Ask Each Roofer Which Weekday Their Estimator Walks Your Lot

An estimator's visit is the first time a roofer touches your house, and most homeowners never ask which day of the week it happens. The answer changes more than the calendar. A Monday visit after a Sunday storm sees different gutters, different shingles and a different yard than a Thursday visit after three dry days. This page explains why the weekday belongs in your comparison, and what each roofer should be able to tell you about it in writing.

Roofer comparison

Start with a plain question. Ask each roofer which weekday their estimator walks the lot, how long the visit runs, and whether the same person returns for the final measurement. Write the answers in the same column of your comparison sheet. A roofer who answers with a day and a time is giving you something you can check. A roofer who says "whenever we get to you" is telling you the schedule is not set yet.

St. Louis weather makes the weekday matter more than it does in drier markets. A spring thaw leaves the north slope wet for days after the sun has dried the south. Summer afternoon storms build quickly over the western suburbs and can drop hail on a roof the estimator has just finished measuring. Winter visits face frozen ground at the ladder line, and a freeze that follows a thaw can leave the lower courses slick enough that a careful estimator will not climb. If the visit falls on a Monday after a weekend rain, ask whether the crew notes which slopes still hold water and whether that note goes into the bid. If the visit falls on a dry Thursday, ask whether the roofer will return if the weather changes before the number is final.

Look for three things in each answer. First, whether the estimator is the same person who will sign the bid. Second, whether the visit is scheduled around a fixed crew day or a floating one. Third, whether the roofer will put the visit date on the estimate itself. A bid that names the day it was measured lets you check its square count against the date, and it tells you whether the numbers were taken before or after a storm that could have changed the surface.

Compare the answers as a pattern. If three of five roofers can name the same weekday for the visit, that tells you little beyond their calendars. If one roofer can name the visit day, the person and the printed date, and another cannot, the gap is worth a note in your sheet. The roofer who answers in full has made it easier for you to check the rest of the bid, and the roofer who cannot answer has told you something about how the estimate was prepared.

Weekday also affects what you can see. A Saturday walk gives you a chance to be home and to point out the soft spot over the back porch, the vent you think leaks, and the gutter that sags over the drive. A weekday walk in the middle of your work hours may mean the estimator measures alone and you hear the result later. Neither arrangement is wrong, but the one you choose should be the one you can attend, and the roofer should accept that you want to be there.

What it costs

A weekday does not add a line to most bids, but it can change what you pay. A visit that has to be repeated because the first one fell on a wet day costs the roofer a second trip. Ask each roofer whether a return visit is included in the estimate or billed separately. Ask also whether a rescheduled visit moves the start date, because a second visit that pushes the crew into a different week can change the material lead time and, with it, the price you were quoted.

Ask how long the visit takes in hours as well. A thirty-minute look from the driveway and a two-hour walk with a ladder, a attic check and a set of photographs are different jobs. The difference shows up in the estimator's time on your lot, and that time has a cost even when the roof number does not show it. Some roofers price the walk into the estimate, while others let the homeowner pay for a second visit if the first one turned up a question. Neither approach is wrong on its face, but the difference belongs in the written bid so you can compare totals fairly.

Keys Roofing can be reached at (314) 220-2333 to ask how its estimator schedules visits and whether a return visit is part of the written estimate. Put the same question to every roofer on your list, including the ones you have already set aside. The answer costs nothing to ask, and it tells you how each company plans its time on a roof that is still unmeasured.

Watch for a visit fee that appears only after the walk. Some companies charge for a second look when the first one raised a question the estimator could have answered on the spot. Others carry that cost into the estimate from the start. When a fee shows up after you have already chosen a roofer, compare it against the other bids you collected before you agreed to anything, because a fee that was never disclosed is harder to weigh than one that was written down in the beginning.

What to ask

Ask each roofer these questions in the same order, and write down the answers word for word:

1. Which weekday does the estimator walk the lot, and what time does the visit start?
2. Does the estimator measure the roof before or after checking the gutters, the attic and the ladder line?
3. If rain or a freeze hits on the visit day, when is the next available walk?
4. Is the visit date printed on the written estimate, and is the same person named as the signer?
5. Is a return visit included in the price, or billed as a separate line?

Each question has an answer that is a fact, not a promise. A roofer can name a day, a time and a person. Vague answers are still information, so mark them as vague rather than guessing what was meant. If a roofer says the estimator will "figure it out on site," write that down in the same words and ask what happens if the figuring out takes longer than planned.

After you have the answers, read them against your own calendar. If you work from home on Mondays, a Monday visit may be easier for you to attend. If the crew only works Tuesdays through Fridays, a Monday estimate may come with a gap before the start. Nobody has to share the same day, but every roofer should be able to show how the visit fits into their week, and you should be able to see how that week lines up with yours.

Finally, ask the roofer to put the weekday in writing with the estimate. A bid that says "measured on Tuesday, March 4" is easier to check than one that says "measured in March." If a question ever comes up about what the roof looked like on the day of the walk, the date is the first fact both sides will want, and it is much easier to set down at the start than to reconstruct months later from memory and a handful of photographs.