Compare roofing quotes on what they actually include

Two quotes on the same roof can be thousands of dollars apart, and the difference is usually not the shingle. It is a line that one quote names and the other leaves out. Tick what each of yours specifies, and the gaps become visible.

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Quote A Quote B Quote C

Does the quote specify…	A	B	C
Tear-off, and how many layers Why it matters Removing two layers is roughly twice the labour and twice the disposal of removing one. A quote that assumes one layer on a house that has two is not the same quote.
Price per sheet for decking, and how many sheets assumed Why it matters Nobody knows what the decking looks like until the old roof is off. A named price per sheet and an assumed count turns an unknown into a bounded risk. Silence here means the number can move on the day.
Underlayment type Why it matters Felt and synthetic are different products at different prices with different performance. "Underlayment included" does not say which.
Ice-and-water shield: where exactly Why it matters At the eaves only, in the valleys, around penetrations, or only where code requires it. Each answer is a different quantity of material and labour.
Step flashing along walls: replaced or re-used Why it matters Re-using and sealing existing flashing is faster and cheaper on the day, and it is the most common single reason a two-year-old roof starts staining a ceiling.
Chimney and skylight flashing Why it matters These are separate details from the field of the roof and are frequently left out of a headline number, then added later as a change.
Ventilation: corrected or reinstalled as found Why it matters Reinstalling what was there costs nothing extra and changes nothing. Correcting an intake and exhaust balance is real work with a real price.
Drip edge and starter course Why it matters Both are edge details, both are where a roof lets go first, and both are easy to omit from a quote without anyone noticing.
What happens to the gutters Why it matters Removed and reinstalled, replaced, or worked around. On older houses with built-in gutters this is a specialised item that some crews decline outright.
Permit and inspection coordination Why it matters Included in the price, billed separately, or left to the homeowner. All three are common and they are not the same deal.
Labour warranty: who carries it, and for how long Why it matters The manufacturer warrants the shingle. Somebody else warrants the installation, and installation is what fails. A material warranty alone leaves the expensive part uncovered.
Cleanup, disposal and property protection Why it matters Container placement, magnet sweep for nails, protection for landscaping and anything below the eaves. Small individually, and a common source of disputes afterward.
Items specified	0/12	0/12	0/12

How to read the result

A quote that specifies more items is not automatically the better deal, and a cheaper quote is not automatically incomplete. What the comparison shows is where two numbers are answering different questions. If one quote names a price per sheet for decking and another says nothing about decking, those two numbers are not describing the same job — and the difference will appear later rather than disappear.

The useful next step is not to pick the longest list. It is to go back to whichever contractor left a line blank and ask them to fill it in, then compare again.

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This checklist may be reproduced or linked to freely, with attribution to longleafroofing.com. If it is useful to a homeowners association, a housing counsellor or a community group, it is meant to be shared.