Services · 01
Roof replacement.
Tear-off to bare deck, a roof built in ten lines, and an estimate where the number you sign is the number you pay. Here’s how we decide it’s time, what we put on, and what the day costs you in disruption.
When it’s time.
Most Front Range roofs are replaced for one of two reasons: hail, or age. Age looks like this:
- The roof is past twenty years old and has never been replaced. Three-tab shingles are usually done by then; architectural shingles get a few more.
- Granules in the gutters and downspout splash blocks — the shingle is shedding the layer that protects it from the sun.
- Curling, cupping or cracked shingles you can see from the street.
- More than one repair in the last couple of years. At some point you’re paying to chase leaks around a roof that’s finished.
- Daylight through the roof boards from inside the attic, or a deck that feels soft underfoot.
If it’s hail, the age doesn’t matter — the chalk square does. And if it’s one leak on an otherwise sound roof, we’ll tell you it’s a repair and charge you for a repair.
What we install.
Our standard roof is an architectural (laminated) asphalt shingle over the full ten-line system described on the install day. On the Front Range we recommend a Class 4 impact-rated shingle: it passes the UL 2218 test — a two-inch steel ball dropped from twenty feet, with no crack in the mat — and many Colorado insurers reduce your premium for it. Ask your agent for the number before you decide; it often pays the difference back within a few years.
If you’re considering standing-seam steel, that’s its own page. It’s the most expensive roof we install and the last one you’ll buy, and it isn’t right for every house.
The estimate.
Danny walks the roof — on it, with a tape, not from the driveway with a laser. The estimate is itemized: tear-off and disposal, decking replacement at a per-sheet price, ice-and-water, underlayment, drip edge and starter, flashing, shingles, ridge vent, pipe boots, the permit. The price on the estimate is the price on the invoice. The one thing that can change is the number of decking sheets, and you already have the per-sheet price, so there is nothing to negotiate on the roof.
Permits, inspections and colors.
Denver and the surrounding cities require a roofing permit, and the inspector wants to see the roof at the point they choose. We pull the permit, schedule the inspection and meet the inspector. A bid without a permit line on it is missing one for a reason.
Colors: we bring full boards to your house and lean them against the roof in daylight, because a chip in a binder in your kitchen is the wrong color every time.
The per-sheet price for replacing rotten decking. If it isn’t on the estimate, it gets decided on your roof at 8:30 in the morning, by the person with the least reason to be reasonable.
Which one, and why.
What we’d tell you across the kitchen table. No numbers here — those go on a written estimate after we’ve been on the roof.
| Architectural asphalt | Class 4 impact-rated | Standing-seam steel | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | Laminated asphalt shingle. The roof on most of the block. | The same shingle with a modified, more flexible mat that passes the UL 2218 hail test. | Steel panels running eave to ridge, clipped down with no exposed fasteners. |
| Expected life | Around 25 years here, if the attic breathes. | Around 30. The mat resists the granule loss that ends an asphalt roof. | 50 and more. It’s the last roof. |
| Hail | Bruises at about an inch. Replaced on a claim. | Shrugs off most Front Range storms. Still inspected after the big ones. | Dents cosmetically; rarely leaks. Check your policy for a cosmetic exclusion. |
| Wind | Fine with six nails and a proper starter. | Same. | Best of the three. |
| Insurance | Standard. | Most Colorado carriers reduce the premium. Ask your agent for the figure. | Varies — some carriers treat it as Class 4, some don’t. |
| Cost | Baseline. | A step up from baseline. | The most, by a distance. |
| We’d pick it for | A sound house you plan to sell in under ten years. | Almost everyone else on the Front Range. | The house you’re staying in, a simple roof shape, mountain-style or modern homes, barns. |
Think it might be time?
Danny will walk it and tell you honestly — replace, repair, or leave it alone for a few more years. The answer comes in writing.