Is Your Roof Estimate Visit Credited to the Job?

A roof estimate usually starts with someone climbing up to look, and that visit takes a crew member's time and a truck's worth of equipment. Some roofers treat the visit as part of selling the job and do not bill for it. Others charge a set amount for an inspection or a bid visit, or they count the time at an hourly rate. For a homeowner in St. Louis comparing two or three roofers, the question that affects the budget is narrower than whether the visit is free. The question is whether any fee paid for the visit comes back to you as a credit if you hire that company.

Cost and estimates

The bid visit is often the first cost a homeowner pays in a roof project, and it almost never appears on the written proposal. A proposal lists the work and the price for the work. It seldom says what the company spent to produce the number. If a fee was charged for the walk, it may show up only in a text message, a receipt, or a line in a phone call, and by the time you sign, it is easy to lose track of.

Keep the question simple and ask it in writing. Ask whether the visit is free. If it is not free, ask whether the charge is a flat fee or billed by the hour, and what the total will be before anyone comes out. Then ask whether the fee is credited against the contract if you accept the bid. A credit reduces the amount you pay for the roof. A line that says the company is waiving something it never charged does not reduce anything you will actually pay, so get the credit in writing with a dollar amount attached.

What the visit covers

A serious visit on a St. Louis roof is more than a glance at the shingles from the yard. The roofer needs the pitch of each slope, the number of layers already on the house, the condition of the deck where it can be reached, and the location of every chimney, vent, skylight, and valley. Those measurements are the basis of the square count, and the square count is the basis of the material order. If the visit is rushed, the numbers on the proposal will be rushed too, and the cost of that gets paid later as a change order.

The visit also matters because of how roofs fail here. Freeze and thaw cycles lift shingles at the nail line and open seams in flashing that looked tight the previous summer. Ice damming at the eave can push water back under the first course, and that damage can be hidden from the ground. Hail season leaves bruised granules and cracked mats that are hard to read from a distance. A person who has actually walked the roof can photograph these conditions and write them into the scope, which protects both the homeowner and the roofer when the job starts.

A visit also gives you something a phone quote cannot. You see who arrives, how they handle your gutters and landscaping, and whether they answer the questions you asked. That is not a formal test, but it is information you are paying for one way or another, and the fee for it should be stated plainly.

How fees are usually structured

The three common arrangements are a free visit, a flat fee for the visit, and an hourly charge for the visit. A free visit usually means the cost is built into the bid price, which is fair to ask about. A flat fee is easy to compare, but it should be credited to the job if you hire the company, or it is simply an extra charge on top of the roof. An hourly charge is the hardest to predict, because the time spent on a complicated roof with several slopes and a steep valley can be much longer than on a simple gable.

Some companies state that a fee will be credited only if the work is booked within a set number of days. That condition is reasonable to ask about, but the number of days belongs in writing too. If the proposal expires before you have compared the other bids, the credit may expire with it, and the fee you already paid will stay paid. Ask for the credit and the deadline together, on the same sheet as the price.

Also ask what happens if you decline the bid. Some companies keep the visit fee. Others return it. Neither arrangement is unusual, but you should know which one applies before you schedule a second visit with a different roofer, because paying two visit fees for one roof can add up quickly.

What to ask

1. Is the bid visit free, flat-fee, or hourly, and what is the total before the visit happens?
2. If there is a fee, is it credited to the contract if I accept the bid, and in what dollar amount?
3. What is the deadline for that credit, and does it match the expiration date on the proposal?
4. If I decline the bid, is the visit fee refunded or kept?
5. Does the visit include the pitch of each slope, the layer count, a deck check where reachable, and photos of every penetration?
6. Will the written proposal list the visit fee, the credit, and the net amount I owe for the roof?

Put the answers in an email or on the proposal itself, not only in a phone call. A written answer lets you compare two roofers on the same terms, and it gives you a record if the credit does not show up on the final invoice. If you have questions about how a particular quote handles the visit or the permit, the Keys Roofing office can be reached at (314) 220-2333, and the questions above are a good starting list for that call.