Always Book a Roofer in Autumn. This is Why.

While on an inspection, many of our clients ask: “How old is the roof?”

If the owner doesn’t have a receipt on file, it’s impossible to know, but it’s pretty fair to say, we don’t see a lot of roofs more than 20 years old that don’t need to be replaced –sometimes 10-year old roofs are in terrible shape. It all depends on how they were installed, if the roof was done someone who knew what they were doing, and if their timing was good.

We can spot a DIY shingle roof fairly quickly. Someone who’s not used to laying shingles rarely gets them straight.

Shingles Rely on Sun

A fairly new roof that’s got curled or missing shingles is highly likely to have been installed too close to winter and didn’t have time to adhere. Shingles rely on sun to melt the adhesive. If it’s not hot enough, dust may collect under the shingles so the adhesive doesn’t do its job. Just wait for a good wind, and the roof shingles start flying.

So, we can’t always tell how old a roof is, but a question we can answer with a little more certainty is:
“How much longer will this roof last?”

When a fairly new roof is losing shingles, it’s very likely it was installed late in the year. There have been occasions when we’ve asked a homeowner what time of the year they moved in. If they say July – it usually follows they booked someone to do the roof too late, and it never got the chance to adhere.

Booking a roofer in the autumn will get the job done early in the spring/summer (ideally after April 15th and before mid-September. so the roof has a really good chance to adhere well. Of course, it always depends on weather that year.

We asked Nick Economou, General Sales Manager at Lakeshore Roofing if there were any other advantages to booking a roof in the autumn?

3 Main Reasons to Book a roofer in Autumn

1 – IT’S CHEAPER

“It’s cheaper – you’ll get this year’s price for materials,” Nick Ecomomou told Mose Home Inspection Services. He said his company locks in prices for materials with his supplier in the fall. “The price may go up, it may not, but I’ve never seen the price of shingles go down,” he said. Usually the increases happen over the winter. “If my supplier raises the cost over the winter, those people who call in the spring will get the following year’s price. The only thing that fluctuates is plywood. For shingles and accessories (membrane, synthetic or tar paper, nails etc), it’s pretty random like oil, but it’s about a 5 to 8 per cent increase on average.”

2 – YOU’LL GET A BETTER QUALITY ROOF (AND MORE LIKELY BEFORE THE SUMMER HOLIDAYS)

Economou says a lot of people think they can call a roofer and get it done a week later. “The fly-by-nighters will be available, the reputable ones won’t.”

“You also have the over-bookers. They say they can get it done, but they won’t. –As of the beginning of October, watch for them,” he warns.

“A reputable roofer is booked at least two months in advance,” Economou explained saying that when you plan ahead, you also get a spot earlier in the season. Roofers cannot give you a precise date to do the job, because it really depends on the weather. Economou said it needs to be warm enough in the spring to have 2 or 3 hot days. “It not good to do the roof in the early spring, it’s not warm enough yet.”

On a really hot summer day, he said “The shingles are usually stuck before we leave.” Because we’re so weather dependent, we can’t give specific dates. We give a 2 to 5 week range. We call a day or 2 in advance.

He said a typical roof job takes 1 day with 4 guys; a more complex job will take 2 days.

3 – IF YOUR ROOF LEAKS IN WINTER, THE ROOFER WILL PATCH IT

“If someone is booked for spring, we’ll send somebody over to do a little patch if they call over the winter,” Economou said. “We’ll pinpoint the leak and help them get it dealt with. We’ll help out the customers who’s roofs we’ll be doing in the future.”

He said this also has a flipside. If someone calls to book when their roof is already leaking “We jokingly call these guys the procrastinators.”

Economou explained, “If they sign with us, we usually offer to tarp the roof or do a minor repair to get them through the winter. We only charge for materials, not labour.

Images courtesy Nick Economou, Lakeshore Roofing