Eleven things a real roofing proposal states in writing, so you can compare any two quotes for the same house line by line.
Print this. Sit down with every proposal you have on the table, and find each line below in each one. If a quote does not mention something on this list, that is usually not a detail that got left off the paperwork. It is usually work that is not in the price.
This is the page we would want if we were the ones holding two numbers for the same house and trying to figure out which one made sense. Use it on our proposal. Use it on the other contractor's proposal too. That is the point. A homeowner who can read a quote line by line is a better customer, not a harder one, and a contractor confident in the work has nothing to lose by handing over the checklist.
These are not upgrades. They are the job. A quote that skips one of them is not necessarily dishonest, but it is incomplete, and an incomplete quote is exactly how two proposals for the same roof end up thousands of dollars apart with no way to compare them.
| Line item | What good looks like, and what vague sounds like |
|---|---|
| 1. Tear-off or layover | Good: states plainly whether the old roof comes off, and if there are existing layers, how many are coming off. Vague: "new roof installed" with no mention of what happens to the old one. |
| 2. Decking | Good: states that the deck will be inspected once it is exposed, plus a stated per-sheet price for replacement, because nobody can know the actual quantity until the old roof is off. Vague: no decking line at all. This is the single most common source of a mid-job price increase, because the cost has to land somewhere, and if it is not written down beforehand it shows up as a surprise later. |
| 3. Underlayment | Good: names the type (felt or synthetic) and states that the whole deck is covered. Vague: "underlayment included" with no type and no coverage stated. |
| 4. Ice and water shield | Good: states where it goes and how far up from the eave. This matters a lot on Long Island, where freeze and thaw cycling drives ice dams that push water back under the shingles. Vague: not mentioned, or bundled into "underlayment" as if it is the same material. |
| 5. Drip edge | Good: states it goes in new at both the eaves and the rakes. Vague: not mentioned, which usually means the old drip edge, if there is any, gets reused. |
| 6. Flashing | Good: new step flashing at every sidewall, new counter flashing at the chimney, new boots at every pipe. Reusing old flashing is the most common shortcut in this trade, and flashing failure is where most new roofs start leaking, not the shingle field. Vague: "flashing as needed" with no statement that it is new. |
| 7. Ventilation | Good: ridge vent specified, plus a statement that soffit intake is clear and functioning. A roof with exhaust and no intake does not work, it just moves the moisture problem into the attic. Vague: ridge vent mentioned with no mention of intake at all. |
| 8. The shingle or system | Good: names the specific line and profile, for example an architectural shingle by name, not just the brand. Vague: a brand name alone, which tells you almost nothing about what you are actually getting. |
| 9. Cleanup and disposal | Good: dumpster, a full magnet sweep of the property for nails, and states who pays for it. Vague: "cleanup included" with the cost or the dumpster unaccounted for. |
| 10. Permit | Good: states whether a permit is included and who files it. Most full roof replacements in Suffolk County need one, and permits are issued town by town by each town's own building department, not at the county level, so "included" should mean your specific town. See how permits actually work in Suffolk County. Vague: no permit mentioned at all on a full replacement. |
| 11. Warranties | Good: the workmanship warranty from the contractor and the manufacturer's product warranty on the materials, stated as two separate things, because they are. One covers installation, the other covers the shingles themselves, and they come from different parties. Vague: "warranty included" with no distinction between the two. |
A friendly explanation on your porch is not a scope of work. If it mattered enough to say out loud, it matters enough to write down.
None of these automatically mean the contractor is dishonest. All of them are reasons to slow down and ask more questions before you sign anything.
Do not start with the bottom-line numbers. Line the scopes up side by side first, item by item against the eleven above, and normalize them before you look at the dollar figures at all. Add in whatever is missing at a reasonable market rate so you are comparing the same job on paper, not two different jobs that happen to be for the same address. Our explainer on why roofing quotes vary so much walks through this with real numbers, and the Long Island cost guide gives you typical market ranges for each factor so you can sanity check what you are holding. Nine times out of ten, a gap that looked like one contractor gouging the other turns out to be a scope gap: one quote has decking, flashing and two courses of ice and water shield in it, and the other one does not.
We are aware this checklist will get used to evaluate our own proposals, and that our own proposals have to hold up to it. That is deliberate. We would rather you understood the work than just trusted us, and a homeowner who can read a quote line by line is exactly the customer we want. If a contractor is confident in the work, handing over the checklist costs them nothing. If they are not, they never will.
We will look it over against this list at no cost and no obligation, whether or not you end up working with us. Start with a free estimate and mention you have another proposal you want a second opinion on.
Two or three is usually enough once you know how to read them. More than that mostly adds noise without adding information, especially once you are normalizing scope rather than just comparing bottom lines.
Sometimes, if the scope is genuinely equal to the others and the contractor can explain how they got there. More often the lowest number is missing something on this list, and you find out what during the job rather than before it. Compare scope first, price second.
A reasonable deposit to secure materials and a place on the schedule is normal. A deposit that covers most or all of the job before work starts is not, and it removes your leverage if something goes wrong.
On a well-written proposal this is already covered: a per-sheet decking price and a stated change order process, so you approve anything extra before it happens rather than finding it on the final invoice.
Yes, and a contractor who has done consistent work has no reason to make that difficult. We publish our actual reviews rather than a star rating with no names attached, for the same reason.
These are the reviews our customers left on Google. There are nine of them, we publish all nine, and we do not post a star rating we cannot verify.
Frank was excellent to deal with. I am doing my roof, siding and windows. We went through all the materials being used in great detail. He provided samples so I can see, touch and feel them for myself. He was not pushy or aggressive to sell me this job.
Chris from coast to coast gave us a quote for siding and gutters. Very thorough and helpful
Cris was professional and polite. I had a very positive quote experience. Thank you!
Start with the free inspection. You will get photos of what we found and a written scope you can read line by line, whether or not you hire us.
