Count the Open Items in Each Roof Bid Before You Compare Totals

A roof bid can look finished and still carry open items: lines where the number is a guess, a choice has been left for later, or a condition has not been checked yet. Before you put two totals side by side, count those open items in each bid. A bid with a lower total and more open items may cost more by the time the last nail is driven.

Roofer comparison

An open item is any line that depends on something not yet decided or measured. Common examples include an allowance for decking that will only be counted after the old shingles come off, a note that the drip edge type will be chosen later, a line that says as needed for rotten boards, or a gutter section listed as to be confirmed. Each one is a question the roofer has not answered in the document you are holding.

Read each bid with a pencil and mark every open item as you find it. Then put the count for each roofer in the same column you use for the other comparison points. Two bids with the same count are not automatically equal, because the kinds of open items can differ. An allowance is a dollar figure reserved for a condition the roofer expects to find. A to be confirmed line has no figure at all. A count of four allowances is a different bid from a count of four blank lines.

St. Louis homes make this count matter. Freeze and thaw cycles through January and February split old decking and loosen flashing along the valleys and the step flashing at the walls, so the rotten board count is often unknown until the tear-off is underway. Hail season leaves dents in soft metal and cracked vent caps that may not show clearly from the ground. Ice damming at the eave can soak the sheathing near the gutter line in ways that only appear once the boards are exposed. A bid that does not name how those conditions will be priced leaves the most expensive questions open.

Look also at where each open item sits on the page. Items tucked into the notes section at the bottom are easy to skip, and they are often the ones that carry the largest unknown. Items placed beside the line they affect are easier to follow. If one roofer lists the open items in a single block and another scatters them across the scope, the first is easier to compare, even before you read a single price.

What it costs

Once you know the count, ask what each open item can add to the final bill. Some open items have a ceiling written into the bid, such as an allowance of a stated amount per sheet of decking or a stated amount per linear foot of drip edge. Others have no ceiling at all. A bid that says replacing damaged decking will be billed at a per-sheet rate is different from one that says the decking cost will be added at completion. The first has a limit you can calculate. The second has a limit only the final invoice will reveal.

Put a rough number beside each open item on your comparison sheet. Use the ceiling if one is written, and mark the item as unknown if none is. Then compare the printed total with a second total that includes each open item at its ceiling. Two bids can match on the printed total while one carries a much larger unknown exposure. That exposure is the number you are actually comparing, because it is the part of the price that has not been fixed.

Check also whether an open item is priced by unit, by time, or by allowance. A line that bills labor by the hour for an undefined repair can run past any figure you had in mind, since the hours depend on how the crew finds the damage. A line that bills a stated number of sheets of plywood at a stated rate has a limit you can multiply out yourself. An allowance sits between the two: it reserves money without promising the work will cost that amount, and any difference should come back to you as a credit or a bill, depending on the contract.

Watch for open items that show up as a percentage. A line that adds a contingency of a set percentage of the job can look like a safe margin, but the contingency is only a discount if the bid says what draws it down and what happens to what remains. A contingency that is not spent may or may not come back to you. Ask for that answer in writing before you count the line as either a cost or a saving.

• The printed total for each bid
• The count of open items for each bid, sorted by type
• The ceiling, if any, on each open item
• Whether each open item is priced by unit, by time, or by allowance
• Whether any unspent allowance or contingency comes back to you

What to ask

Send each roofer the same written request. List every line in your bid that is marked as an allowance, to be confirmed, as needed, or to be determined, and ask the roofer to state the condition that would trigger each one. Ask for the answer in writing, not on the phone. A roofer who can name the trigger for each open item is showing you how the number will move. A roofer who cannot name the trigger is leaving that decision to the day the crew is on your roof.

Ask a second question for each open item: who decides when it is triggered, and how you will be told before the money is spent. Some agreements require the homeowner to approve a change in writing before the work proceeds. Others let the crew continue and bill at completion. Those are different agreements, and you should know which one you are signing. A change order clause that allows the crew to proceed without a written approval can turn an open item into the largest line on the final invoice.

If an open item depends on the shingle you choose, ask which product the bid assumes and whether the price changes with the product. Keys installs Atlas and Malarkey shingles only, so a bid from Keys will name one of those lines. Ask every other roofer to name the exact product and product line in writing as well. A bid that says architectural shingles without a product name leaves the cost of that line open in a second way.

Ask whether a field photo and a measurement will be sent to you before any open item is billed. Keys 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. That is the kind of record that lets you check an open item after the fact. Ask each roofer how they would show you the same record for the decking, the flashing, and the gutter line, and how long it would take to send it.

Recount the open items on the day the final scope arrives, and compare the new count with the count you wrote down at the start. If the count went up, ask what closed and what opened. A bid where the open items shrink as the walk-through goes on is a different bid from one where they grow. If the count did not change at all after a site visit, ask why the visit did not answer anything.

Keep the open item count on the same sheet as your other notes, so the numbers are next to the questions that produced them. If you have a question about a specific bid or the items it lists, the Keys office number is (314) 220-2333.