Laguna Beach, CA
Replacing a roof in Laguna Beach: what it takes
The price gap between the cheapest and the most expensive quote on the same roof is routinely forty per cent. That gap is not always quality, and it is never obvious from the paperwork.
Describe the replacement job
Three questions, then the address. Up to three Laguna Beach contractors who do this work.
You are on the list.
No provider in Laguna Beach is taking requests through this service yet. We are lining them up, and yours is kept until one can.
- Nobody gets your details yet. Your request stays with us and is not passed to any company.
- One email when someone can help. When a provider covering your area can take it on, we email you once and ask whether you want that company, by name, to contact you.
- Deleted after 90 days. If nobody can take it on, or you do not say yes, your contact details are deleted 90 days after your request.
- You decide, or you do not. There is nothing to cancel and nothing to pay us.
Nobody will call you about this request unless you say yes to a company by name.
Before you let anybody on the roof
The things worth pinning down on a replacement job. A contractor who has not raised them has not looked properly.
- A written per-sheet price for replacing bad decking
- Tear-off or overlay, and what the local code allows
- Who pulls the permit, and what the inspection schedule looks like
- Which underlayment, and whether ice-and-water goes on the eaves and valleys
- Ventilation: what is there now, what it should be
Insist on knowing what happens to decking that turns out to be rotten. The good answer is a per-sheet price agreed in writing before the job starts.
Two quotes at the same price can be very different roofs. Compare the layers, not the brand name on the shingle.
Warranties come in two halves that get deliberately confused. The manufacturer covers the material, and only if it was installed to specification. The contractor covers the workmanship, and only for as long as they stay in business.
Locally
The failure that leads here is old houses carrying more layers, and more surprises, than the estimate assumed. Cottages from the 1920s to the 1950s have usually been re-roofed over rather than stripped. What is under the top layer decides the real price, and nobody knows what that is until the tear-off starts.
About replacement here
Why do quotes vary so much on a hillside lot?
Steep drives, no turning space and a roof three storeys above the downhill side all cost time. Ask each contractor how they plan to load and remove material — the answers explain the spread.
Are the contractors licensed and insured?
Contractors have to give us their state licence number and proof of liability and workers compensation cover before they can receive requests. You should still ask to see current certificates yourself before work starts — a licence can lapse between checks.
How quickly will someone call?
Usually within the hour during working hours. If you marked the job as an emergency it goes to the front of the queue and is normally picked up faster than that.
Ready for a real number?
Free, no obligation, and your details go to no company until you say yes.