How To Compare Three Roofing Quotes Properly

Key takeaways

• A wide spread usually means different scopes, not different profit margins.
• The cheapest quote is frequently cheapest because something is missing from it.
• Write the brief yourself so everybody is pricing the same job.
• Insist on a scope of work rather than a single figure, and compare line by line.
• Access, disposal, materials and what happens if something is found underneath are the four items most often omitted.

Why the spread is so wide

It is common to receive quotations for the same roof that differ by a factor of two or more, and homeowners reasonably conclude that somebody is trying it on. Occasionally that is true. Far more often the quotes describe different jobs. One includes a scaffold and one assumes ladder access. One renews the battens and one relays onto the existing ones. One includes new underlay and one does not mention it. One prices for reusing the existing slate and one for buying new. Until those differences are visible, comparing the totals is meaningless, and the lowest figure is simply the one that has excluded the most.

Write the brief before you ask

The single most effective thing you can do is describe the job yourself, in writing, and give the identical description to everybody. It does not need technical language. State what the problem is, what you want assessed, that you want a written scope of work rather than a figure, and that you want specific items addressed: access, underlay, battens, fixings, ridge and verge treatment, disposal, and what happens if something unexpected is found. Sending the same paragraph to three contractors immediately produces more comparable responses than asking three people to come and have a look.

Insist on findings as well as a price

A quotation is a proposal. What you also need is what they found, because that is what the proposal is based on and it is the part you can compare. Ask each contractor to state the condition of the underlay and how they established it, the state of the battens and fixings, which junctions they inspected and what was wrong with them. Where two contractors report the same findings and differ on price, you have a genuine choice. Where they report different findings, the difference in price is not the interesting thing; the difference in what they saw is, and it usually means only one of them looked properly.

Access, which is often most of the money

On many jobs the scaffold or tower costs more than the roofing work itself, so whether it is included, and for how long, is the largest single variable. A quote that assumes ladder access for work that genuinely needs a scaffold is not cheaper, it is incomplete, and it will be revised once the job starts. Ask specifically what access is allowed for, how long it is priced to stand, and what happens if weather extends the period. It is also worth asking for access and works to be priced separately, which makes the comparison clearer and shows you the marginal cost of adding other jobs while it is up.

Materials, stated by name

Vague material descriptions hide meaningful differences. Underlay should be named by type at least, since a breathable membrane and a bitumen felt are different products with different lives. Battens should be described as graded. Fixings should be specified, since stainless or copper on a slate roof is the entire point of relaying it. Tiles or slates should be identified by type and origin, and where reclaimed material is being used, the quote should say so and say how much. Lead should have a code. None of this is unreasonable to ask for, and a contractor who cannot state what they intend to use has not planned the job.

The provisional items

Roofing has genuine unknowns, because nobody can see the battens or the deck until the covering comes off. A good quotation handles this honestly, by stating what is assumed and giving a rate for the work if that assumption proves wrong. For example, a price assuming existing battens are sound plus a stated rate per square metre if they are not. A quote that says nothing about it either has not thought about it or intends to raise the issue once the roof is open and you have no alternative. Asking every contractor how they deal with what is found underneath is one of the more revealing questions available.

Disposal, VAT and the things at the end

The items that appear as surprises are consistent. Removal and disposal of the old covering, which on a full strip is a significant volume and a real cost. Skip permits where a skip must stand on the road. Making good to gutters, fascias or plasterwork disturbed by the work. And VAT, which should be stated explicitly rather than left ambiguous, since a quote excluding it is a fifth cheaper than one including it for no reason connected to the work. Check each of those on every quotation, because an omission in one is exactly what produces an apparently unbeatable price.

Comparing them properly

Put the quotes side by side and build a simple table with a row for each item: access, strip and dispose, battens, underlay, covering, fixings, ridge, verge, flashings, rainwater goods, making good, VAT. Fill in what each quote says, and leave a blank where it is silent. The blanks are the whole exercise. Almost invariably the cheapest quote has the most blanks, and once you ask those contractors to price the missing items the ordering frequently changes. This takes half an hour and it is the difference between choosing on price and choosing on value.

The non price factors that matter

Once the quotes are genuinely comparable, price is not the only input. Availability matters, because a contractor who can start next week during a busy season may be less in demand for a reason. Communication matters, since somebody who explains clearly at quotation stage generally does so during the work. Whether they are prepared to give references or show recent comparable work matters. And whether they wrote anything down without being asked is a reasonable signal about how the job will be documented. None of these outweigh a large price difference on identical scope, and all of them break a tie.

Being fair to the contractors

There is an obligation running the other way. Quoting takes time and costs money, and asking five contractors to attend when you have no intention of proceeding, or using quotes purely to beat somebody down, is a poor way to be treated as a customer in a trade where reputation travels. Three is a reasonable number. Tell people honestly that you are getting comparisons. Respond to those who quote, including the unsuccessful ones. The contractors most worth having are the ones with enough work to be selective, and how you behave at quotation stage affects whether they want your job.

When the cheapest is genuinely the right choice

None of this means always avoiding the lowest price. Where three quotes have the same scope, name the same materials, allow for the same access, handle unknowns the same way, and come from contractors who all inspected properly, then the cheapest is simply the cheapest and taking it is entirely rational. That situation exists and it is what the whole exercise is aiming at. The point is not that low prices are suspicious; it is that a price cannot be judged at all until you know what it includes, and most roofing quotes as originally issued do not tell you.

Keep the paperwork afterwards

Once a contractor is chosen, the quotation stops being a comparison tool and becomes the record of what was agreed, which is the document that matters if anything is disputed later. Keep it, along with any correspondence about variations, the final invoice, and photographs of the completed work. It is also worth keeping the quotations you did not accept, since they establish what the market said the job was worth at the time. This file is what answers questions at sale, supports any later claim, and tells you what was actually done when the same part of the roof comes up again in fifteen years.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do roofing quotes vary so much?

Usually because they are for different jobs rather than different margins. One includes scaffold and another assumes ladders, one renews battens and underlay and another does not mention them, one reuses existing slate and another prices new. Until those differences are visible, the totals cannot be compared.

How do I make quotes comparable?

Write the brief yourself and send the identical description to everybody, asking for a written scope rather than a figure, and specifying that access, underlay, battens, fixings, disposal and unknowns must all be addressed. Then tabulate the responses and look at where each is silent.

What is most often left out of a cheap quote?

Access, disposal of the old covering, new battens and underlay, and any provision for what is found once the roof is open. VAT is the fourth. An omission in any one of those is usually what produces a price that looks unbeatable next to the others.

How should a quote handle things that cannot be seen?

Honestly and explicitly. A good quotation states what has been assumed, for example that existing battens are sound, and gives a rate for the additional work if that assumption proves wrong. Silence on the point means either it has not been considered or it will be raised when you have no alternative.

Should I always get three quotes?

Three is a reasonable number for anything substantial. More than that has diminishing returns and takes real time from contractors who are quoting for free. Be honest that you are comparing, and reply to the unsuccessful ones, because the contractors worth having are selective about whose work they take.

Is it ever right to take the cheapest?

Certainly, where the scopes genuinely match, the materials are named, access is allowed for identically, unknowns are handled the same way, and everybody inspected properly. That is exactly what comparing quotes is meant to establish. The problem is judging a price before knowing what it includes, not low prices themselves.