Ask Each Roofer What Changed Between Your Two Quotes

A roof bid rarely arrives once. You call a roofer, they walk the house, and a number comes back. Then you ask about the gutters, the vent count or the shingle color, and a second bid lands with a different total. Sometimes the total goes up, sometimes it goes down, and sometimes it stays flat while the lines underneath it move. Before you set two numbers side by side, you need to know what changed, and you need the roofer to say so in writing.

Why the total hides the change

A revised bid can look like a small edit when it is really a rebuild. A roofer who adds ice and water shield at the eaves, drops a pipe boot replacement, and moves the square count by two has changed three things at once. The bottom line may land within a few hundred dollars of the first number, and that closeness makes people stop reading. Two bids that agree on the total can describe different roofs.

The lines most likely to move between revisions are the ones that are easy to adjust and hard to see:

• The square count, which sets the shingle quantity and the labor base
• Tear-off versus overlay, and how many layers come off
• Underlayment type, and whether synthetic replaces felt
• Ice and water shield, including the width along the eave and in the valleys
• Drip edge, starter course and ridge vent
• Pipe boots, step flashing, and any flashing you were told would be reused
• Disposal, dumpster size and haul-away
• Permit fee, and which desk it is filed with
• Payment schedule and the deposit amount

Any of these can change the roof itself. A revision that removes the ice and water shield from a north-facing eave saves money in June and may cost you in January, when meltwater backs up under the shingles at the edge and finds the soffit.

Ask for the revision list in writing

When a second bid arrives, ask the roofer for a short revision list along with the new document. A verbal explanation on the phone does not count for much later, because nobody can point to it. The list should be dated, numbered and attached to the new bid. It should answer six questions in plain terms:

1. What is the date and number of the earlier quote this one replaces?
2. Which lines were added, and what does each one cost?
3. Which lines were removed, and what work the removal leaves undone?
4. Which lines changed quantity or price, and by how much?
5. Which scope items stayed the same, so you know the base was not rewritten?
6. What is the new total, and does it include tax, disposal and permit fees?

If the roofer cannot produce this list, the revision is not finished. Send the question back in writing and note the date you sent it and the date the reply came. How long a roofer takes to answer a scope question is part of the comparison too.

Read the arithmetic before the story

Ask each roofer to show the subtotal before tax, the tax line, and any separate charges such as a card fee, a fuel charge or a dumpster overage allowance. Check that the line items add up to the subtotal. A total that looks right can hide a math error in a line that you never checked, and that error often sits in the square count or the unit price for the drip edge.

Then check whether the revision changed the validity date. A quote that expires in fourteen days may have been reissued with new material prices, and the new number may not hold if you wait another month to sign. Write the expiration date next to each version so the two do not get confused.

Why St. Louis weather makes the change list matter

Roof work here runs against the calendar. A bid written in late summer may hit a freeze-thaw cycle before the crew returns. Ice damming at the eave is the usual reason homeowners in the region end up with a second roof visit, and the lines that protect against it are the ones most often trimmed during a revision. Ask each roofer to point to the ice and water shield in both versions, by location and by linear footage, rather than by a general reference to the eaves.

Hail season adds another reason to track changes. If a roofer moves the job to a later date, the materials order may move with it, and a revised lead time can change which shingle bundles are available when the crew arrives. Note the date each version assumes for materials delivery. A bid that assumes dry weather in a month when the forecast is wet should say how rain days will be handled.

Permit work also shifts between revisions. The permit fee may follow the job value rather than the shingle cost, so a revision that raises the scope can raise the fee too. Ask which permit desk the roofer is filing with and whether the fee line changed.

When the revision list does not match the new bid

Sometimes the list and the bid disagree. A line item appears in the bid that the list never mentioned, or a removed item still shows its old price. Do not sign on the strength of a reassuring phone call. Put the mismatch in one written question, asking the roofer to name the line, the old amount, the new amount and the reason. Keep the reply with the two bids.

If the answer stays vague after a second written request, weigh that in your comparison the same way you would weigh a missing scope item. The question is not whether the roofer is trying to mislead you. The question is whether you can tell, from paper alone, what you are buying. For questions about any Keys Roofing bid, the office line is (314) 220-2333, and asking for the written line-by-line answer by email keeps the reply on file with the quote.

Once the two versions are side by side, with the change list attached and the arithmetic checked, the comparison becomes a comparison of roofs rather than a comparison of totals. That is the point of asking the question at all.