(214) 807-0414Request an assessmentKnowledge Centre
Two totals can describe completely different work. Line up the system, the quantities, the components, the allowances, the exclusions, the change rules, the cleanup and the closeout — then the prices mean something.
In short
Confirm material/product, underlayment, flashing, ventilation, accessories, and installation requirements.
01
Put each proposal beside the other and compare named products, measured quantities and replace-or-reuse decisions. Mark missing details as not stated; do not assume they are included or excluded. The checklist below helps identify questions; it does not decide whether either proposal suits the property.
02
Compare the decking quantity included in each price, the rate for additional work and the approval process. Keep allowances separate from fixed scope. Ask how concealed conditions will be photographed and authorized before the total changes.
03
Send each contractor the same unanswered questions. Ask for a revised scope where the answer changes an inclusion, exclusion or allowance. Compare the clarified scopes before totals; the objective is a suitable, understandable proposal, not automatically the highest or lowest price.
Hold this against the quote
Most of the gap between a high number and a low one for the same roof is scope, not margin. Work down this with the paper in front of you.
0 of 15 covered
Nothing here is scored and nothing is sent anywhere — this runs in your browser and forgets it when you close the tab. Some of these legitimately will not apply to your job. The point is that an absence becomes visible, so you can ask about it.
Questions
Check whether the proposals use different measurements, decking allowances, products, inclusions or change rules. Ask for those differences to be explained before comparing totals. Price remains part of the decision, alongside a suitable scope and your assessment of the contractor.
Everything you would want to argue from later. The scope in plain terms, the products by name rather than by category, how the roof was measured, what is included and what is explicitly not, how a change is agreed and priced, what happens if the deck turns out to need work, the payment stages, the cleanup, and the warranty on both the material and the labour. If a term matters enough to remember, it matters enough to be written down.
Only if the length is quantities and named products rather than assurance. A long document full of general statements about quality and a short one naming the underlayment, the starter, the ridge product, which flashings are replaced rather than reused and what happens if the deck is unsound are not comparable on page count. Read for the nouns. What you are testing is whether somebody wrote this scope for this roof or assembled it from a template.
Ask each contractor to separate measured roof area from waste allowances and accessory quantities, and explain how each was calculated. Compare the same units and roof sections. Resolve unexplained differences rather than assuming either the smaller or larger number is correct.
Assessment request
Short, routing-only questions. Nothing here asks you to diagnose the roof yourself.