Sunset Hills Roof Bids: Compare the Gutter Answer First

A Sunset Hills homeowner with two or three roof bids on the table usually compares the shingle line, the square count and the total. The gutters and downspouts tend to get one line, or none at all. That gap matters, because the gutter is the part of the job that sits against the fascia and the soffit, and it decides where your roof water lands during a St. Louis thaw. Before you choose a roofer, read each bid for one question: what happens to the gutters and downspouts when the old roof comes off?

Why the gutter belongs in the roof comparison

On most tear-offs, the gutter trough, the hangers and the downspout elbows come down so the crew can reach the eave and the fascia behind it. Once the new roof is on, the gutters go back up, and that second step is where bids quietly differ. Some bids say the existing gutters are reset. Others say the gutters are replaced. Some say nothing, and the homeowner learns the answer on roof day, when a ten foot section is lying on the side lawn and nobody is sure who will hang it again.

A reset gutter is an old gutter put back up, so its condition, its slope and its outlets all carry over into the new roof. A replaced gutter is new metal, and its profile, color, thickness and price belong on the page in writing. Neither choice is wrong. The problem is a bid that leaves the choice unnamed, because then you cannot tell whether two totals are comparing the same work.

Three things each bid should name

• Which gutter runs are removed and reset, which are replaced, and in what metal and profile.
• Who replaces rotten or split fascia boards found once the gutters come down, and whether that work is a unit price or a fixed line.
• Where each downspout outlet ends up, and whether it runs to a splash block, a buried line or a extension that you will have to maintain.

If a bid names all three, you have something to compare. If it names none, the gutter is still a question, and the answer belongs in the next round of paperwork before anyone signs.

What a St. Louis winter does to a hanger

Gutter hangers are only as good as the wood they grab. In older Sunset Hills houses, the fascia is often a board that has seen decades of rain, and the hanger screws can sit in wood that has softened at the end grain. After a few freeze and thaw cycles, a loose hanger lets the trough sag, and a sagging trough holds water until the next cold snap turns it to ice. Ice in a trough adds weight, and the weight pulls on the hangers that were already loose.

That is why the fascia question matters as much as the gutter question. A bid that resets the gutters without saying how the hangers will be fastened has left out the part that fails first. Ask whether the hangers will go into solid wood, whether any fascia will be replaced before the trough goes back, and how the crew will show you a hanger that has been pull-tested before the job closes.

Questions to put to each roofer

1. Which gutter lines come off for the tear-off, which are reset after the install, and which are new.
2. What happens to fascia boards found soft or rotted when the gutters come down, and who prices that repair.
3. Where each downspout discharges when the job is finished, and whether the outlet ends at a splash block or a buried line.
4. Who checks the gutter run with a hose before the final walk, and whether you can watch the test.

Ask the same four questions of every roofer, in the same order, and write down the answers as they are said. A roofer who answers in a sentence and then sends a bid line that says something slightly different has given you two answers, and you should log both.

Reading the answers side by side

Put the answers in one column per roofer, and leave a cell empty when a roofer skipped the question. An empty cell is an answer too, because it tells you the work was not priced or not planned. Keep each roofer's wording as written. If one bid says reset and another says replace, and the totals differ, the difference is usually the metal and the labor to set it, not the crew itself. Ask the roofer to point to the line on the bid where the difference is priced.

Watch for a gutter line that is folded into a general labor figure. That is a common place for the gutter to disappear. If you cannot find the trough, the hangers or the downspouts on the page, ask the roofer to show you where they are priced. A roofer who can do that quickly has usually thought the gutter through. A roofer who needs a day to find it may have left it out.

When the bids do not answer

If a bid does not answer these questions, send each roofer the same written questions and keep the replies in one folder with the bids. Dated written replies are easier to compare than a memory of a phone call, and they are the record you will need if a hanger pulls loose in February. The gutter does not have to be a deal breaker, but it should be a named line with a name attached to it.

Keys Roofing can be reached at (314) 220-2333 if you want to ask the gutter questions by phone before you book a site visit. Ask for the answer in writing as well, and compare it with the bid you are handed. The point of the exercise is the same for every roofer: one question, one written answer, one place to check it on the day the crew shows up.