We need to replace our roof due to age(22 yo). There were a couple repairs done two years ago to get past the sale process when we bought. Holy smokes have they gotten expensive. We have had quotes from $35k to $48K. That is 11%-8% of the value of the house. Is there any general things I should make sure are included in the replacement? I know absolutely nothing about construction.

We have 3 skylights and both the contractors seemed to think they should be replaced with the roof? That about $5k more should it be done or just have them do the roof with out the skylights?

We have gotten two estimates from the two big roofing companies in the area, Discount and Alamo, I have a third coming our Monday but was considering getting quotes from smaller local contractors, Is there an advantage to local small vs big?

There have 30 year shingle and 50 year at a much greater cost, is there a advantage to the 50 year ones?

Thanks
Ed

I'll be watching this thread. I'll have to do my roof on the next few years.

I'm not too far from you and I had to go through this a few years back myself. Thankfully, we don't have any skylights, but there are some weird valleys and flashing where the roof meets the second story of our split level.

I wanted metal but didn't know how to do it myself. I had a heck of a time even getting anybody to come out and quote it, but when I finally found a few the cheapest was $23k. Best price on shingles was $10k. I had one sales asshole from a bigger company out of Ft. Wayne come out and I told him up front that I couldn't afford $23k so if he couldn't beat that don't waste my time. He spent two hours messing around and came back with a quote of $38k and then spent another 45 minutes trying to talk me into it before I finally had to just about throw him out of the house so I could leave for work. Dude literally sat at my kitchen table while I was wolfing down supper and trying to get all my gear around to head out the door thinking he was going to get me to take out financing to pay for his outrageously overpriced roof .

I ultimately ended up doing it myself with 50 year architectural shingles for about $4k. It cost me a week of vacation time and a lot of body ache, but it's done right (or at least better than the "professionals" who did it the last time) and I didn't spend half the value of my home on it. I didn't get the metal roof I wanted, but it should still last me another 20 years and it's paid for.

I don't know if you have Amish over towards Valpo, but if you do you might see about getting some of their crews to quote you. My neighbor just had a crew do his roof and it was about $10k for metal (pretty small roof), and they did good work. If I ever have to do it again I'll probably go that route. I wish I'd had contact information for those guys when I was quoting mine.

$35k-$48k! Dayum!

How big is your house/roof?

I had the roof replaced on my last house (2700 square feet floorplan/55 squares roof) for $18k just 6 years ago in mid-2019.

And that was even with an upcharge for an especially steep 14/12 pitch that necessitated using anchors and harnesses, plus going with mid-tier 30 year architectural shingles.

All the quotes I got at the time were within a few hundred bucks of each other at around $17.5k-$18k.

Have roof prices across the board truly more than doubled in 5-6 years? Or is there just some quirk of your house/area that makes them more expensive?

My entire roof is about 35 square, and it's pretty shallow which was part of why my shingles degraded so fast. The other was my neighbor's giant pine tree, which has since been removed.

Just general comments, first off, 22 years is pretty good.

We had our large camp done a month ago, $18k worth. Evaluate the roofing companies, check reviews, components/shingles. Yeah, common sense, cheaper isn’t always best, the most expensive doesn’t really guarantee better.

My house is nearing 20 years, still looks great. It is much better than the builder grade roof put on 10 years prior.

We had a skylight type opening in the roof, it was removed then shingled over. A simple roof usually helps.

I'll be having mine done in a week or so. Tearing off 20-year-old asphalt shingles and putting up textured metal. I wouldn't do asphalt shingles again. They look nice, but soon they'll be leaving sand/gravel in your gutters and essentially failing.

Make sure that any vents or chimneys get new boots while they are up there. Also, consider your fascia and gutters. I've been told that most roofers want the gutters removed in order to do their work. Might be a good time to replace.

Also, where you're at, snow and ice dams are an issue. The benefit of metal is the snow sheets slide right off vs. piling up and causing dams.

And, yeah, prices have gone up substantially. What used to be $10K is now $32,000 (my quote). Ridiculous, but it is what it is.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
And, yeah, prices have gone up substantially. What used to be $10K is now $32,000 (my quote). Ridiculous, but it is what it is.

Holy cow.

Well, that explains why my homeowner's insurance company just this year switched all their policies' roof-specific deductibles from being the base policy deductible (mine is $1k) to now being 1% of the house value.

