate. These are small lines in a contract, and they add up across a spring with a few rain days. A roofer who answers these questions plainly is giving you a price you can compare, which is the whole point of putting the bids side by side.

Material timing also affects cost. If a start is moved and the order was already placed for a set delivery day, the shingles may have to be stored, returned, or reordered. Ask who pays a restocking charge on a delivery that has to be redirected. A roofer who has thought about this will name the charge. A roofer who has not may say it depends, which is useful to know too.

Keep the cost question apart from the notice question. A roofer can give generous notice and still charge a standby fee, or charge nothing and give a single day of warning. Both facts matter, and they are easier to compare when they sit in separate rows of your sheet.

What to ask

Use the same questions with every roofer, in the same order, and write each answer beside its question. The list below is short on purpose, so each answer can be compared at a glance.

1. How many working days of notice do you give before you move a start date, and in what form?
2. Does the notice clock start when you learn of the delay, or when you send the message to me?
3. What counts as a change that triggers notice, and what does not?
4. If I need to move the start, how long do you hold my slot, and what happens to it after that?
5. Is a standby day billed, and at what rate, when a crew arrives and cannot work?
6. If a material delivery is redirected because of a date change, who pays the restocking or redirect charge?
7. Will the new date be confirmed in writing, with the time window, before the crew is scheduled again?

Read the answers for specifics. A roofer who gives a number of days, names a form, and says who pays for standby is giving you terms you can hold them to. A roofer who says they will do their best, or that it depends on the crew, has not yet told you what happens when a date slips. That is not a verdict on the work. It is a gap in the comparison, and you can ask them to close it in writing before you choose.

When two roofers quote close prices, the notice terms can decide the tie. A homeowner in the middle of a decision is often choosing between a roofer who is cheaper and a roofer who answers the schedule questions clearly. Put the notice terms next to the price. If the cheaper roofer cannot say how much warning you get, the lower number is not yet a fair comparison.

The Keys office can answer these questions directly at (314) 220-2333. Ask for the notice terms in the same words you use for each of the other roofers, so the answers line up on your sheet. Keys documents the job with a written scope, photos, and measurements, and puts those in your hands as the contractor. A date change is a schedule matter, and it belongs in writing alongside the scope.

Missouri does not license roofers at the state level, so the terms you get in writing are the terms you will have to rely on. Keep the roofer's email or text that sets the notice rule with your scope and contract. When a start date moves, the first thing to check is whether the change followed the rule you were given, and the written record is what lets you check it.