How to get a full roof replaced, cheap!

[Da King]

We do not have a home improvement base on JC, so I will post this in The King's Quarters because... well, it has to do with Da King's Quarters.

I had a roof leak repaired last year. Never dawned on me that the entire roof might need to be done, so I had a simple repair. Done.

A few months ago, I have another leak. Opposite valley on the same roof. Realize that my roof is almost 25 years old, maybe I need a new one. Time to call 3 contractors!

Contractor #1 only wanted to replace the entire roof. That includes the section I had repaired last year (thereby wasting a chunk of my money).
Contractor #2 gave me a few options... just repair the other valley, replace the entire south-facing side of my roof (which takes the brunt of the weather), because the north side probably has another 10 years left in it... or do the entire thing. (NOTE: This is the same guy who did my repair last year).
Contractor #3 can't be bothered to ever call me back with the actual estimate until a week later. Pass.

So I go with #2. I'm just replacing the south side of the roof. He tells me it'll be 2-3 weeks, maybe sooner. Awesome.

About 4.5 weeks later, I realize he hasn't called, so I call him. He says I'm on the schedule for the end of this week (this coming Thursday or Friday). OK, cool.

The next day, he calls and says that he had to postpone another job due to lack of materials, wants to know if he can do mine Monday (today). Even better.

My wife wakes me up at 715 this morning telling me that they're already setting up in the driveway. I hurry up and get dressed to get our cars out of the garage (I dont want them hammering away at the roof and dropping any debris onto our cars). I try to say "hi" to the contractors. I get a friendly wave, but I'm pretty sure they were all Columbian or something, and didnt speak a word of English. Whatever, as long as they can replace a roof.

I go back inside, and hop in the shower. When I get out, I can hear them removing the old shingles. BUT WAIT! It sounds like they're on the north side!

I get dressed, take a peak outside, and sure enough... they're scraping the north side.

So I call the contractor, and tell him his crew is doing the north side when I wanted the south side done. He says he'll call them and get it straightened out. No problem. Er, ok. I get dressed and drive out to one of our stores to work for the day (I dont want to listen to hammering all day).

He calls me back, and says that they've already started scraping every angle on the house except for one. He will eat the cost on replacing everything they've already scraped. Holy crap. The one roofline that hasn't been touched, he will do for an extra $1800. Basically, that gets me an entire new roof for just under $10k.

Considering that my roof 25 years ago cost me about $10k... and that I was quoted $22k for a new roof by contractor #1... I'd say I made out pretty well on this deal. I'm sure the contractor still made money on the deal (I doubt he's paying his Columbians very much, and I'm sure they're happy to earn all they can before Trump deports them). I feel a LITTLE bad, like I'm taking advantage of him... but it was no fault of my own, and he offered without any griping.

I've been on the right side of some great deals before... but thats a $12k win. Damn.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

That is excellent. I think it ran us $2500 to get the tree cut and removed when I was last in NY, the one that fell on our car. And you got a whole new roof for the cost of like 5 trees.

Contractor #3 can't be bothered to ever call me back with the actual estimate until a week later. Pass.

It blows my mind that small businesses act this way. Economy can't be that bad when you see stuff like this.

[Da King]

That is excellent. I think it ran us $2500 to get the tree cut and removed when I was last in NY, the one that fell on our car. And you got a whole new roof for the cost of like 5 trees.

4 trees! Final cost $10,300. Less than half price. I couldn't believe he was just going to eat it, but he told me today he would just write off the loss. Didnt seem concerned about it. WINNING.

It blows my mind that small businesses act this way. Economy can't be that bad when you see stuff like this.

I say this all the time. I dont want to hear about any contractors 'struggling' when they cant be bothered to get back to prospective customers.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

The price went DOWN? You got a contractor to LOWER the price?

At what point do we all just realize and admit we're living in a simulation that is simply running off the rails?

[Da King]

LOL no... $22k if I had agreed to the entire roof on Day 1... $8500 just to do the area that I wanted.. and he ended up doing the entire thing for $10,300 because his people fucked up.

[nessman]

I'll be shopping for a new roof soon. New one was put on not too long before I bought my house 15 yrs ago. There's one of those attic fans on the roof... but when they put the new roof on, they didn't take the fan off and put it back on correctly as there's flashing and shit that has to be exposed in the right places so water goes where it's supposed to. They just shingled around it and sealed it with some roofing tar which worked until last year. Roof leak. Great. Go up there, reseal the damn thing, but took a look at the sheathing downhill from the fan and sure enough it needs to be replaced.

So I can just keep an eye on things until the roof is 20+ yrs old and hope the existing roof maintains itself... or just say 'fuck it' and get a new roof put on while the rest of the roof is actually in pretty good shape. Just when I'm at the point where I'm almost done paying for my kids... got house shit to take care of next!

[nessman]

New roof. New deck. New kitchen. Hardwood floors refinished. Carport converted into a garage needs to be torn down and redone right. Etc...

[Da King]

New decks are fun. They can be enjoyed.

New roofs are not fun. They just return you to status quo.

[nessman]

New roofs are not fun. They just return you to status quo.

Maybe I'll buck the trend and go with a metal roof.

Because my quest in life is to make everything metal. \m/

[Da King]

I asked about the price of a metal roof. I was told about 2.5x the cost of asphalt shingles.

Enjoy!

[nessman]

I asked about the price of a metal roof. I was told about 2.5x the cost of asphalt shingles.

Supposedly they last 2x longer than an asphalt roof. Probably a wash when it comes to the lifetime of 1 metal roof vs 2 asphalt roofs.

[AArdvark]

When we bought our current house we briefly looked into a metal roof and it was indeed expensive. Glad we went with shingles because I get up there and clean the gutters out with a leafblower once a week in the fall. Metal would be way too slippery for that.

THE
HAVE A GREAT FALL
AARDVARK

[Da King]

I asked about the price of a metal roof. I was told about 2.5x the cost of asphalt shingles.

Supposedly they last 2x longer than an asphalt roof. Probably a wash when it comes to the lifetime of 1 metal roof vs 2 asphalt roofs.

Sure, if you dont mind dropping $50k on the roof.

[nessman]

Sure, if you dont mind dropping $50k on the roof.

That's nuts. I suppose if I planned on living in the same house til 2074 it would make sense. But I'm 53. I figure I have a good 25-30 years left - and I plan on retiring somewhere warmer.

[Jizaboz]

For some reason I thought I had shared here before how I had shingles at 35.

Last night I realized I got burnt with shingles again.. (editing..)

[Jizaboz]

Ha that timed out. WONDER WHY? Why am I so distracted? Probably of the BLISTERS all over my upper back and chest just in time for XMAS! lol

At least this case doesn't feel nearly as bad as the first. It sucks, but it's not like curled up in the floor crying sucks.

[Da King]

I hope you got them for half price!

[AArdvark]

Is it stress related?

[Jizaboz]

I hope you got them for half price!

lol

Is it stress related?

I don’t know! The first time I had it bad it definitely was stress related.