[warning: moderate amount of words]

so my parents want to re-do their roof...my dad built an addition and fireplace/chimney onto my parents' house (he does remodeling, renovations, and contracting) and put on a new roof (obviously)...several months after he built it, it started to leak...thinking he did something wrong, he had a roofer come out and check it out, who suggested putting a cricket around the chimney, since that's where the water was coming from...my dad did that and also resealed the chimney itself and it seemed to stop...about a month later, it started leaking again...he had a different roofer come out and his opinion was that some of the shingles might be put on wrong (not sure how that happens, it's not exactly rocket science...anyway, he didn't find anything in particular), so my dad began pulling off the roof to re-do it...turns out that the leak is underneath one of the second-story windows, behind the cheap crappy vinyl siding

well, my parents were in the process of replacing the siding with concreteboard (or masonite or whatever they call it) and just hadn't gotten around to that side of the house, yet...they decided they'd go ahead and start that area, but my dad is nervous about doing the roof again, since he's afraid replacing the siding won't fix the problem...so they decided they wanted to eventually replace the traditional shingles with a UV-reflecting metal roof anyway, and now is as good a time as any...my dad has never done the metal roofing before, so they want to pay someone to rip off the shingles and lay down metal roofing (the roof itself doesn't need to be replaced...even where it leaked in the new room, it's not bad)

the roof is about 3400 square feet (i think) and the cost of the materials will be about $7k...they've been told by a number of places where they were checking out the materials that they should be able to do the whole thing (materials and labor) for about $14k, but they've gotten 3 quotes so far that have been around $25k for two days of work

so these are my questions:

1.) if materials really do only cost $7k, is $18k for two days of labor (not sure how many people) reasonable? i helped my dad put the roof on the bonus room (also helped him remove it a few weeks ago)...4 of us (my brothers and my dad) were able to finish shingling the bonus room in a day...removing the old stuff was even faster...the "we can do your house in 2 days" does seem a bit tight, but i would assume that those experienced with it (especially metal roofing, which comes in larger sheets) could do it

2.) any of you have experience with metal roofing? do you know anything about the brands, which are best and which are worst? they were told that the thickness doesn't matter as much as the coating and installation...makes sense, but what do you think?

3.) do you have any experience with roofers in the area? my parents live between roxboro and durham, and so they've limited their search to pretty local roofers (though the one in wilson, carolina structural, i think, was the most expensive)...i thought i might call some places around raleigh with the hopes that they might be more competitive in terms of price

4.) do roofers usually guarantee their work? i don't know much about construction, but checking out the leak, it was definitely coming from the crappy siding...i assume the new stuff will fix it, but my dad's nervous about the roof, so he wants to make sure that whoever does it will take responsibility against leaks for the roof itself

thanks tww

1/19/2010 8:53:55 AM

I would recommend either Peach State Roofing or Baker Roofing to do a job like this.

$25k does seem a little high to me, although there is a lot of 'shop time' in a metal roof. the labor is not going to just be in the field. they bend and break all of the metal in the shop.

I dont know much about the brands, other than the finish is a big deal. either of those companies would use a high quality product.

yes, a reputable company will guarantee their work, typically 1 year labor and install, then a metal roof should have a manufacturers warranty against defect.

1/19/2010 9:51:44 AM