Compare Each Roofer's Payment Steps to Your Lender's Draw Schedule

If your roof is paid for with money a lender releases in pieces, the payment steps in each roofing contract have to fit that lender's schedule. Otherwise a crew can finish a stage, send an invoice, and wait on a check the bank has not agreed to release. Many St. Louis homeowners do not see this mismatch until the first bill arrives. This page shows how to lay the two schedules side by side before you sign with anyone.

Roofer comparison

Start by asking each roofer for their payment steps in writing. A common pattern is a deposit at signing, a payment when materials arrive, a payment when the tear-off is done, and a final payment after the walkthrough. Some contracts tie payment to the day the shingles go on, and others tie it to a permit inspection. The steps tell you little until you match them against the dates your lender uses. Put each roofer's steps in one column and the lender's release points in the next.

Lenders release money in different ways. Some renovation loans pay a contractor in stages after an inspector confirms the work is in place. Others pay the full amount at closing or into an account you control. A construction draw works differently from a home equity loan you already hold. Find out which kind of loan you have before you compare bids, because the answer decides whether a stage payment can match the lender's schedule at all.

Look at the sequence, not only the number of payments. A roofer who wants money on the day the crew starts is asking for payment before any roof work exists. A roofer who ties payments to finished stages gives your lender something to check, and gives you a clear point to stop and confirm the work before you release the next payment. Neither schedule is wrong by itself. The trouble starts when a schedule does not fit the one your lender follows.

When you compare, note how each roofer describes the stage that comes right before the final payment. Some name the finished walkthrough, some name a completion form, and some name nothing at all. A vague stage is one you cannot check against your lender's release date, so ask the roofer to name the document or the visit that closes it out.

What it costs

The total is only the first number on the page. The second number is how much is due before the roof is finished. A large early payment can leave you covering the gap if the lender releases its money later, so write down the largest amount you would owe at any single point in the job. Then compare that figure with what you can actually pay that month, not what you hope to pay.

Ask whether the final payment is due at the walkthrough or after a separate inspection. If a permit inspection sits in the final step, check with the permit desk for the municipality where your house stands. Across St. Louis County, each city and township runs its own permit process, and the inspection date your roofer quotes may depend on that desk's calendar. Ask who pays the permit fee and whether it appears as its own line. A fee on its own line can land on a different date from the roof itself.

Lenders can also charge their own costs for inspections, draws, or wire transfers. Those charges do not appear in a roofing contract, so ask your lender for a written list before you sign. Write each lender cost next to the roofer's payment steps. The total you see on that one sheet should match what you will actually pay, date by date.

If a roofer asks for a payment before the lender will release the money, the gap is yours to cover unless the contract says otherwise. Read the payment clause for that wording, and ask the roofer to explain it in plain terms before you sign. A clause that is unclear on this point usually costs more later than a clause that is clear, even when the clear one carries a higher price.

What to ask

Give every roofer on your list the same questions, in the same order, and write each answer down with the date. The list below is short on purpose. Each question should get a direct answer you can compare against the others.

• Which dates in your payment schedule are tied to finished work, and which are tied to a calendar day?
• Does the lender's inspector need access to the roof before the next payment is released, and who arranges that visit?
• If a stage runs long because of weather or a permit delay, which payment moves, and is that change written into the contract?
• How much is due at signing, and how does that amount compare with the first release your lender makes?
• Will you receive a dated copy of each completed stage, with photos, before you approve the next payment?
• Who pays any lender-required inspection fee, and is it billed separately from the roofing total?

Mark any answer that depends on something the roofer cannot control, such as weather, a permit desk, or a material delivery. Those answers are not wrong, but they should show up in the payment schedule as a date range rather than a single fixed day. A range is honest, and it lets you plan the money around the likely finish.

Ask Keys Roofing for its payment steps in writing before you schedule a visit. You can reach the office at (314) 220-2333. Once you have the steps, set them beside the written scope and your lender's release dates, and check each row against the others. A payment that has no matching stage, or a stage that has no matching payment, is the first thing to resolve.

Keep the copies together in one folder. When the first lender release arrives, you will want to see which roofer stage it pays for and what that stage needed before the money moved. The folder is the record you will reach for when a date slips, a stage changes, or a second payment comes due sooner than you expected. Keep it in the same place as the signed contract and the permit card, so none of them is hard to find on the day you need it.