Hiring
How to choose a roofer
Ten checks on licensing, insurance, scope, warranties and payment, and the sales tactics that mean walk away.
Written by HyreRoof Research Desk Primary-source research and fact checking
The short answer
Check the license with the state board where your state requires one, and get insurance certificates from the insurer, not from the roofer.
Then insist on a written, itemized scope, both warranties on paper, the permit in the roofer’s name and a payment schedule with lien waivers. Walk away from anyone who offers to cover your deductible.
What protects you when you hire?
The license with the state board, the insurance with the carrier. A copy handed over by the roofer proves little.
The manufacturer covers the material. The roofer covers the installation.
Both are warning signs, not favors.
Find a roofer, then run these checks
Free, with no obligation. A person at HyreRoof replies by email. Matching with roofers is not live yet.
Which warranty covers what?
Two different promises from two different companies. Get each one in writing.
| Warranty | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Defects in the shingles or other material. It does not cover a bad installation. |
| Workmanship | The roofer’s installation: nailing, flashing, ventilation details. Its length is whatever the roofer puts in writing. |
| Enhanced system | Offered by some manufacturers when a certified installer uses their full system. Ask whether this quote qualifies. |
What are the ten things to check?
You cannot inspect a roof once the shingles are on, so inspect the company before they go on.
Some states require a roofing license, some a general contractor license, some neither. Know which applies where you live.
Ask for certificates that name you, sent by the insurer. An uninsured crew on your roof can become your risk.
Not a PO box or a truck. It is where you go when a valley leaks after the crew has left.
The roofer should. A company asking you to pull it as an owner-builder is shifting liability to you.
Squares, tear-off, underlayment, ice barrier, drip edge, flashing, ventilation and the deck repair rate, each on its own line.
The manufacturer’s on the material and the roofer’s on the workmanship, each with its own length.
Addresses near you from this year, on your type of roof. A review count on a marketplace is not the same thing.
Payments tied to stages of work, so you are never far ahead of what has been done.
If a supplier or subcontractor goes unpaid, a lien can land on your house. A waiver from each of them at every payment stage is your protection against it.
Magnet sweeps for nails, tarps over landscaping, and what happens if weather opens the roof mid-job.
How do you compare three quotes line by line?
Give every roofer the same written scope, then compare these lines before you look at the totals.
| Line | What to check |
|---|---|
| Squares | The roof area each roofer measured. A big gap needs an explanation before anything else. |
| Layers removed | Tear-off to the deck, or a layover on top of the old roof. |
| Deck repair rate | A price per sheet of decking, stated before the roof is opened. |
| Underlayment and ice barrier | The product and where it goes, including eaves and valleys. |
| Flashing | Replaced or reused, at each chimney, wall and valley. |
| Ventilation | The intake and exhaust you will have when the job is done. |
| Permit | Who pulls it, and whether its cost is in the price. |
| Warranties | Both lengths, in writing, for material and for workmanship. |
If a line is missing from one quote, ask for it before you compare totals. A lower number that leaves out the deck rate is not a lower price yet.
What should you refuse every time?
Any offer to absorb, waive or “take care of” your insurance deductible. Eight of the nine states in our storm-chaser study bar that promise by statute; Texas makes it a misdemeanor. The claim still carries your name. A company willing to do that to your insurer is telling you how it treats promises.
What to ask before you sign
What is your license number, and which board issued it?
Which insurer carries your liability and workers’ compensation, and will it send me the certificates?
Does your own crew do the work, or a subcontractor? Who is in charge on site?
How is extra work, such as soft decking, priced and approved once the roof is open?
What happens if rain comes while the roof is open?
When would you start, and how many days will the crew be on site?
How do you protect the yard, and how do you sweep for nails?
What is the payment schedule, and will you give me a lien waiver at each stage?
Which hiring mistakes are hard to undo?
A contingency agreement is a contract, however casually it is presented. Take the paper away and read it.
A price that ends with the conversation is a sales tactic. An honest roofer’s price will still be there tomorrow.
On a storm claim, wait for the adjuster before any work beyond an emergency tarp. See storm damage and insurance.
A single total cannot be compared with anything. If a roofer will not itemize, the quote is not finished.
Tie payments to stages of work, with a lien waiver at each one.
Ask for the crew’s name and whether the work is subcontracted. The answer tells you who carries the insurance.
If a roofer will not let you confirm a license with the board or a policy with the insurer, treat both as unconfirmed.
Your inquiry
Tell us about the work
Nothing goes to a roofer unless you agree.
A person reads it and replies by email, free and with no obligation. Matching is not live yet, so this is not a quote. If water is coming in now, call a local roofer directly and check their license first.
Find a Roofer
One short form: your address and how to reach you. A person at HyreRoof reads it and replies.
Questions
What should I ask a roofing contractor?
Do roofers need a license?
Should I pay a deposit for roofing work?
Does HyreRoof check roofers for me?
Is a cheaper roofing quote a bad sign?
Written and audited by
HyreRoof Research Desk
Primary-source research, data analysis and fact checking
We are a research desk, not a sales floor. We read the statute, the licensing board’s own pages, the code section or the federal dataset ourselves, and every figure we publish carries the document it came from and the date we retrieved it.
Where a number cannot be traced to a primary source, we publish the shorter page and say what we could not verify.
On our first study that rule removed a Minnesota exam statistic and left two states blank. Those gaps are on the page, not in a file somewhere.
- 155
- primary sources read and cited
- 53
- government domains among them
- 181
- citations carrying a retrieval date
- 11
- research studies published
How this desk works
- Primary sources only. Statutes from the legislature’s own publishing system, licensing rules from the board that issues the license, datasets from the agency that collected them. Never a directory, an aggregator or another guide.
- Three states, not two. A requirement is recorded as verified present, verified absent, or not verified. Folding the third into the second would turn an unchecked cell into a factual claim.
- Retrieval dates on everything. Regulation changes. A citation without the date it was read is not a citation.
- Failures are published. When a source blocks automated retrieval we record the failure and leave the row empty, rather than filling it from a secondary summary.
- Authorship is organizational. Research is attributed to this desk, never to an invented expert. Outside commentary, where used, is attributed to named and verifiable people.
Authorship on this site is organizational: the analysis belongs to the desk rather than to a named individual, and we do not publish credentials we do not hold. Our editorial policy sets out how we source, date and correct what we publish.
Sources & retrieval dates
Information on this page is general and may vary by location, building code, roof design, insurance policy and your own circumstances. It is not insurance, legal or engineering advice.
HyreRoof is not a roofing contractor: we do not repair, replace or inspect roofs, and we do not supervise or warrant roofing work. This page explains the work so you can judge a quote and a contractor.