What Goes Into a Roofing Quote? How to Compare Quotes

Roofing quotes for the same home can differ by thousands of dollars, often because they cover different materials and components. Reviewing the line items helps you compare the full scope of each quote and discuss pricing with your contractor or manufacturer.

Some quotes include only the primary roofing material, with underlayment, fasteners, and accessories priced separately or added later. A complete quote accounts for the components required for the installation, giving you a clearer picture of the total material cost. In this guide, we explain the main line items and how each contributes to the finished roof.

If you do nothing else: the 5-question checklist

Ask every contractor these five questions. If the answers don't match between quotes, the quotes aren't pricing the same roof.

1. What's the square footage? The total roof area being covered. Every material quantity starts here.
2. What's the lineal footage of ridges, hips and eaves? This drives how much ridge cap, edge material and snow guards are needed.
3. What's the slope? Steeper roofs take more labour and can change the cap profile and exposure required.
4. What's the exposure? How much of each piece is left showing. A smaller exposure means more pieces per square foot.
5. What's the waste factor? The percentage added for cuts and offcuts. We include 10%; some contractors use more or less.

How the roof is measured

The first thing your contractor will do is get the dimensions of your roof. Every quote is built on those measurements, so different measurements produce different prices. Contractors usually measure in one of two ways:

• Manually, by measuring the roof on site.
• With an aerial roof report, which calculates area, pitch and lineal footage from satellite or drone imagery.

Either method works. What matters is that your quotes use similar numbers. If one contractor's square footage is noticeably lower, ask why.

Roof complexity

Is your roof cut up with lots of hips and valleys, or does it have simple roof lines? Dormers, curved sections, skylights and chimneys add complexity too. More cuts mean more labor and more material wasted, so expect a higher price and a higher waste factor on a complex roof.

Slope

Steeper roofs take longer and are harder to work on safely, so labor costs rise with the slope.

Waste factor

Most homeowners never ask about waste, but it changes the price of every quote. Enviroshake includes 10% waste in all of our quotes. Other contractors may quote more or less. A low waste factor makes a quote look cheaper but risks running short mid-job. Ask each contractor what percentage they used, and why.

Exposure: the difference most homeowners miss

Exposure is how much of each piece is visible once installed. Our standard is 9". Competitors may quote 10", 8" or even 7".

Exposure has a significant effect on quantity. Dropping from a 9" to a 7" exposure means about 30% more material to cover the same roof. Some products must change exposure based on slope, but the quote may not reflect that. Confirm that the exposure you're quoted is covered under the manufacturer's warranty for your roof's slope.

Materials

Roofing components

The roofing material in a quote has three parts:

• Field tile: the main roofing pieces. The quantity should include the waste allowance for cuts around valleys, edges and chimneys, since not every offcut can be reused.
• Starter row: some systems use a separate starter product along the eaves. Ours doesn't, but other quotes may list it.
• Hip and ridge cap: caps finish and protect the lines where roof slopes meet. A steep roof and a low-slope roof need different cap profiles. Our cap is more rigid, so we custom-fit it to your roof, with caps engineered for pitches from 2/12 to 20/12.

Bundles

Roofing products are not packaged the same way, which makes price per bundle hard to compare. We show pricing per bundle: each bundle holds 13 pieces, and 10 bundles cover one roofing square (100 square feet). Competitors may use larger bundles at a higher price per bundle. Compare the cost per square, not the cost per bundle.

Product and color

Ask which product line and color each quote is based on:

• Standard product or premium product?
• Standard color or premium color?
• Single-width or multi-width?

Multi-width products use smaller pieces, so installers can handle up to twice as many pieces. That means more labor.

Accessories

Accessories are where quotes differ most. Not every quote includes them, so check each one line by line.

• Flashing and vents: is the contractor quoting new flashing and vents, or reusing what's there? Is the flashing copper or galvanized steel? Both are metal flashing, but copper costs significantly more. Vents also vary widely in price, so ask which ones are included.
• Underlayment: a secondary water barrier between the tiles and the roof deck. Peel-and-stick and mechanically fastened underlayments are different products at different prices. Our Enviroshield synthetic underlayment is included because it's required for our Gold Level Warranty.
• Fasteners: we quote stainless steel (304 or 316 grade). It's the best quality, won't corrode, and should last as long as the roofing itself. Galvanized nails are cheaper, but we'd never recommend them in coastal or high-moisture areas, where corrosion can weaken their hold. Buckets hold different quantities, so compare the count, not the number of buckets.
• Snow guards: hold snow in place to reduce sudden slides over entrances and walkways. In snowy areas, we quote a premium snow guard that matches our system, in a 3-row pattern along the full length of the eaves. You can choose to reduce them to high-traffic areas or remove them, though we don't recommend going without snow guards in snowy areas. Some competitors don't quote snow guards at all, which makes their total look lower.
• Installation accessories: tools such as a gapping tool keep the correct spacing between tiles during installation.

Warranty

Ask each contractor whether the installation plan they've quoted meets the manufacturer's warranty requirements, including the exposure, underlayment and fasteners. A quote that cuts a required component can put your warranty at risk. Enviroshake quotes include the components required for our Gold Level Warranty from the start.

Labor, deck, freight and disposal

Type of contractor

• Large contractors (branded trucks, uniformed crews) carry more overhead, which shows up in the price. They may finish the job faster.
• Smaller contractors often have lower overhead, and the owner may be part of the install crew.

Neither is automatically better. Just know that overhead is part of the price you're comparing.

Roof deck

Ask whether the roof deck (the wood under your roof) is being replaced, repaired or left as is. Deck work can add significant cost, and some quotes only price it once the old roof is off.

Freight

Is delivery included? We include freight in our quotes. Different truck types can be quoted depending on your site and access.

Disposal

Is removal and disposal of the old roof included? If not, budget for it separately.

What to compare across quotes

Line up each quote against this table. Any item that's missing or doesn't match is a question for that contractor.

Let us help you compare

As roofing experts, we can help pick up on the small differences between quotes. We're happy to review any roofing quote and go over the nuances with you, whether it's ours or not. Contact Enviroshake to walk through your quotes, or to request a project-specific quote of your own.