The One Sentence That Separates Two St. Louis Roof Bids

Two roof bids can land within a few hundred dollars of each other and still describe two different roofs. The usual reason is not the shingle or the crew size. It is one sentence, often buried near the end of the scope, that says who pays when the crew finds something nobody could see from the ground. In St. Louis that is usually the decking. A roof that has taken years of freeze and thaw cycles behind its flashing, a three tab roof past the age where a repair still holds, or a valley patched twice before the current owner moved in can all hide soft deck under shingles that look fine from the street.

This page is for the homeowner who has two or three written bids in hand and has narrowed the field. The question is not which roofer is best in general. It is which bid answers the one sentence that will decide your final invoice. Keys Roofing, the contractor behind this site, can be reached at (314) 220-2333 if you want to ask us the same question you are putting to the others.

Roofer comparison

Start by pulling each bid and searching for the words decking, sheathing, plywood and replace. Most bids use at least one of them. Copy the exact line for each roofer, word for word, and write down the page it sits on. If a bid says nothing about decking at all, that is an answer too, and it goes into your comparison as a blank that you will need to fill with a call.

Then sort what you find into three kinds. The first kind is a fixed amount for a stated quantity, such as a number of sheets at a set price each, with the count written into the line. The second is a unit price with no cap, which means the final number moves with what the crew finds on the day. The third is a line that says included, or a line that says nothing and leaves the reader to assume the decking is part of the price. Those three kinds can produce very different final bills from the same house.

Pay close attention to the word included. A roofer who writes that deck repair is included may mean that a few sheets are covered and anything beyond that is extra. Ask for the number of sheets that is included, and ask for it in the same message as the question about what happens above that number. If the answer stays vague, mark that bid as open on the point and do not treat it as settled.

Look also at where the decision gets made. Some bids say the foreman will decide on site whether a sheet needs replacing. Others say the homeowner approves each replacement before the crew cuts. Both arrangements can work, but they are not the same, and you should be able to say which one each roofer uses before you pick. A foreman's call made at ten in the morning, with the deck open and rain coming in the afternoon, is a different decision from one you sign off on at your kitchen table.

What it costs

Do not compare totals before you have the decking line for each bid. A lower total can hide a higher unit price for the sheets, and a higher total can include a cap that protects you from a bad surprise. Divide the decking line by the number of sheets it covers, and write that figure beside the total. That per-sheet figure is the number that will tell you how far a surprise could move the price if the deck is worse than the roofer expects.

Many St. Louis homes have plank decking under the shingles, especially in older neighborhoods on the older lots near the core. Plank decking is slower to replace than plywood or OSB, and it is often priced by the board or by the hour rather than by the sheet. If your house has plank, the sheet price in a bid may not apply at all, and you need a separate line that names plank as its own case. Ask each roofer which of their figures would apply to plank, and whether they have priced it.

Ask whether the decking figure includes the removal and disposal of the wood. Ask whether it includes the new fasteners needed when a sheet is replaced in the middle of the job. These amounts are small on their own, but they are the kind of extras that show up after the final walk, when the crew has already left and the price is harder to dispute.

If a roofer offers an allowance, meaning a dollar amount set aside for decking, ask what happens if the decking costs less than the allowance and what happens if it costs more. A fair allowance states both directions in plain words. An allowance that only moves up is a cost you have not yet seen, and it belongs in the comparison as a risk rather than as a number.

What to ask

1. Which sheet count is included in the price, and what happens above that count?
2. Who decides that a sheet needs replacing, the foreman or the homeowner, and when is that decided?
3. Is the decking price per sheet, per square foot, or per board for plank decking?
4. Does the decking line include removal and disposal of the old wood?
5. Is there a cap on the total you could owe for decking, and if so, what is the figure?
6. If a sheet is replaced, will you receive a dated photo of the exposed deck before the new sheet covers it?

Send these six questions to each roofer in the same words. Keep the replies together in one place. A roofer who answers all six in writing has given you something you can compare. A roofer who answers three and says the rest will be known on the day has given you a different kind of answer, and it belongs in your notes just as much as the written ones do.

When the replies are in, read them against each other. The roofer whose decking sentence is shortest is not automatically the cheapest. Often the shortest sentence is the one with no count and no cap, which means the number is still open. A longer sentence that names a count, a unit, and a decision-maker can be the safer price even when its total is higher, because you can see what it will cost if the deck turns out soft.

Keep one more thing in view. The decking question is about a condition you cannot see until the shingles come off, and that usually happens on a day when the weather is changing. In St. Louis that can mean a rain forecast, a cold front behind a warm week, or a dry stretch that shrinks the wood before the new sheets go down. Ask each roofer what they do with an open deck if a storm is coming and a sheet is found soft. The answer tells you how the day is planned, and it is one more line you can set beside the others.