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Replacing an architectural shingle roof is one of the simplest big projects you'll ever buy. The work is largely standardized, every crew tears off and installs in roughly the same order, and the materials from the major manufacturers are similar. That's good news, because it means you don't have to find a magician. You have to find a handful of honest contractors, give them all the same job to price, and let them compete.

The steps below are how people inside the industry buy a roof for themselves.

Step 1: Time your negotiation

Construction is a seasonal business. From April until sometime in November, most contractors are at their busiest. In December, installs have stopped and they're collecting slow payments on the jobs they finished that year. By January, their top sales guys are twiddling their thumbs and wondering if they'll ever sell another roof.

You may not be able to install a roof in January, but you can negotiate a contract with an April install date. This is when many companies and sales reps are hungry for work. Sales reps and managers have more time to look at deals, sharpen their pencils, and compete for you when you're the only person who called that month asking about a roof. Take advantage of it. It can lower your price. If you sign in winter for a spring install, ask how long the quote is good for and whether the price can change before install, and get the answer in writing.

Step 2: Build a short list of honest contractors

Once you've filtered out the companies that can't prove they're insured (and licensed, where your state or city licenses roofers), the ones left will mostly do the same job the same way. So the goal of this step isn't to find "the best roofer in town." It's to find four or five you'd be comfortable letting on your roof.

  1. Collect names. Neighbors who had work done recently, friends, local review sites, and your real-estate or insurance agent are all fine places to start.
  2. Send every one of them the same short email asking for their documents — license (where your state or city requires one), certificate of insurance, any bond, and a blank copy of their contract. We've written the email for you in How to Choose a Contractor.
  3. Drop anyone who is slow or doesn't answer. A professional company can send these in minutes. If they can't get you standard paperwork now, it won't get easier once they have your deposit.
  4. Confirm the documents are real. It takes about ten minutes per contractor: where a license applies, look up the license with the office that issued it, and call the insurer using the number on the insurer's own website. The step-by-step is in Confirming the Documents Are Real.

Whoever survives that is your bid list.

Step 3: Write your own scope of work

A contractor can't give you a firm price until every variable is nailed down: how big the roof is, what goes on it, and what warranty comes with it. Most homeowners let each contractor define those things for them, which is why bids come back impossible to compare. Define them yourself and every bid prices the same job.

Buy your own measurements

Order an aerial measurement report for your roof before you contact anyone. You can order one online for a modest fee:

  • It shows you're serious. Contractors spend a lot of time on homeowners who are just kicking tires. A homeowner who has already paid for measurements is a buyer.
  • It makes your job fast and cheap to bid. The contractor may not need to climb your roof or send someone out to measure it.
  • It can take the salesperson out of the deal. With measurements and specs in hand, a contractor can send you a price and a contract without a visit to your kitchen table — and without paying a sales rep a commission on your job.

Learn what's in a measurement report.

Decide which features you actually want

Most of what a salesperson tells you about one brand versus another doesn't matter. Six things do. Put these in writing and ask every contractor to meet them:

Feature What it means What to ask for
Wind rating The wind speed the manufacturer will warrant the shingles against. It depends partly on how they're installed. The highest rating the product offers, and ask what the manufacturer requires to earn it. It can depend on how the shingles are installed and which accessories are used (see below). Our guide to wind ratings.
Hail rating Impact resistance under the UL 2218 test. Class 4, the highest, means the shingle survived a 2-inch steel ball dropped from 20 feet. Class 4 if it's in your budget. Some popular architectural shingles, such as GAF Timberline HDZ, are Class 3, so Class 4 may cost extra. Class 4 shingles explained.
Algae warranty Coverage against the black streaks algae leave on a roof. Most algae-resistant shingles have an algae warranty of at least 10 years, but in the last few years those warranties have grown to 25 or 30 years on higher grade shingles. Algae warranties explained.
Contractor's labor warranty The contractor's own promise to fix installation mistakes. Only as good as the company behind it. In writing, with the length stated. Workmanship warranties.
Manufacturer's material warranty Covers defects in the shingles themselves. Know how long the non-prorated period is; that's the part that pays its full stated coverage. Limited lifetime warranties.
Manufacturer-backed labor warranty The manufacturer, not only the contractor, stands behind the installation work, typically for 25 years or more. The top tier the manufacturer offers. The roof must be installed by a contractor the manufacturer has accepted into its own top installer program. Manufacturer-backed warranties.

Don't overthink the brand

I ran roofing companies for 15 years, and after listening to roofers argue about which brand is best, I'm convinced the main difference between the major brands is how much each one spends on marketing.

Color isn't much of a differentiator either. Outside a few specialty colors, every major manufacturer sells pretty much the same core palette under different names. If your house has a weathered-wood roof today, you're probably putting a weathered-wood roof back on it, and unless you have a designer's eye you won't see much difference between one brand's version and another's.

