Earlier Bids on Your Address Hold Clues to the Next One

Most homeowners who ask a roofer for a bid never think to ask whether someone else has already looked at the house. Yet a previous estimate, a bid that was never signed or an old repair invoice can tell you a good deal about what a crew saw, what it assumed and what it left out. The question is not whether the earlier number was right. The question is whether the new roofer can explain the differences between their work and the paper already on file, and whether you have that paper in your hands.

Roofer comparison

Start with the basic facts that should match on any honest pair of estimates. The roof area, usually counted in squares, should land close to the same figure. The number of slopes, the pitch of each one, and the counts of chimneys, valleys, pipe boots and vents should agree within a reasonable margin. When two estimates disagree on the square count by a wide amount, one of them probably took a shortcut, and the earlier estimate is only useful once you know which one.

Pay attention to the lines that are easy to drop. Drip edge, starter course, ice and water membrane at the eaves, and the flashing where a wall meets the roof are often written as one lump sum in one bid and broken out in another. Ask each roofer to show you where those items sit in their scope. A roofer who can point to a line on paper is easier to compare than one who says the older bid already covered it.

The St. Louis climate makes some of these lines matter more than others. Freeze and thaw cycles work moisture into the joints and under the tabs of an aging roof, and winter ice damming at the eave is common on houses across the metro. An earlier bid that put ice and water membrane only in the valleys may have missed the eave entirely. Compare how far up the roof each estimate carries that membrane, and ask the newer roofer to state the distance in writing.

Age changes the comparison too. If an earlier roofer recommended a repair on a three-tab roof, ask the new roofer whether they see the same shingles as repairable or as near the end of their service life. Those are two different recommendations, and they lead to different totals. Ask each roofer to say what they would do on the same roof in the same condition, and why.

Missouri does not license roofers at the state level, so an earlier estimate carries no state license record that you can check. The paper itself is the record. Read it the way you would read a second copy of the same contract, looking for what each line commits the roofer to do and what it leaves to the homeowner.

Keys Roofing, which runs Compare STL Roofers, puts a written scope with photos and measurements in the homeowner's hands at the end of the walk. If you already have an earlier estimate, bring it along. A good estimator will say which lines match, which ones they would change and why, and will put that explanation in writing. That comparison helps you decide far more than a total set beside another total.

What it costs

An earlier estimate costs you little beyond your time, but it can cost you money if you accept a new number that quietly drops a line the first roofer priced. Look at the total first, then at the unit prices behind it. If the earlier bid priced tear-off by the square and the new one prices it as a lump sum, you cannot tell which is higher until you multiply the squares yourself.

Be careful with an older number. Shingle prices, labor rates and disposal fees all move, and a bid from two or three years back is a rough guide to scope rather than a current price. Ask each roofer to date their own numbers and to say which part of the total depends on material costs that may change before the crew arrives. A price that holds for a short window is different from one that can shift at signing.

Compare the disposal and haul-away lines as well. Some estimates include the removal of old shingles, the dumpster and a magnet sweep of the yard afterward. Others assume the homeowner will arrange a bin or a haul. If an earlier bid has a disposal line and the new one does not, the gap is not a discount. It is a cost that someone will pay later, and you should know in advance who that someone is.

Underlayment and flashing deserve the same check. A bid that prices felt or synthetic underlayment by the roll and omits the metal at walls, chimneys and valleys has not really priced the roof. Put the two bids side by side and mark every flashing and underlayment line. Any line present in one and absent in the other is a question for both roofers.

What to ask

Ask each roofer three specific questions about any earlier estimate you bring to the table. First, what did the earlier roofer measure differently from what you measured? Second, which line in the earlier bid would you keep, and which would you change? Third, what would you need to see on the roof before you agreed with the earlier number? A roofer who can answer all three is comparing the actual house. A roofer who only says the other number is too high is comparing paper against paper.

Ask whether the new roofer will put their reasoning in writing. Many homeowners get a good verbal explanation on the walk and then a one-page proposal that leaves it out. Ask that the explanation of every difference from the earlier bid be attached to the proposal and dated. That written note is what you will look at if the crew finds something unexpected once the tear-off starts.

Ask who will be on site to check the roof against the scope before the final payment is due. The person who wrote the number should be able to name the person who will verify it. If the answer is unclear, ask for the name in writing before you sign.

Keep the earlier estimate with the rest of your file. Do not discard it because it lost the comparison. Shingle counts, ridge lengths and vent counts often matter again later, when a second roof is priced, when the house is sold, or when someone looks at the roof years from now. A record of what was seen on a given day is worth keeping even when you did not hire the roofer who wrote it.

If you want to talk through an earlier bid before you choose, call Keys at (314) 220-2333. Bring the paper, the date it was written and any photos that came with it, and ask the estimator to walk through each line that differs. That conversation will tell you more about the roof than the total at the bottom of either page.