How the business runs

A roofing business that counts the panels first

This is a roof replacement business working Bloomfield and the Essex County municipalities next to it. The work is residential: asphalt, flat and historic roofing on detached and semi-detached housing, plus the garages and additions that come with it.

It is organized around a gap in how this work is normally quoted. A large share of the housing here now carries a solar array, removal and reinstallation is $250 to $350 per panel, and most roofing quotes in this market simply do not mention it. Worse, the decision that saves the most money -- replacing a tired roof BEFORE an array goes on rather than after -- is one that nobody selling solar has any reason to raise. So every survey here counts what is on the roof as well as what the roof is, and both sequences get priced.

Roofing only -- we do not sell, install or service solar
No storm-damage paperwork of any kind
No electrical work: the disconnect is done by a qualified electrician
No price without walking the roof and the roof space

Wooden roof trusses meeting at the ridge inside an attic — **On site**Survey before any price is given

How it runs

Four steps, no surprises

Free inspection, the solar array counted and priced as its own line, then a written quote.

Call or message

Tell us the address and whether there are panels on the roof, and roughly how many. That one answer moves the price of the job by thousands and decides how long the array will be down for, so it is worth establishing before anything else.

Survey, roof and roof space

Both together, with the array counted and the covering under it assessed for remaining life. On older housing the roof space also settles whether the deck is board sheathing or plywood, which changes what can go on top of it.

Written scope, then the price

The roof and the array priced as separate lines rather than one figure. Where the sequence matters -- panels going on soon, or a roof with years left -- both orders are costed so the cheaper one is obvious rather than argued.

The work, and the photographs

The array off and stored, the roof done, the array back and reconnected by a qualified electrician, and a before-and-after set that is yours whatever you decide to do next.

Before you choose

Five checks worth making on every quote, including ours

The second one is specific to this township and it is where the money is.

Is there an HIC registration number on it

New Jersey registers home improvement contractors rather than licensing roofers, and the number belongs on every advert and contract. The register is public. The wording is a tell too: the code says not to call it a license, so a New Jersey roofer advertising their roofing 'license' has not read the rules closely.

Does the quote price the solar array as its own line

Not 'we'll sort the panels' -- a number, per panel or per system, with the disconnect, storage, reinstallation and reconnection listed. This is a $4,500 to $9,500 item and it is the one most commonly missing.

Does it name the ice barrier and the nailing

Both are invisible once the roof looks finished and both are what gets you through February. Coverage at the eaves and the nailing pattern are measurable lines on a scope. 'Replace roof' is not a scope.

Is decking priced per sheet or as a lump

Per sheet is honest, because nobody knows how much has softened until the covering is off. A lump figure is a guess in one direction or the other, and on board sheathing it is usually the wrong one.

Did anybody go up

No figure should be given without the roof and the roof space being looked at. We do not quote at the curb and we do not quote from a photograph alone.

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