Compare Each Roofer's Ceiling Fan and Light Fixture Line on Roof Day

When a crew strips a St. Louis roof, the ceilings underneath take the vibration. Every hammer blow and every bundle set on the deck travels down the rafters, and the ceiling below moves a little with it. A ceiling fan with a loose blade arm can work itself looser. A glass light globe can crack. A pendant can swing into a joist. None of this is unusual on a tear-off, and none of it is guaranteed to be handled just because a bid says the crew will protect the interior.

The useful comparison is not whether a bid mentions the interior. Most of them do. The useful comparison is whether the bid names the fixtures in your rooms, says who takes them down, says who stores the parts, says who puts them back, and says who pays if one breaks. Put two bids side by side and those lines usually differ more than the shingle line does, even though the shingle line gets all the attention.

This page is for the homeowner who has two or three roof bids in hand and has not yet decided between them. It assumes you have already compared the scope and the schedule. The fixtures are a smaller question, but they are the one that gets answered on the day the ladder is still up and the rooms below are open to dust.

Roofer comparison

Start by reading each bid for the words that describe the interior. A phrase like "protect interior" or "cover furniture" tells you the crew will lay down drop cloths and move a few pieces. It does not tell you what happens to a ceiling fan that hangs over the bedroom where the crew is pulling shingles directly above. Ask each roofer to point to the line in writing that covers fixtures. If the answer is a general statement about care, ask for it to be added to the bid as a specific line.

Then compare these points for each bid:

• Whether the fixtures are named by room, such as the kitchen pendant, the two bedroom fans, and the hall flush mount.
• Whether the crew removes blades, globes, shades, and covers before the tear-off starts, or leaves them in place and protects them where they hang.
• Where the removed parts are stored during the job, and whether the crew or the homeowner keeps track of the screws and small hardware.
• Whether the fixtures go back up the same day the roof is closed in, or whether the bid leaves the reinstall for a later visit that may need its own trip charge.
• Who handles any wiring. Taking a fan down at the ceiling is roofing work, but disconnecting it at the wall box is electrical work, and the bid should say who does that.
• What happens to a fixture that cracks or falls during the job, and whether the bid says the roofer replaces it.

Missouri does not issue a state roofing license, so the paperwork a roofer shows you tells you less than it seems to about who is qualified to touch wiring. Electrical rules are set by the city or county where your house sits, and they differ from one municipality to the next across St. Louis County. Ask each roofer which electrician, if any, will disconnect and reconnect a fixture, and ask for that electrician's name and license before the work is scheduled. A bid that says the roofer will handle it without naming anyone has left the question open.

Pay attention to the walk-through too. A crew lead who walks each room with you, notes which fixtures are present, and writes down their condition, including any glass that is already chipped, is giving you a baseline. Without a baseline, a cracked globe discovered the morning after the tear-off has no clear date attached to it, and a conversation about who caused it becomes a conversation about memory. Ask each roofer whether it photographs the rooms below before the work starts and whether you get a copy of those photos.

Watch for the roofer who says the interior is "no big deal" without asking how many fixtures are in the house. That answer usually means the roofer has not counted them, and the count is what determines the labor. A house with six fixtures and a house with fourteen can carry the same bid line if the roofer never walked the rooms.

What it costs

The fixture work usually shows up as a small line in a roof bid, and it is easy to skip because it is small. The cost of removing and reinstalling a ceiling fan or a pendant depends on how many fixtures there are, whether any of them need new hardware, whether a globe or shade has to be replaced, and whether the electrical disconnect is done by a separate tradesperson. None of those items has a single price across every house in St. Louis, so compare the lines as they are written rather than trying to guess a total from the headline number.

Look for three kinds of wording in each bid. A bid that includes fixture handling in the base price tells you the work is already inside the number, and you can compare that number straight across to the other bid. A bid that lists fixture handling as a separate item tells you to add that item to the other bid's base price before you decide, because the two totals are not yet the same job. A bid that uses an allowance, such as a set figure for interior protection and fixture reinstallation, tells you the number is a provisional figure that can move once the work is scoped against the actual rooms.

If a bid uses an allowance, ask each roofer what the allowance covers, what it leaves out, and how a change is priced if the real count of fixtures is higher than the bid assumed. Ask whether the change will be approved in writing before the work is done, and whether you will see the revised figure before the crew takes the next step. An allowance with no change process is a number you cannot plan around.

Damage costs are the part most homeowners never ask about. If a glass globe cracks during the tear-off, the bid should say who replaces it, how long that takes, and whether the replacement is supplied by the roofer or by you. Ask that question in writing before you sign. Do not accept a verbal answer on the day the glass breaks, when everyone is standing in a dusty room trying to decide whose fault it is.

Finally, check whether the fixture work is priced on the same day as the roof. Some bids quote the roof and leave the interior as a separate visit, and a separate visit can carry its own trip charge, its own scheduling window, and its own gap in which the ceiling is still exposed. Two bids with the same roof price can end up at very different total costs once those visits are counted.

What to ask

Bring these questions to every roofer on your list and write the answers beside each bid:

1. Which fixtures in my house does your bid name, and in which room is each one?
2. Who removes the blades, globes, shades, and covers, and who stores the parts while the roof is open?
3. Who disconnects and reconnects any fixture that is wired, and what license does that person hold under my city or county rules?
4. Will every fixture be back in place the same day the roof is closed in, or does the reinstall happen on a later visit?
5. Who replaces a cracked globe or a damaged fan, and is that cost inside the bid or outside it?
6. Do you photograph the rooms below before the tear-off starts, and will I receive a copy of those photos?
7. If the number of fixtures turns out higher than the bid assumed, how is the change priced, and when will I see the figure in writing?

Write the answers into the bid itself before you sign. A verbal promise that the crew will be careful with the chandelier does not survive a bad afternoon on the roof, and a written line does. If a roofer will not put a fixture line on paper, you have learned how that roofer treats the rest of the interior, and you can weigh that against the price in the other bid.

If you have your room list and the bid in front of you and want to go through the fixture lines before you choose, call the Keys Roofing office at (314) 220-2333. Bring the room count and the photos you already have of the ceilings, because those are the details that turn a general interior promise into a line you can check.