Two quotes, the same shingle, a third apart.
Full tear-off roof replacement across Bergen County — deck inspected and photographed before it is covered, new flashing formed rather than re-used, ventilation corrected, warranty registered on your behalf. The shingle is the line every quote agrees on. Everything under it is where the difference lives.
See our work: our Franklin Lakes roof replacement in GAF Charcoal, with project photos.
Five lines that explain almost every price gap.
When two roofers quote the same house and the numbers are thirty percent apart, it is rarely the shingle. It is one or more of these, and only one of the two quotes will mention them. What each material costs, and what whole roofs cost on Bergen houses, is in our roof replacement cost guide.
New flashing, or the old flashing re-used
Stripping and re-forming metal at every chimney, wall, valley and penetration takes a day of skilled work. Bedding the old flashing back in with sealant takes an hour. Both look identical from the ground on handover day.
How much ice-and-water membrane
None, a strip at the eaves, or eaves plus valleys, rakes, and every penetration. New Jersey's code requires it only in Sussex County, so in Bergen it is the roofer's choice. In a county that ice-dams most winters, the difference is the difference between a dry ceiling and a claim.
Whether ventilation is corrected
A new roof over blocked soffits bakes from beneath and fails early. Correcting intake and exhaust is a line item that a cheap quote leaves out, because the roof still looks finished without it.
How deck repair is priced
Nobody can see the deck through the old roof. An honest quote prices it per sheet and charges only what is used. A flat allowance is a guess, and it is usually a guess in the contractor's favor. New sheathing is also the point where a re-roof on a detached house starts to need a permit; see roof permits in New Jersey.
Whether the warranty is registered
Manufacturer system warranties have to be filed, with the installer's credentials, within a window after completion. Unregistered, the paper in your folder is a brochure. We file it and send you the confirmation.
A second layer is cheaper on the day and expensive afterwards.
Going over an existing roof saves the tear-off and the disposal. It also makes three things impossible.
You cannot inspect the deck — the sheathing you are about to cover for another twenty-five years stays hidden, along with any rot, delamination or sag. You cannot flash properly, because the new flashing has to sit on top of an uneven older surface rather than woven into courses. And the assembly now holds heat: two layers of asphalt run hotter than one, and heat is what ages a shingle.
The result is a roof that reaches perhaps two-thirds of its rated life and cannot be diagnosed when it starts leaking, because there are two roofs between the ceiling and the sky. We find them regularly, usually on houses whose owners are surprised the roof is failing at fifteen years.
So: tear-off, every time. The deck gets looked at, photographed, and repaired where it needs it before anything goes back on.
What the days actually look like.
Two to four days for most Bergen County houses once materials are delivered. Slate, cedar and standing seam are hand-laid and take considerably longer — those are quoted with their own schedule.
Landscaping, drive and walls covered before a single shingle moves. Magnet sweeps at the end of every day, not only the last one.
Down to the deck. Sheathing checked sheet by sheet, anything soft or delaminating replaced and photographed before it is covered.
Ice-and-water membrane at eaves, valleys and penetrations, underlayment over the field. The house is weathertight from this point regardless of what the forecast does.
New formed metal at every interruption, then the finish material. Ventilation corrected at ridge and soffit as part of the same pass.
Final clean, photographs of the completed work, any permit the job needed closed out, and the manufacturer warranty registered in your name.
The layer-by-layer detail of what goes back on — all seven of them, and what each one is for — is set out on the roofing page. A re-roof in the cold months follows the shingle maker’s cold-weather instructions, hand-sealing included; what changes in winter is in can you replace a roof in winter.
Specified to the house, not to the truck.
A 1928 Tudor and a 2019 custom do not want the same roof, and the right answer is usually obvious once someone has actually looked at the structure, the pitch and the architecture.
Natural and synthetic slate where the house carries it or was built for it. Cedar shake on the Tudors and shingle-style houses, on a breathable mat. Standing seam metal where you want seventy years without the weight. Architectural asphalt, which is the sensible default for most houses and where most of this work actually is. Modified bitumen or membrane on anything under a 3:12 pitch.
Every one of them is laid on the same principle: the material is the visible third of the job, and the flashing, the underlayment and the ventilation are the other two.
Street by street, the same work: roof replacement in Edgewater, Ridgewood, Ho-Ho-Kus, Allendale, Upper Saddle River, Franklin Lakes, Wyckoff and Glen Rock.
What homeowners ask about replacement
How long does a roof replacement take?
Most Bergen County houses are two to four days on site once materials are delivered — a day to tear off and dry in, a day or two to lay, a day for detail and clean-up. Slate, cedar and standing seam run considerably longer because they are hand-laid. What extends any of them is deck repair found after tear-off, and weather.
Will you tear off the old roof or go over it?
Tear off. A layover hides whatever is under it, including the deck condition you are paying us to assess, adds weight the framing was not designed for, and traps heat that shortens the new shingles. It is cheaper on the day and it is why we find two layers on roofs that failed early. New Jersey permits a second layer in some cases; we do not do them.
What happens if the deck is rotten underneath?
It gets replaced, and it is priced separately and per sheet so it is only charged if it is needed. Nobody can see the deck through the old roof, so any quote that includes a flat allowance for it is guessing in one direction or the other. We photograph what we find before covering it.
Do I need a permit to replace a roof in New Jersey?
Usually not, on a detached one- or two-family house. New Jersey's Uniform Construction Code classes replacing the roof covering on those houses as ordinary maintenance: no permit and no notice to the town, whether the old roof comes off to the sheathing or not. A permit is required when sheathing is replaced, for townhouse and condominium roofs, and for structural work, and when a job needs one we file it and book the inspection.
What is the difference between two quotes for the same roof?
Usually the parts you cannot see: whether the flashing is new formed metal or the old flashing re-used, how much ice-and-water membrane goes on, whether the ridge and soffit ventilation is corrected, whether deck repair is priced honestly, and whether the manufacturer warranty is actually registered. The shingle is the one line everyone quotes identically.
Next to this
Roof repair
Where roofs actually leak, how the entry point is found, and when repair is the better money.
Repair →How long a roof lasts
Lifespan by material in this climate, and why two roofs of the same age differ by years.
Read →Choosing a contractor
Ten checks before you let anyone on the roof, including how to verify the registration yourself.
Read →A re-roof we did
The Franklin Lakes roof in the rail: a full shingle replacement in GAF Charcoal.
The project →Get a scope you can hold someone to.
Named materials, the flashing and membrane specified line by line, deck repair priced per sheet, and a fixed number. Free, no obligation, and if the roof does not need replacing the assessment will say that instead.