DerbyDad03 wrote:
On May 16, 10:19 am, "TomR" wrote:
Mike wrote:
I'm trying to research the cost of a new roof.
I have a old house built in 1900.
It's 2.5 story house. There's about 1100sf on the 1st and 2nd floor.
. . . ,
Is this all possable for under 12k.

Any imput would be helpful
Thanks

The good news is that it is easy to get a couple of estimates for
this type of job. It is pretty much a straight up job that doesn't
require a lot of explanation. You would just let the contractors
know that it is a complete tear-off down to the rafters and that you
want all new decking and 40-year dimensional asphalt shingles, and
that you would like to be able to keep the existing gutters and
downspouts if they think that is possible.

You don't even have to be there when they do the estimate although
if it were me I would want to be there and hear what they say, see
what they are like to deal with and talk to etc.. But, since they do
not need to go into your house to do the estimate, they can do it
anytime without you having to meet them there.

Your 1100 sq. ft. estimate may or may not be correct. If any of the
roofers do measure it and tell you the actual number of "squares" it
is, that would be good to know. A "square" is 100 sq. ft. (10' x
10'). If your estimate
of 1100 sq. ft. is correct, you have 11 squares.

Sometimes you can find out what the basic rate is these days for
your area per square for a complete tear off down to the rafters,
all new decking, and dimensional shingles. Somehow I have this
feeling that in my area (New Jersey) the pricing was something like
$800 per square about a year ago. I could be WAY off on that, but
the $800 number sticks in my mind. If you say where you are located,
someone here may know what the typical price per square is these
days for the type of job you want done. If you do get estimates, you
may be surprised at how close many of them are to each other. That's
because most roofers look at a job like that, measure how many
squares it is, and then multiply the going per square figure times
the number of squares you have and give you the price.- -

Good points, but I have some thoughts on the matter, having just gone
through the process of having my roof replaced.

As far as it being "pretty much a straight up job that doesn't require
a lot of explanation" I beg to differ on that opinion, based on my
recent experience.

- There are new "roofing systems" other than the basic felt
underlayment that can make a difference in the warranty offered by the
shingle manufacturer. This should be discussed.
- There may be issues related to ventilation, e.g I had no soffit
vents. Some roofers wanted to put in pucks or rectangles in the
soffits and a ridge vent on top, one suggested cutting a full soffit
vent with perforated vinyl to cover the slots. One roofer even said
that box vents were better than a ridge vent for my house. Ventalation
was a major part of all discussions and a major deciding point as to
who I went with.
- Attic insulation should be discussed - no sense in adding soffit
vents if the insulation covers the soffits. Will baffles be needed? If
so, who will install them? (I did my own, but some homeowners may not
be able to or want to)
- Are there any valleys and how will they be handled?
- Step flashing, vent boots, exhaust hoods. How all of those will be
dealt with should be discussed so that there is no misunderstandings
later.
- Who will be in charge and on site during the job? My roofer told me
that his brother (who is on his crew) pulled up to a red light next to
house where one of his competitors was in the middle of a tear off.
While he was stopped, 2 police cars and border patrol van pulled up
onto the lawn, right up to the bottom of the ladders that were leaning
against the house. They called 4 of the crew off of the roof and led
them into into the border patrol van. I'm guessing this delayed the
completion of the job somewhat. ;-)

I could go on, but my point is that you can't just go through a pile
of estimates that get stuck in your mail box while you're not home and
expect to be able to make an intelligent decision. I choose the roofer
who not only spent time with me answering all of my questions, but was
also made suggestions and was going to be on-site, hammer in hand, for
the entire job. The companies that sent out "salesman" or "estimators"
did not instill the same confidence as those that sent out actual
roofers.

BTW...The comment about how many squares...Why does that matter?

If I recall correctly, none of the 5 estimates that I received
mentioned how many squares. They each included a price for the tear-
off and re-roof and listed what that included e.g. ice and water
shield (where and how much), underlayment, etc. Then were were prices
for incidentals $P per sheet of plywood (if needed) $F per foot of
step flashing (if needed), $G for gutters, $S soffit vents, etc.

If I'm comparing dollars per item to dollars per item, why do I care
how many squares my roof is? Fact is, I don't know how many squares my
roof is and it wasn't anything that I needed when comparing the
estimates. Granted, if one estimate was way out of line (which one
was) it might be good to check and see if the measurements were
correct, but if the estimates are all within a reasonable variance of
each other, the actual measurements or number of sqaures doesn't
really matter.

BTW...when I asked the "out of line" guy why he was so much higher
than everyone else, his answer was that he had more overhead than many
other companies. He even pulled out a picture of a bucket lifter that
he said he uses to get the material onto the roof. So tell me, why do
I want to pay for the cost of a bucket lifter that makes the job
easier for his crew? What do I gain from them have a lifter? When all
is said and done, I'll still have the same roof on my house whether
they carry the shingles up on their shoulder or lift them up in a
bucket. Why would I possibly want to help pay for the lifter?

DerbyDado3,

I have to admit that I agree with everything you wrote. I probably could
have worded things better, but the message that I was trying to communicate
to the OP was that it should be fairly easy for him to get a rough answer to
his main question which was,

"Is this all possable for under 12k ?"

I went through all of the same things that you mentioned in regard to two
different complete tear-off-to-the-rafters roofing jobs that I had done over
the last 2 years. The OP should definitely find out about all of the items
you mentioned. I did the same for both of the roofs that I had done -- all
of it --- venting, valleys, ice shield, insulation, gutters, etc. etc.

The reason that I asked about finding out the number of "squares" if
possible, is just because some people can give a fairly good idea of what
the job will typically cost based on that number. In my case, when people
asked me how many squares my jobs were, I said that I didn't know and didn't
really care. It didn't matter to me because all that I wanted to know was
what was going to be done, how it was going to be done, etc. etc. and, of
course, what it would cost.

I did run into the "who is going to supervise the job on site?" issue with
one of my jobs. For the first roof that I had done, the roofing company
owner made a point of saying who the on-site supervisor was going to be, how
experienced he was, and that he speaks English. I thought the last part
about the English was strange because that wasn't something that would have
come to my mind. That job went well.

On the second roof job, the person that I talked with and that I thought was
going to be there every day, ended up not being there most of the time.
Instead, there was a crew of guys who spoke very little English, and I know
very little Spanish. That turned out to be a problem because, as the work
was being done, I could see some things that we needed to get clarified
about how they planned to go about doing the job. That was a real pain
because the guys that I spoke with kept saying "yes" and that they
understood what I was saying, but they didn't. In the end, it all worked
out okay, but I now know that I would have to have an English speaking
person in charge and on site at all times while the work is being done -- so
we could communicate with each other over the many details that need to get
worked out as the work is being done. After that roof was done, I had the
same issue with the gutter company (a different company) because I was dumb
enough to not get that part cleared up to be sure an English speaking person
would be on site and in charge before the work was under way.