I guess they were losing their shirts with a $1k deductible on a $35k+ roof.

Yeah, I posted in another thread my unhappiness with USAA denying my claim for ice dam damage. Their adjuster just walked around the house and said everything looks fine.

I wasn't expecting them to pay for entire new roof, but some help with the final bill would have been nice as I need to have soffett work done because of the water damage. I even showed the guy pictures of icicles hanging from the soffetts. They had been pretty good to me in the past, which is why I've stuck with them despite pretty high premiums, but I'm done with them.

There is a qty of 56 for the shingles, if that matters.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
Yeah, I posted in another thread my unhappiness with USAA denying my claim for ice dam damage. Their adjuster just walked around the house and said everything looks fine.

I wasn't expecting them to pay for entire new roof, but some help with the final bill would have been nice as I need to have soffett work done because of the water damage. I even showed the guy pictures of icicles hanging from the soffetts. They had been pretty good to me in the past, which is why I've stuck with them despite pretty high premiums, but I'm done with them.

I was with USAA for ever and they did me right on my last roof on the old house. However they got more and more expensive and less competitive and the level of service was wildly inconsistent. I’m with IN Farm Bureu and that was an issue as the the adjuster told me there was no reports of hail in the area, I had to send him a picture of a large pile of hail at the downspout. I figured I wasn’t going to get very far on a 22 yo roof with them.

I live in the Allentown, PA area and will be replacing my (~25 yo) roof this month or next with GAF Timberline HDZ shingles.

My house is a basic two-story colonial (~2.3K sf) with two gables, two skylights, and a few vents on the roof.

The current quote for a full shingle rip-off and replacement is just under $15K, which is up ~$1K from when it was quoted last year.

Township permit will be added.

The work includes flashing replacement. Any plywood that needs to be replaced is $90 per 4'x8' sheet, which is the same as it was last year.

Two neighbors across the street this company replace their roofs last-year, and the crews were clean, efficient, polite, and took about 1 1/2 days to do their roofs.

Good luck!

I live in hurricane country and when one hits everybody needs a roof, prices go up exponentially.Putting years of life on shingles is kind of bogus. The wind rating is a total joke. What is important is the roofing contractor. The typical scenario here is a local guy who sets up the deal and a bilingual foreman who communicates with the Mexican laborers. Be sure you are there to watch what goes on.Be sure and have new felt placed and some guidelines as to where they may park their monster trucks,
Prices are usually somewhat seasonal.

I'm guessing there's some pretty significant location-based cost differences here.

So far we have two folks with $32-$45k quotes. And two others with $18k quotes, which is more in line with my semi-recent experience.

I'd assume costs would have risen in the post-pandemic inflationary environment, but not 2x/3x.

This is a 2k sq ft mostly single story home

Earlier this year, I paid $32k for 40 year architectural shingles and fancy underlayment on a 4,200 sqft home (3-car garage and 400 sqft lanai under roof included). The roof pitch required the guys to be harnessed with safety lines. This was in a 140mph wind zone.

We have a simple roof style and house and garage require 27 squares. Had a removal of old shingles and replacement with a 50 year shingle for $7500 one year ago. 4-12 roof pitch, nothing fancy. SW Illinois.

Wow. Just had our roof done last year to the tune of $14k.
Were a 4K sq ft 2 story and a covered back patio.
I went with middle of the road wind upgraded 30 year shingles.
The initial quote covered by insurance was for the lower builder grade shingles. I asked the roofer what I really needed.
He said 30 year with the higher wind rating (we are the highest house in the neighborhood and get quite a bit of wind) was the way to go and going to the 50 year shingles would not really do much for me.
I paid $1000 out of pocket for the more expensive shingles.

Wowzers. I thought $14k was wild and I was glad to only have to cover our deductible and the $1k for the better shingles.

Looked at our sheet and we also had a $1k up charge for the steepness of our roof.

Based on the replies, I have no idea what kind of quotes I'll get.

But I do now wonder about metal shingles vs tradition asphalt. I can reach all my gutters pretty easily except for in the back. I won't go that high on a ladder again, though I used to often.

Had mine replaced last year due to the tornado. 2300sq home. Ins. Paid the same roofer who put it on originally $17k. W/depreciation

I spoke to the guy and he said he got paid $25k for the same size roof on new construction

Took them a day to remove and replace every thru roof fitting and flashing.