The Year Printed on a Roof Bid Can Decide Which Price You Compare

Two roof bids can sit side by side on a kitchen table and look like the same job. The shingle line matches, the square count is close, and the totals land within a few hundred dollars of each other. Then the homeowner looks at the top of the first page and sees one bid dated in August and another dated in November, and the question is whether both numbers were written against the same material prices. For a St. Louis homeowner comparing roofers before a spring start, the printed dates and the year behind them are the first things to read.

This page is for the homeowner who has two or three written bids and is about to make a side-by-side comparison. It does not tell you which roofer is cheapest. It tells you what to check on the paper before the totals go into a spreadsheet, so the price you compare is the price each roofer actually meant.

Roofer comparison

Start with the date line, then the year, then the validity window. Many bids carry three separate dates: the day the estimate was written, the day the bid is valid through, and sometimes the day a materials price was pulled. Each of these can fall on a different day. A roofer may write the estimate in late October, price the shingles from a supplier sheet dated earlier, and set a validity window of 30 days. None of that is wrong on its face, but it means two bids written in the same week may rest on different material prices and different labor assumptions.

Put each bid's dates in one short list. Then ask which of those bids you would still be signing in February if the spring start slips. A bid written in the fall that says it holds through the end of the year may still be fine. A bid written in the fall that holds for 14 days is one you should expect to be re-priced if you wait.

Look also for the year itself. Some bids print the year in the header, some print it only in the file name or the email subject, and some leave it out entirely. A bid with no year is not necessarily a bad bid, but it is harder to compare, because you cannot tell whether it was written before or after a supplier changed its price sheet. When a bid omits the year, ask the roofer to write it in by hand beside the date and initial it. That is a small request, and the answer tells you something about how careful the paperwork is.

Shingle pricing is the main reason the year matters. Asphalt shingle prices move with petroleum-based inputs and with freight, and a supplier can change its sheet between one bid and the next. A roofer does not have to be dishonest to be a few months behind on a supplier sheet. The point is not to catch anyone. The point is to make sure the numbers on the page come from the same moment, or to know exactly how far apart they are.

Keys Roofing installs Atlas and Malarkey shingles only, so when a bid names a shingle, the line should name the product and the product line. A bid that says architectural shingle with no brand and no line cannot be checked against a supplier sheet at all, and that makes the year harder to pin down.

What it costs

Checking the year costs an hour of reading and a phone call. Skipping it can leave you with a comparison that looks clean and is not. If one bid is dated in August and another in November, and you compare totals without noting the gap, you may choose the lower total only to learn it was written before a material change. You may also reject the higher total when it was the one written against current prices.

There is no fixed dollar amount this page can give you for that gap, because it depends on the supplier, the shingle line, the square count, and the month. What you can do is ask each roofer for the price basis in writing. One sentence does the job: the shingle and underlayment pricing in this bid was taken from the supplier sheet with the date written in full. If a roofer cannot tell you that date, you have learned that the bid is an estimate built on memory, not a quote built on a price sheet.

Watch for escalation language as well. Some bids say the price is firm only until materials are ordered. Others say the price is firm for the job but may change if the shingle line is discontinued. Those are different promises, and they cost different amounts to keep. A homeowner comparing November bids for a spring start should read both the price basis and the escalation language before treating the totals as comparable.

Finally, check whether the year on the bid matches the year on the contract. A bid can be written in one year and the contract signed in the next. If the contract carries a new date while the bid's price basis is old, ask the roofer which one governs. The answer belongs in the contract, not on a phone call.

What to ask

Ask each roofer these three questions and write the answers beside the bid:

1. What date was the shingle and underlayment price taken from, and can you give me that supplier sheet date in writing?
2. Through what date does this total hold, and what happens to the price if the crew starts after that date?
3. Is the year on this bid the year the materials are priced for, and does the signed contract carry the same year?

Then compare the answers. A roofer who gives you a supplier sheet date and a firm hold date has made the comparison easier. A roofer who says the price is current without a date has made it harder, and you should note that in your own file. If you want the price basis walked through line by line, call Keys Roofing at (314) 220-2333 and ask the office to go through each date on the bid with you.

Keep the copies. Put each bid in one folder with its date written on the top sheet, and write the day you received it in the margin by hand. When the spring start arrives and a price question comes up, the folder will show which year each number was written for.

Two more things belong on the list. Ask whether the square count came from a measurement taken in the same season as the price sheet, because an old measurement set against a new price compounds the gap. And ask whether the roofer will re-issue the bid if the start moves into the new year. A clear yes or no to that question is worth more than a lower total that depends on a date nobody can name.