That gives you two ways to write your request:

  • Give the specs and let the contractor pick the product. This can get you the lowest prices, because each contractor can bid whatever brand it buys at the best price. Before you sign, make sure the product they propose comes in the color you want.
  • Pick the product yourself. Then every bid is for the identical roof. If you go this way, look up that product's installation requirements and ask for the version that earns the top rating.

The install details that change your wind rating

The hail rating and the algae warranty are built into the shingle; you get them or you don't. The wind rating is different: it depends on how the roof is put on.

GAF, for example, has a standard installation and a higher wind-rated one. For its special-installation wind coverage, GAF requires six nails per shingle plus GAF starter strips (four nails on shingles with its LayerLock nailing strip). Its top wind warranty, WindProven, also requires LayerLock shingles and at least four qualifying GAF accessories. Other manufacturers have their own requirements, so look up the installation requirements for the product you're considering.

Ask for them. Write the requirement into your scope: "Install to the manufacturer's requirements for its highest available wind warranty."

Send the scope out

Email every contractor on your list the same package: your measurement report, your specs (or the product you chose), and a request for a price and a contract for exactly that scope. Give them a deadline.

Step 4: Pick the lowest price — unless one of these is true

If every contractor passed your document check and every bid is for the same scope, there's very little reason not to take the lowest price. That's the whole point of the process. Before you sign, check these four things, because they're where a low bid can turn into a high final bill.

1. Contingency pricing. A bid prices the roof you can see. Some costs only show up once the old shingles are off. Ask every contractor to put a unit price in the contract for each of these, so a surprise has a known price instead of a negotiated one:

  • Rotted or damaged decking, priced per sheet. This is the big one on older homes. When hidden damage changes the price.
  • Extra layers of old shingles to tear off, if there's more than one.
  • Rotted fascia or trim boards, per linear foot.
  • Flashing around chimneys, walls and skylights: is it reused or replaced?
  • Ventilation changes, if the contractor says your attic needs more.
  • Permit fees, and who pulls the permit. Is the permit in your bid?

Compare the bids with these prices added in. A bid that's lowest on the base price and highest on decking may not be the lowest bid. If one bid is far below the others, read this first.

2. The contract matches what you asked for. The product line and color, the nail count and starter strip, every warranty and its length, the tear-off, and the contingency prices should all be written into the contract — not into an email or a conversation. Also look at the payment schedule (how much up front, and when the rest is due), the start window, cleanup, and who registers the manufacturer's warranty. The contract checklist.

3. The contractor's insurance is current. Before the crew arrives, ask for a current certificate of insurance showing general liability coverage, and confirm the policy dates cover your install. Also ask the contractor to have its insurer add you as an additional insured by endorsement, and ask for the endorsement page, not just the certificate. That can give you some protection if someone makes a claim against you over the contractor's work. Terms vary by policy. If the contractor won't add you, ask to at least be listed as the certificate holder, which only means the certificate is issued to you.

4. The manufacturer's warranty is real. The top-tier warranties have to be registered by the contractor, sometimes within a set window (Owens Corning's Platinum Protection, for example, must be registered within 60 days of installation). Put "contractor registers the warranty and sends me the paperwork" in the contract.

Step 5: Install day

  • Mow the lawn as short as you can the day before. Short grass makes it much easier for the crew's magnet to pick up stray nails.
  • Move anything breakable. Patio furniture, planters, grills and anything near the house. Debris comes off the roof fast.
  • Introduce yourself to the project manager. Give them your phone number and ask them to call you before the crew packs up, so you can walk the job together. It's much harder for everyone to coordinate a return trip than to fix something while the crew and the ladders are still there, and it's your best chance to ask questions.
  • Don't panic if some shingles look lumpy or have edges that sit up. Shingles are shipped stacked in bundles, and they can come out of the bundle slightly bent. GAF calls this "bundle distortion." Once they're on the roof, the sun warms them and they relax and lie flat; GAF says that takes anywhere from a week to several months, depending on the temperature. Ask your project manager to point out the difference between shingles that are still settling and a real installation problem. If your roof goes on in cold weather, ask what the manufacturer requires for low-temperature installs. Replacing a roof in cold weather.

Step 6: After the job

Your contractor should register your warranty with the manufacturer and send you the paperwork. If the top-tier warranty was part of your deal, write into the contract that final payment is due when the registration confirmation arrives (or against a written commitment with a date), check the manufacturer's registration requirements, and ask for lien waivers from the contractor and, where they apply, its suppliers and subcontractors. Lien rules vary by state.

Or let the contractors come to you

If you'd rather not run the bidding yourself, Otter Quotes can do that part. We build the scope of work from your measurements and the features you choose, send it to contractors on Otter Quotes, and let them compete for the job online, with no salesperson at your kitchen table. You compare every bid side by side and choose. Contractors Compete. Homeowners Win.

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