When Two Bids Are Close, Compare the Answer You Cannot Undo After Tear-Off

Most homeowners in St. Louis end up with two or three written bids that look close on the total. The shingle names may match, the crew sizes may sound similar, and both roofers may say they can start within a few weeks. When that happens, the easy move is to pick the lower number and move on. A better move is to find the one answer each roofer gives that you could not easily get back after the tear-off starts, and compare those answers before you look at the price again.

Why the locked-in answer matters more than the total

Before the tear-off, most choices are still cheap to revisit. You can ask for a different shingle, move the start date, or hold off on a deposit. Once the old roof is open, the house is exposed to rain, the crew has pulled up decking, and the schedule runs on whatever the contract says. A question you did not settle in writing can then turn into an argument about what was meant.

That is why the tiebreaker is not a question about price. It is a question about what happens in the middle of the job, when the roof is half open and the forecast is not in your favor. Roofers who answer that clearly in writing give you something to hold. Roofers who answer with "we handle that" give you a promise you will have to reread later.

Three answers that are hard to undo

Start with what each roofer does when the weather turns mid-tear-off. Ask for the rain plan in one sentence: who tarps, who checks the tarp at the end of the day, and what the bid says about the charge for a rain-stopped afternoon. A clear answer names a person and a time. A vague answer says the crew will "watch the sky." Put both answers side by side on the same sheet.

Next, ask what happens when soft decking shows up under the old shingles. Most roofers find some, and the question is who marks it, who photographs it, and how the replacement is priced. If the bid lists decking by the sheet with a unit rate, you can check the math later. If the bid says "as needed" with no rate, you have no number to compare, and the roofer who names a rate is giving you a figure you can use after the tear-off.

Third, ask how each roofer handles a freeze after the tear-off has started. In St. Louis, the freeze and thaw cycle can lift starter strip, stall sealant, and leave a partly finished deck exposed longer than anyone wanted. Ask who decides whether to cover the deck for the night, who pays for the extra tarp work, and whether the schedule shows a hold point before the next layer goes on. The answer should be specific enough that you can read it back to the roofer and get a yes or a no.

Where ice dams and hail season come into it

Ice damming at the eave is one place where roofers' answers can differ sharply. A crew that tears off in late fall and plans to finish before a hard freeze should say so in the bid, with a date. A crew that does not plan for cold weather may still start the job and leave the eave details for later. Ask each roofer what they will do about the drip edge, the ice and water membrane at the eave, and the starter course, and ask them to name the day they expect those pieces to be in place.

Hail season adds a different pressure. Spring and early summer storms can arrive before a job is finished, and an open roof does not stay quiet. Ask each roofer how they handle a storm warning during the workday, whether they tarp before leaving, and who from the company you can call at night. That is a question about how the company behaves under stress, and the answer is worth comparing directly.

What to write down, and what to leave out

Keep your notes in one place. Write each roofer's answer to the three questions above, the date you asked, and the name of the person who answered. If a roofer says something in person that is not in the bid, write it down in your own words, then ask them to put it in the contract or in an email. A note you wrote yourself is only a record of what you heard. A written answer from the roofer is a commitment.

You do not need to ask about everything. The three questions above are enough to separate two close bids, because they test how each roofer behaves when the job stops being simple. If you want more questions, tie them to the exact roof you are replacing, such as the number of slopes, the pitch on the low side, or the age of the decking. Generic questions tend to produce generic answers.

Missouri law also belongs in the comparison. RSMo 407.725 bars a roofing contractor from representing or negotiating a homeowner's insurance claim, so a roofer who offers to handle your claim is offering something the statute forbids, and that offer is a reason to ask more questions. What a roofer can do is document damage, put a written scope with photos and measurements in your hands, and attend as the contractor while you deal with your own insurer.

Before you choose

Put the two bids on one sheet and fill in the three answers for each roofer. If one roofer answers in writing and the other answers only in conversation, weigh that gap honestly before you decide. If you want to talk through a specific question about your roof, Keys can be reached at (314) 220-2333, and the office can explain what a written scope from Keys includes before you sign anything.