"BCDrums" wrote

Our family's little vacation cottage needs a new roof. I got four
estimates, ranging from $3200 to $10,000 for a 1400 square foot roof.
There are two layers to be stripped off. My questions:

Vacation cottage? Ok. Cold and dry or wet and hot area? Makes a
difference.

All four roofers offer Certainteed 30 year architectural shingles. There
are two model names, Woodscape and Landmark 30. Does anyone know the price
a contractor would pay for 100 sq ft. of those two shingles? This would
help me to understand what part of these bids might be materials.

Probably no real difference.

The house has gable vents and no ridge vent. All four roofers will add a
ridge vent, but one wants to put in soffit venting at the eaves and seal
the gable vents. While I understand the idea behind the soffit venting, I
wonder if it is worth the extra cost.

Climate dependant as well as one other thing. If it's a vacation cottage,
how often is it occupied? You may not want to spend more for a proper
soffit job if you only occupy it in mild seasons (presuming you do not need
it for dampness control).

One roofer proposes 6 nails per shingle vs. 4 nails. We are a mile from
the ocean, and occasionally get a Nor'Easter. However, I doubt that the
current roof had 6 nails and it has lasted well.

Probably not, but to me that they'd even think to go above minimum there,
means they may do better work elsewhere as well.