The Bid on the Crew's Truck Should Match the Bid in Your Folder

Many homeowners keep one copy of a roof bid. The roofer's office keeps a version in a file, the estimator keeps a version on a laptop, and the foreman who pulls onto your street may carry a printed set in the cab of the truck. Those copies are supposed to say the same thing, but a roof job passes through several hands between the signature and the first nail, and a line that changes in one place may not change in another. When you compare roofers, the copy you hold is only one of the documents you need to check.

A roof job goes through more steps than most homeowners expect. The sales visit produces a bid, the office turns that bid into a contract, the estimator may revise the material count, and the foreman often prints a working sheet for the crew. In a St. Louis spring, when crews are already booked weeks out, that working sheet can be built from a phone photo or a faxed page. Each step is a place where a number, a color or a flashing line can drift.

Roofer comparison

Start with a question you can ask every company in the same words: where does the crew's working copy come from, and who checks it against the signed contract? Write each answer down in the roofer's own phrasing. A company that prints the crew sheet straight from the signed file tells you something different from one where the foreman rebuilds the sheet from memory or from a photo of your paperwork. Neither answer proves a roofer is careless, but the answers give you a fair basis for comparison.

Then request the crew copy itself, or a photo of it, before the crew arrives. Keep it in the same folder as your signed bid. Compare the two line by line. Look at the square count, the number of slopes, the shingle product and color, the underlayment, the starter course, the ridge, the drip edge, the step and counter flashing, the vents and pipe boots, and the haul-away or dumpster line. Where the two copies differ, mark the line, date your note and ask which copy the crew will follow.

Look also at what happens to the crew copy after the job. A roofer who files it with the closeout packet gives you a second record of what was installed, and that record is useful if a question comes up months later about a vent count or a flashing detail. A roofer who says the crew copy is thrown away at the end of the day has told you that the only record of the work is the one the office keeps. That is worth knowing before you choose.

Keys Roofing, which stands behind this page, puts a written scope with photos and measurements in the homeowner's hands before work starts. Keys installs Atlas and Malarkey shingles only. A crew copy from any roofer you compare should name the product line and the color that appear on the signed bid. A copy that names a different line than the one you chose is the first thing to question.

What it costs

A mismatch rarely shows up as a cost on paper. It shows up on the roof. If the crew sheet orders thirty squares and the signed bid calls for thirty-two, a short delivery means a second truck, and a second truck means someone has to decide who pays for it and whether the start date slips. If the starter course appears on the bid but not on the crew copy, the crew may finish the field and leave the eave bare until a return visit. Ask each roofer who pays for a second delivery and a return visit, and get that answer written into the bid, not only in conversation.

Permits add another cost. Municipal permit desks across St. Louis County review the job description and the material count when a permit is pulled. If the permit application and the crew copy disagree, the inspector may hold the start or ask for a corrected document, and a held start can push the job into a worse weather window. In a St. Louis winter, an open roof that waits on paperwork can sit through a freeze-thaw cycle or a run of ice days, and each day of delay adds risk at any flashing line that was never finished.

Hail season raises its own question. If a storm passes through in spring or summer while the roof is open, the drip edge, the step flashing and the ridge are the lines most likely to need a second look. A crew copy that drops those lines because they are priced separately makes the comparison harder for you to check later, because the line you cannot find on the copy is the line you cannot hold the crew to.

Older three-tab roofs raise the same question in a different form. If a roof is old enough that a crew copy calls for a repair mix instead of a full match, ask whether that choice appears on the signed bid. A repair line that appears only on the truck is a change to your job, not a detail of the crew's method, and it should be discussed with you before the first shingle comes off.

What to ask

Put these questions to each roofer before you pick one. Take notes in the same order for every company so the answers line up when you compare them.

1. Where does the crew's working copy come from, and who prints it?
2. Who checks the crew copy against the signed contract, by name and by title?
3. What date is printed on the crew copy, and does it match the date on the signed bid?
4. Do the square count and slope count on the crew copy match the signed bid?
5. Which shingle product and color appear on the crew copy, and do they match your choice?
6. Where do the starter, ridge, drip edge, flashing and vent lines appear on each copy?
7. If the two copies differ, which one governs, and will the roofer call you in writing before the crew changes anything?
8. Where is the crew copy kept on your lot overnight, and who else holds a copy in a truck or a folder?

Ask for the answers in writing. A roofer who gives a clear, consistent answer to each question is giving you useful information. A roofer who says the sheet is a formality is telling you the sheet is not checked, and that belongs in your comparison too. If your copies disagree after you read them side by side, call (314) 220-2333 and ask which one the office stands behind before the truck is loaded.