When the roof is simply done
Four quotes for the same roof can differ by half, and it is almost never the shingle that explains the gap.
Why the quotes do not match
Ask four companies for a price on the same house and you will often get a spread of fifty percent. That is not four different opinions about your roof. It is four different scopes written on pieces of paper that look similar.
The differences are almost always in the same five places. How much of the old roof is coming off, and whether an existing second layer is included or found later. What happens with decking that turns out to be soft. Whether the underlayment is a basic felt or a synthetic, and whether an ice and water membrane goes into the valleys and around penetrations. Whether the flashing is being replaced or reused. And whether the ventilation is being brought up to what the roof needs or simply left as it is.
A quote that is a single number tells you none of that, and the cheapest single number is usually the one with the most left out.
The decking conversation, before it happens
Nobody can price replacement decking honestly before the covering comes off, and any quote that pretends otherwise has either padded it or is planning to have an awkward conversation with you on day two.
The fix is to price the rate rather than the quantity. A good contract says what a sheet of replacement decking costs, fitted, and gives an expectation of how many. Then if the answer turns out to be eleven sheets, it is arithmetic rather than an argument. Around Mobile, with the rain totals this area gets, soft decking near valleys and around old penetrations is common enough that this line is worth insisting on.
Ventilation is part of the roof
A lot of houses here are under ventilated, and it shows up as a roof that ages faster than it should and an attic that runs hot and damp. Intake at the soffit and exhaust at the ridge have to be balanced, and adding a ridge vent to a house with blocked soffits makes things worse rather than better, because the system then pulls its air from the house.
When a roof is being replaced is the only cheap moment to fix this. Ask what the intake and exhaust are now, what they will be afterwards, and whether the soffits are actually open.
The license, and why it is easy here
Residential work over ten thousand dollars in labor and materials needs an Alabama Home Builders Licensure Board license, and a company on a limited license needs a separate residential roofers license to do roofing. Practically every full replacement on a house around Mobile Bay is over that threshold.
This is a genuine advantage of being in Alabama rather than Texas. There is a public register, it costs nothing to look at, and a company that is not on it cannot legally do your job. Ask for the number and check it rather than accepting a laminated card.
While the roof is off
If you are replacing anyway, this is the moment to decide about the FORTIFIED standard, because the deck fastening and sealed seams it asks for are cheap now and expensive to add later. And if a storm is what brought you here in the first place, the claim side should be settled before the work starts, not after.
Questions people ask
- Why will nobody give me a firm price for the decking?
- Because nobody can see it. What a good contract does instead is fix the rate. It says what a replacement sheet costs fitted, and roughly how many are expected, so the surprise is a number you already agreed rather than a negotiation on day two.
- Is architectural shingle worth it over three tab?
- In this climate, usually. The heavier laminated product handles wind better and lasts longer under heavy rain, and the price difference on a whole job is smaller than most people expect. Ask for both numbers rather than assuming.
- Should I go metal?
- It can be an excellent answer on the coast and it is not automatically the right one. It costs more up front, it wants a different kind of installer, and the detailing at penetrations matters more than it does on shingle. Get a real quote for both before deciding on principle.
Last checked 2026-09-24.