Devon,
You don’t give sizes but with those est. I would go for the $5900 and ask for a cash discount to about 5000.
The one from HD shows that the 6k range is about right because they mark uo 100% to pay their contractors. The guy at 2500 I would run from ,he is so far below all the rest I would question his abilty to do the job right or he plans to get started then raise the price because it was more work than he had planed.
Hi, I have a roof with 2 layers of shingles and cedar shakes underneath them. I have the following quotes: $2500 from someone questionable who said he’d take off all layers, and repair decking - $5900 from someone reputable to take off 2 layers down to the shakes then roof over. I have spoken to a couple others who haven’t bid but have indicated the job will be in the $4500-5500 range for a complete tear off. (I have a quote from Home Depot for $12,000!!)
Can anyone tell me what sort of issues (aesthetic and resale) are involved in roofing over cedar shakes? The cost of the tear off & repair seems to the major expense, so I’m trying to avoid it.
I’ll bit the bullet if that’s what’s neccessary to get it sold. What do you think?
Thanks for any advice
Devon (Buffalo)
p.s. if you’ve read this far, can you give me your thoughts on installing rigid insulation over plaster then sheetrocking over it (the house is concrete block)?
i work mainly with old victorians, which all have cedar shakes. a tear off is a major job and there’s no way you will get anywhere close to your asking price if you roof over the cedar shakes. there is no decking underneath those (so, the guy, that offered you to ‘repair the decking’ would have probably gotten back to you, saying, that there’s no decking and that he would now have to install that and add a lot to the price). what’s involved is tearing the 2 layers and the shakes off, installing decking and shingles. if you leave the cedar shakes on then every inspector is going to make a big deal about that to your buyers.
here in atlanta i can get a 2500sqf house done (cedar shakes and max 2 layers) for about $ 5500. for the same house i can get bids for 10-12k. so, you really need to check around. be aware: the bigger the company the more they will probably charge you, because they have all these employees and workmans comp payments.
a lot of reputable small roofers get daylabor for the tearoff and then reroof with expertise. call some other investors in your area and ask them to recommend roofer, that they use (call the ‘i buy houses’ ads or go to the rei club meeting.
michaela
roof repair seems to be only about what the cost of the repairs are on the resale of the property. if youput 5K into it, yuor price only seems to go up around 5K. a good roof is an expected part of a home purchase and not worth extra cash to the buyers since they expect it to be there already. what i like to do is just lower the purchase price of the property by the amount of the repairs and give the buyers the repair estimates youve gotten. this lets them see for themselves what their in for and also saves them a step or two in finding people to do it and getting an estimate. this also allows you to not worry about the roof and the agrevation of it yourself. let yuor buyers take care of it if theyll agree. show them the 5K estimate and lower the price 5500 (which is what its gonna cost you anyway im sure) and they will think they just made 500 by calling the contractors themselves. everybody is happy. if they wonder why you havent done it yet, tell them you had intentions on it but they called you before you had time to get it done. offer to do it yourself and keep the $500 and see if they go for that, if so you broke even, if not, you save yourself some trouble.
in my area 2 layers of shingles is all that is allowed according to code, although im not sure how shakes fit into this setup, my guess is your house has 3 layers now including the shakes. code may allow that in your area, maybe it allows 4, find out and unless there is another problem maybe you wont have to worry about the roof anyway, slap on another layer and your done. mi also not sure how the new metal roof fits into that either, but i do know metal roofs here are cheaper than shingled. maybe you can save some cash if you have to fix it yourself, and metal roofs last about 3 times as long im my climate and the insurance is even cheaper because of the less fire hazardand, less chance of water damage, and less weight when the ice and snow builds up on it and tries to cave them in.
is the building just plain block? no insulation is there at all? surely there is insulation if the house was built in the past 50 years? yuor nisulation idea will work but theres more to it than that. your sheetrock has to be screwed or nailed to something. you will have to stud up the walls if they are not done already. you need to find out if the plaster is just stuck to the concrete or what. by the time yuo stud and finish the walls your getting into alot of work, time, and money. where are the outlets located? do they have to be moved? your new door and window frames will now be thicker by the thickness of the sheet rock and insulation. this means the woodwork has to be redone to fill in the gaps. make sure you know what yuor doing before you start a job like that. if you are already studed then maybe just rip out whatever the plaster is stuck to and go from there to maintain thicknesses. if insulation is your only worry, i wouldnt go through all this stuff, add it to the outside walls and put siding over that, siding will make the building look better than block also.
Devon-
I am a new investor but used to own a roofing co. for 6 yrs. Typically by most building laws you can not have more that 3 layers on the roof before it has to be torn off. A tear off is a huge job and you are correct in assuming that the majority of the cost is tied up in labor and repairs (nobody likes to do that work). I would suggest getting it done by a reputable contractor in your area. You will run the risk of not getting the job done correctly or somebody will require half down and never show up to finish the job…I have seen this all too often and the homeowner who tried to save a buck or two ends up spending well over what they thought they would save.
Also, keep in mind that although a roof is a big cost it will add a lot of value to the home. In my area on average a home would appraise for $10,000-$15,000 more after the roof was done. Not a bad return on investment. Good luck with this.