Compare Each Roofer's Holiday and Weekend Calendar Before You Book

A roof job runs on a calendar, and the calendar has gaps in it. Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and the week between Christmas and New Year's are dates many crews take off, and a long weekend in the middle of a tear-off can leave a house open for far more hours than the bid suggests. Before you compare prices, compare calendars. Two proposals can carry the same start date and still give you very different odds of finishing on schedule, because one crew works through the holiday and the other plans to stop.

Roofer comparison

Ask each roofer three things in writing: which days the crew works, which days it does not, and what the house looks like on a day the crew is gone. The answers should line up with the start date and finish date in the proposal. If the proposal says nothing about off days, the schedule is only a conversation, and a conversation does not hold a crew to a date.

St. Louis makes the calendar a weather calendar as well. A job that starts in late October runs into the first hard freezes, when morning temperatures can stay low enough that the crew cannot start early. A job that starts in April runs into the rain and hail season, which makes every week harder to plan. Shingle sealing strips take longer to bond in cold weather, so a careful crew may hold the tear-off until the afternoon warms or pick a day with a dry forecast. Ask how the install sheet for the Atlas or Malarkey shingles handles cold-weather sealing, and whether the crew will tell you before it changes the plan. Keys installs Atlas and Malarkey shingles only, so you can compare the install sheet directly, and the crew's habits on cold days are still a fair comparison point between bidders.

Working week patterns differ. Some crews run Monday through Friday only. Others run Saturdays when rain costs them days earlier in the week. Neither schedule is wrong, but a Saturday crew and a weekday crew handle a rain delay differently. A Saturday crew may catch up within the same week, while a weekday crew may push the finish into the next one. Which one you hire changes how long the house stays open, so ask about it before the tear-off date is set.

Holiday weeks need their own question. A crew booked to start the Tuesday before Thanksgiving may plan to finish by the Friday, or it may cover the deck, leave for the holiday, and resume the next Monday. Both plans are normal. What matters is that the plan is written down, and that you know before the tear-off what the roof and the rooms below it look like on the day nobody is working.

What it costs

A holiday pause is not free, even when no one puts it on an invoice. An open roof overnight after rain can damage drywall, flooring and the contents of an upstairs room, and a deck that is covered and then walked on again may need a second check before new underlayment goes down. Ask each roofer what covers the roof on every off day and who pays for the tarp or underlayment if rain arrives. Keys documents the open roof with dated photos and puts the written scope and measurements in your hands, so the cover plan should be on paper with the same care.

Some proposals add a trip or remobilization charge when a crew has to leave and come back. Others fold that cost into the labor rate and say nothing about it. Neither approach is automatically better. What you want is for the cost to appear in one place you can read. If a lower bid has no return-trip line, look at the dumpster rental, the delivery charge and the labor total, because the cost often moves to another line and shows up after the work starts.

Dumpster days belong in the comparison too. A bin that sits through a holiday weekend may be billed by the day, depending on the rental agreement. Ask who arranges the rental, when it is dropped off and when it is picked up, and whether the bid counts the days the bin stands empty as well as full. Compare the total number of days each bid puts equipment and people on your property, not only the number of working days it claims.

Time is the cost homeowners most often forget. A roof that takes four working days across a holiday can stretch to nine calendar days, and every extra day means furniture covered, pets kept inside, cars moved out of the drive and another phone call to the office asking when the crew returns. Weigh that against the price difference before you choose the cheaper proposal, because the cheaper proposal may simply be the one that spreads the work across more days.

What to ask

1. Which days will the crew work, and which days are fixed off, written into the proposal?
2. If a holiday falls inside the job window, what is the plan for the open roof on that day?
3. Does the bid include a trip charge for leaving and returning, and if not, where is that cost shown?
4. Who arranges the dumpster, and does the rental cover the days it sits idle?
5. Who do I call on a Saturday or a holiday if rain comes through the ceiling?
6. Will you confirm the start date in writing once the weather window is clear?

Keys Roofing can be reached at (314) 220-2333 with questions about the schedule before you sign anything.