Ask Each Roofer About the Last Job They Had to Redo

Every roofer you call will say their last job went well. That answer tells you very little. A better question is to ask for the last roof they had to go back to and redo, whether the fix was on their dime or yours, and then listen to how the answer is built. A roofer who can name the job, say what failed, and describe what they changed has a process for problems. A roofer who says they have never had one either has not been keeping count or is not being straight with you.

This page is for the stage where you have a short list of roofers and need one specific fact before you sign. The fact here is whether each company has ever been held to its own work, and how it behaved when it was.

Roofer comparison

Put the same question to each company, in the same words, by phone or in writing. Ask: Tell me about a roof you had to redo in the last three years. What was the cause, and what did your crew change afterward? Write the answers side by side on one sheet. You are not grading tone. You are checking whether each answer contains a cause you can picture on your own house.

In St. Louis, the causes that show up on real redo jobs tend to be ordinary. A valley that was not closed tight before the freeze. A starter course left off at the eave, so the first row lifts in a windy spring storm. Nails driven too hard through the mat during hot afternoons, which breaks the seal strip. A pipe boot whose rubber collar cracked after a few summers and leaked into the attic. Ice damming at the eave pushes melt water back under the shingles when the attic runs warm and the gutter is frozen, and a crew that skipped the ice and water shield in that zone may not learn about it until February. The freeze and thaw cycle in January and February works into any gap a crew left open, so a roofer who knows the local weather will name these points without much prompting, and will usually say which one they check now that they did not check before.

Watch for answers that stay vague. We had a small leak once and fixed it is not a cause. The homeowner had a problem is an answer that puts the fault on someone else, and you should note it on your sheet. Neither answer proves a roofer is bad at the work. Either one does tell you the company does not keep a useful record of its own mistakes, and that matters, because your roof is the next one on their calendar.

Also compare how each roofer describes the redo itself. Some will say they tore off one slope and reinstalled it. Others will say they repaired a single area and monitored it. Those are different scopes of work, and the difference should be written down so you know what was done and what was not. A clear description of the redo is a sign the company tracks its jobs by area, slope and detail rather than by a general sense of how things went.

What it costs

A redo is never free to the roofer, even when they describe it that way. If a crew has to tear off a section and install it again, someone pays for the labor, the dumpster, the disposal and a second set of shingles. Ask each roofer who pays when their own work fails inside the period they describe as covered, and ask for the answer as a single sentence in writing. Some companies will say they cover the labor while the shingle manufacturer covers the material. Others will say the homeowner pays a service call before anything is reviewed. Both arrangements are possible. What you need is the sentence, so you can read it again when the problem is in front of you and the crew is not.

Read that sentence for the word that matters most, which is the one that describes the period of coverage. Some roofers write a number of years. Others write until the next inspection, or for as long as the job is under contract. A phrase like for as long as the job is under contract can end the day the final payment clears. Ask what the company means by the phrase, and ask them to write the date they consider the end of that period on your proposal.

Ask about the manufacturer's paperwork as well. Atlas and Malarkey shingles each come with their own warranty terms, and the registration steps can differ from one job to the next. A roofer should be able to tell you who files the registration, when it is filed, and where you keep the confirmation. If the answer is that you will figure it out later, the warranty you were quoted may not be the one you end up with.

Do not let a low price on a roof that has been redone hide the cost of the redo. If a company's quote is lower than the others, ask whether that lower number assumes they will not need to return. A roofer who has to come back to fix their own flashing or nail line is unlikely to bill you for it, but the time they spend on your house is time they are not spending on the next job, and that cost shows up somewhere in the schedule.

What to ask

Use these questions in order, and write down each answer as the roofer gives it:

1. Name one roof you had to redo in the last three years, and what the cause was.
2. Which of your details changed after that job, such as the valley, the eave membrane or the pipe boots?
3. Who paid for the redo, and can you give me that in one written sentence?
4. Do you photograph the flashing, the nail line and the underlayment before the shingles go on, and will you give me copies of those photos?
5. When a problem shows up after the crew leaves, who is the first person I call, and how many days until someone is on the roof?

A roofer who answers the first question quickly and specifically is usually ready for the rest. A roofer who answers the first question with a story about how the homeowner caused the problem has told you something about their habits, and you can weigh that against the other quotes on your sheet. If one company gives you names, causes and photos, and another gives you a general reassurance, the difference is the fact you were looking for.

Keep the answers in one place. Put the redo question, the cause, the coverage sentence and the photo promise on the same page as each quote, dated the day you received it. When the roof is finished and you need to know who to call, that page will tell you what the company said it would do, in its own words, before any problem existed.

Once you have the answers, the choice is usually simpler than the sales call made it seem. Choose the roofer who can explain a past mistake in plain terms, since that roofer is more likely to check the detail that matters on your roof. If you want to talk through a specific redo question before you book, the Keys Roofing office line is (314) 220-2333.