Ask Each Roofer to Name the Hardest Plane on Your Roof, and Price It

Every roof has one plane that slows the crew down. It might be the steep back slope above a bedroom wing, the low porch roof that ties into a brick wall, or the valley where two pitches meet and the water has to be routed. When you compare roofers, asking each one to name that plane tells you whether they walked your house the way you would. Two roofers can read the same roof and pick different hard spots, and the gap between their answers often matters more than the gap between their totals.

Why one plane sets the access plan

The hardest plane decides where ladders stand, how materials get lifted, how many people need to be on the roof at once, and how long the tear-off takes on that section. A steep plane needs more fall protection and slower footing. A low plane needs a different underlayment approach and more careful flashing at the wall. A valley needs metal, time and a clear eye on the seam. None of this shows up in a square count, so a bid that gives one number for the whole house is hiding the planes that cost the most crew hours.

In St. Louis, the hard plane is often the one that stays wet longest. A north-facing slope under a Norway maple or a shaded eave can hold moisture into late spring and freeze again in February. Ice gathers at the eave on those slopes, and the crew has to work around it. If the bid does not mention the shaded plane, ask the roofer whether the schedule assumes that plane will be dry on the day they reach it. A good answer names the plane, names the moisture risk, and says what happens to the date if the deck is still wet.

What to ask each roofer

Start with a simple question: which plane on this house is the hardest to work, and why? Write down the answer in the roofer's words. Then ask three follow-ups for that plane.

• How many crew members will work that plane at once, and what do they do while the others are on the lower slopes?
• How do materials get to that plane, by hoist, by ladder, or by hand from the eave?
• What fall protection is on that plane, and is it priced in the bid or included in the labor line?

If the roofer says the plane is not hard, ask them to explain why it is not, using the pitch, the height above grade and the distance from the nearest stable ladder point. A roofer who has walked the roof properly will have specifics. A roofer who gives a general answer may not have looked closely.

How the answer should show up in the bid

The hard plane should appear as its own line or its own note in the scope, not folded into a single labor figure. Look for the plane's name in the written scope, the approximate square count for that plane, and any extra charge for steep work, valley metal or low-slope membrane. If one roofer's bid lists the back slope as a separate item and the other bid says the whole house is one flat area, you have learned something about how carefully each estimator walked the roof.

Compare the two answers side by side on one sheet. Put the plane name in the first column, the roofer's description in the second, and the bid line that prices it in the third. Blank cells matter here. If a roofer cannot tell you which plane is hardest, or the written bid does not mention it, that is an answer too, and you should record it the same way you record a clear answer.

When the hard plane is a wall or a valley

Some of the hardest work on a St. Louis roof is not a plane at all. It is the place where a roof meets a wall, a chimney, a dormer cheek or a second roof. These joints need step flashing, counterflashing and careful work at the eave, and they are where leaks start after a freeze. Ask each roofer which joint on your house they expect to be the most work, and whether that joint is shown on the written scope with its own line. A roofer who names a chimney or a valley and explains how they will flash it has thought about the actual roof. A roofer who says there are no problem spots may be right, but ask them to point to the spot on your photos.

Valleys deserve the same question. A valley that runs through a steep pitch can be the most time-consuming part of a day. Ask whether the valley is open metal or woven, and whether the bid names the metal and the width. Those answers will look nearly the same on a sales sheet, but they change how the crew works and how the valley handles a hard rain.

Hail, wind and the planes that get inspected first

Hail season in the St. Louis area brings a different kind of attention to the hard plane. Hail tends to hit the windward slope first, and the steep plane that catches the most wind can carry the most damage. If your house has been through a storm, the photos from the hardest plane are often the ones an inspector or a roofer will want first. Ask each roofer how they document that plane before the tear-off, whether they shoot it from the ground and from the roof, and whether they will give you those photos dated and labeled by compass direction.

Keys Roofing documents damage, puts a written scope with photos and measurements in the homeowner's hands, and attends as the contractor while the homeowner deals with their own insurer. Missouri law bars a roofing contractor from representing or negotiating a homeowner's insurance claim, and it also bars a contractor from saying anything about paying, waiving or covering a deductible. Those rules apply whatever plane the roof is built on. If you want to know how the roof photos or the scope will work with an insurance file, that conversation belongs with your own insurer and your own agent.

What a useful answer sounds like

A useful answer names one plane, gives a reason tied to the house, describes how the crew will reach it, and shows where the cost sits in the bid. It also admits the limits of what the roofer knows before the tear-off starts. Once the old shingles come off, a hard plane may reveal soft decking, rot at a rafter tail or a valley that was not visible from the ground. A roofer who says the plane might change once the deck is open, and explains how the change will be priced and approved, is giving you a more honest comparison than one who promises the plane will be easy.

Call the office at (314) 220-2333 with the plane name you want to ask about, and ask the same question of every roofer on your list. Keep the answers in one folder. The roofer who names the hardest plane, explains how the crew will work it, and writes that answer into the scope is the one whose bid you can read against the roof itself.