A scope of work before it is a number
A roof estimate is a description of what is going to happen to your house. The total at the bottom is the part most people read first, but it is the least useful part to compare, because two bids with the same total can describe two different jobs.
This page is about the document, not the figure. It is a list of the things a written estimate should state plainly, in language you can hold the finished work against later. If a line is missing, that is not automatically a problem, but it is a question worth asking before you sign.
We do not quote a number before we have been on the roof. A figure given over the phone or from a photograph is a guess about a job nobody has actually scoped, and it gives you nothing to hold anyone to once the tear-off starts.
Tear-off, disposal, and how many layers are coming off
The estimate should say, in words, that the old covering is being torn off down to the deck, and that tear-off and disposal are included rather than assumed. A dumpster or haul-away is a real part of the job and belongs on the page, not folded invisibly into a total.
It should also say how many layers are currently on the roof and how many are coming off. A roof with one covering is a different job from a roof with two layered on top of each other, because the second layer changes how much comes off, how heavy the load is, and in some cases whether code allows a layer to stay rather than be removed. If nobody has counted the layers, the document was written without that answer.
Watch for a scope that only describes the new material. A page that lists shingles, underlayment and flashing but never says the old roof is coming off is leaving out the first half of the job.
Underlayment, drip edge, flashing and the boots
Underlayment is the layer that actually keeps water out once anything gets past the surface covering, and the estimate should name the type going down, not just say "underlayment." The same goes for drip edge at the eaves and rakes: new or reused, and what it is made of.
Flashing is where most leaks start, which is why the estimate should say what happens to it at every wall, chimney, skylight and lanai tie-in — replaced or reused, and if anything is being reused, why. Flashing that is reused because it is sound is a reasonable call. Flashing that is reused because nobody priced new metal is a different thing, and the document should let you tell which.
Plumbing vent boots fail more often than almost anything else on a roof, through UV cracking the rubber collar. A scope that replaces the covering but is silent on the boots is leaving the single most common future leak exactly where it was.
Flashing that is reused because it is sound is a reasonable call. Flashing that is reused because nobody priced new metal is a different thing.
The deck, once it is open
Nobody can see the condition of the decking until the old covering is off it. That is true on every roof, and a written estimate should say so rather than pretend the deck is a known quantity before anyone has opened the roof.
What the document should spell out is the process, not a figure: how additional decking found once the roof is open gets identified, photographed, shown to you, and agreed before it is installed. That is the part worth reading closely. A scope that never mentions the deck at all has not told you what happens on the day it turns out to need more than expected.
We do not price decking we have not seen, and we will not install it without showing you what we found first. What we will do is write down the mechanism for handling it before the crew is on site, so the day it happens is not the day you first hear about it.
Permit, the two warranties, and the schedule terms
Roof replacement in Hernando County is permitted work, and the estimate should say who is pulling that permit. It is pulled by the contractor under their license — ours is GenX Roofing LLC, Florida Certified Roofing Contractor, license CCC1333347 — not by the homeowner, and not left unaddressed.
There are two separate warranties, and a written estimate should keep them separate rather than blur them into one promise. The workmanship warranty is ours: it covers installation, and the document should state how long it runs, what it covers, and what voids it. The manufacturer warranty covers defects in the material itself, is registered with the manufacturer rather than with us, and its terms, length and any proration are between you and that manufacturer.
Last, the schedule. The estimate should say what happens to the timeline when it rains, since a wet deck cannot be dried in and nobody works a wet roof. It should also say whether the quoted days are an estimate or a fixed date, because the deck and the weather are the two things that move a schedule and neither is known until the job is underway.
None of this changes if the paperwork is silent on it. A permit still has to be pulled, a warranty still has whatever terms were actually offered, and rain still stops work whether the estimate mentions it or not. The reason to ask is so you know those terms before the tear-off starts, not after.