Tie Each Roofing Payment to a Finished Step, Not a Calendar Date

A roofing bill is usually paid in pieces, and the pieces decide whether you keep control of the job. A payment schedule is the list of amounts due at each stage, and it belongs in the contract before any shingles arrive. Most St. Louis homeowners read the total first and the schedule second, which is backwards. The total tells you what the roof costs. The schedule tells you how much money has left your account before the roof is finished, and that is the number to check while you still have a choice.

Why the schedule is a cost question

If a contract asks for most of the money up front, the roofer has been paid before the risky work starts. Tear-off, decking repair and flashing are the stages where hidden conditions show up. A crew that is already paid has less reason to stop and call you when the deck is softer than the estimate assumed. A schedule that releases money only as visible work is finished keeps the cost tied to the roof instead of the calendar.

Dates are the other trap. A schedule that says a payment is due on a certain day, whether or not the roof is on, pays for the calendar. Weather in the St. Louis area can move a start by days at a time, and freeze and thaw cycles in late winter and summer storms make timing unreliable. A payment keyed to a date can come due while the job sits open.

What each payment step should name

Each line in the schedule should describe something you could walk up to and see. "Materials delivered to the property" is checkable. "Phase one complete" is not, unless the contract says what phase one contains. A usable step names the work: tear-off finished and debris removed, deck inspected and any replacement sheets marked, underlayment and ice and water shield in place at the eaves and valleys, shingles installed, flashings and vents completed, and final cleanup with a magnet sweep of the yard.

Ask that each step carry a dollar amount, not just a share of the total. A percentage hides the arithmetic. If the roof is priced at a fixed total, the step amounts should add to that total exactly. Any deck replacement should appear as its own line, because decking is often priced per sheet and the sheet count is not known until the old roof is off.

Reading a sample schedule

Suppose a quote for a St. Louis County home lists four payments: a deposit at signing, a payment when materials reach the property, a payment when the roof is dried in, and a final payment after a written completion walk. Each of those is tied to something you can photograph. The deposit covers the permit application and the material order. The delivery payment covers shingles that now sit in your driveway. Dried in means the roof is closed against weather, which matters if rain arrives before the job ends. The final payment waits until the work is done and you have walked it.

Compare that with a schedule that asks for a third at signing, a third on the first day and the rest on a date later in the month. The money is out before anyone has touched the roof, and the last payment is due no matter what the roof looks like. The two schedules can carry the same total and still give you very different control.

Permits and inspection timing

Permit work sits between steps. In many St. Louis County communities the permit desk must inspect before the next layer goes on, and some jurisdictions want the deck seen before it is covered. If your schedule releases the next payment before that inspection, you may pay for work that cannot be covered until the inspector signs off. Ask the roofer which inspection each step depends on, and make the payment for that step wait for the result. A delay costs money, and the contract should say who pays for the wait.

What to ask before you sign

• Which step does each payment follow, and can you see that step from the yard or the driveway?
• What is the dollar amount of each payment, and do the amounts add up to the total on the proposal?
• Is any deck replacement priced as a separate line with a per sheet rate, and who confirms the sheet count?
• Which inspection must pass before a payment comes due, and what happens if the inspection is delayed?
• If the job pauses for weather, does a payment still come due on a date?
• Is the final payment held until a written completion walk and a magnet sweep of the yard are done?

A roofer who answers these in writing is giving you a schedule you can check. A roofer who answers out loud and leaves the contract vague is asking you to trust a number you cannot see.

What Keys puts in writing

Keys Roofing ties its payment steps to the work on the roof. The amount of each step appears on the proposal, and the written scope lists the materials, the decking terms and the completion walk. Keys documents the job with photographs and measurements at each step and gives the homeowner the written scope and the photo record, so you can compare what has been paid with what is on the roof. Keys attends as the contractor while the homeowner deals with their own insurer on any claim. Missouri law (RSMo 407.725) bars a roofing contractor from representing or negotiating a homeowner's insurance claim, and it forbids a contractor from saying anything about paying, waiving or covering a deductible.

If you want the payment steps for a specific quote checked before you sign, call the Keys office at (314) 220-2333 and ask for the schedule to be read back against the proposal line by line.