How to Read a Roofing Quote, Line by Line

Read a roofing quote from the deck up. A professional quote names every material by brand, with its warranty, so you can see what goes on your roof and in what order. If a line just says “shingles” or “roof replacement”, you can’t compare it with anything. In the video below, Adem from 705 Roofing goes through every line on our own shingle quotes.

Got a quote from another roofer? Call Adem at (705) 770-0636 and he will go through it with you.

Two quotes for the same house can be thousands of dollars apart. Often, they don’t cover the same work. For what a new roof usually costs here and what moves the price, see our page on roof replacement cost. This post is about the paper itself: what each line means, and what to ask when one is missing.

What Adem says in the video

This is the transcript, edited for reading. One sentence about the length of the shingle warranty is left out here, because the length depends on which warranty is registered. The warranty section below explains that.

Got a roofing quote and not sure what to look for? On a professional roofing quote, all materials should be listed by brand, their warranty, etc. On our roofing quotes, they all include disposal, tear-off, stripping down to the bare wood, drip edge, six feet of ice and water shield, synthetic underlayment, valley flashing, vents, TruDefinition Duration shingles, ProEdge caps, and the warranty. […] And a 10 year labour warranty from 705 Roofing. If you’ve gotten a roofing quote and you’re not sure what to look for, call me at 705 Roofing and I’ll explain it to you.

The lines a shingle roof quote should have

These are the lines on a 705 Roofing shingle quote, in the order the crew builds the roof. Use them as a checklist against any quote you have.

• Tear-off and disposal. The old shingles come off and leave the site. Our quotes say we strip the roof down to the bare wood. Nobody can check the deck through old shingles.
• The roof deck. The deck is the plywood, OSB or boards the shingles are nailed to. Rotten plywood often shows only after the tear-off, so ask how the quote handles it. Our page on roof plywood replacement shows what rotten decking looks like and how we replace it.
• Drip edge. A drip edge is a strip of bent metal along the edges of the roof. It sits under the first row of shingles and sends water off the edge.
• Ice and water shield. This is a sticky membrane laid on the deck at the eaves, the lower edge of the roof. It stops water that backs up behind ice. We put six feet of it at the eaves.
• Synthetic underlayment. This layer covers the rest of the deck under the shingles.
• Valley flashing. A valley is the inside corner where two slopes meet. It carries the water from both slopes.
• Vents. The quote should say which vents go on and where. More on this below.
• Shingles by brand and line. Ours say Owens Corning TruDefinition Duration, not just “architectural shingles”.
• Hip and ridge caps. These are the shingles along the peaks. Ours are Owens Corning ProEdge.
• The warranties. Two of them, one for the materials and one for the work.

If a quote leaves a line out, it doesn’t always mean the work is skipped. Ask the roofer whether it’s included in the price, and ask them to write it down. Our page on what a new roof costs explains which parts of a roof move the price.

Ice and water shield: what the code asks for

The Ontario Building Code calls this layer eave protection. The 2024 Building Code Compendium says it must run from the edge of the roof at least 900 mm up the slope, to a line at least 300 mm inside the inner face of the exterior wall. On a house with a wide overhang, that line inside the wall can sit more than 900 mm up the slope, so the strip gets longer.

The code drops the rule in five cases: over unheated garages, carports and porches; where the overhang is more than 900 mm along the slope; on low-slope asphalt shingle roofs laid to a separate section of the code; on roofs with a slope of 1 in 1.5 or steeper; and in regions with 3,500 or fewer degree-days. Degree-days measure how cold a place is over a year. That last exception doesn’t help here. The code’s own climate table gives Barrie 4380 and Collingwood 4180.

So the code sets a minimum, and a quote can go past it. Our six feet is more than the minimum on most houses. When you compare quotes, look for how far up the roof the shield goes, not just the word “ice and water shield”.

Vents: the line that is easy to skip

A roof needs air moving through the attic. The code’s separate attic ventilation rule asks for an open vent area of at least 1/300 of the insulated ceiling area. On a roof with a slope under 1 in 6, or a roof built with joists, it asks for 1/150. Part of the venting goes low on the roof and part goes high.

A quote that says “vents” with no count or type tells you very little. Ask what is going on the roof and whether the attic intake at the soffit is checked. If the attic needs more than vents, our page on attic insulation and ventilation covers that work.

The ice and water shield, the vents and the flashing are all lines that change the total. Our roof price ranges show what else does.

The warranty lines: two warranties, not one

Our new shingle roofs come with a manufacturer’s warranty and our workmanship warranty. The manufacturer covers the materials. The roofer covers the work.

The manufacturer’s warranty. Owens Corning shows four levels on its Canadian warranty page. On all four, the overall length is lifetime, which for the owner of a single-family detached home means as long as you own it. The difference is the TRU PROtection period at the start, when the coverage includes the labour to repair or replace defective materials:

• the standard warranty: the first 10 years
• System Protection, Preferred Protection and Platinum Protection: the first 50 years

After that period, the coverage for manufacturing defects is prorated and no longer pays for labour.

The longer levels have conditions. Only an Owens Corning Platinum or Preferred Contractor can install them. For System Protection, the roof needs Owens Corning hip and ridge shingles plus 2 of 4 other Owens Corning products, such as their underlayment or ice and water barrier. The roof must go on a clean deck with the old roofing removed, and the contractor must register the warranty within 60 days of the installation. Owens Corning also says contractors are authorized, but not obligated, to offer it, so ask before the work starts.

705 Roofing is an Owens Corning Preferred Contractor. System Protection is usually included in the price of our shingle roofs. Our roofing warranty page explains the levels we offer.

The roofer’s warranty. The standard Owens Corning warranty lists improper or faulty installation under what is not covered. Preferred and Platinum Protection add some workmanship coverage, with their own terms. None of the levels cover wood decking, flashing, fasteners or pipe boots. Ask what the roofer’s own warranty covers. Ours is a 10-year workmanship warranty on new shingle and metal roofs. It doesn’t cover repairs, and it transfers once if you sell the house.

On any quote, look for both warranties, with the length of each written down.

Is the total before or after HST?

HST in Ontario is 13%. One quote may show the total before tax and another after it. On a full roof replacement, that alone can make two honest quotes look far apart. Check which way each one is written before you compare the totals. The CRA rates table lists the current rate for each province. For the price ranges we see on shingle and metal roofs, see our roof replacement prices page.

Roofing quote questions

What should a roofing quote include?

The tear-off and disposal, the deck work, drip edge, ice and water shield, underlayment, valley flashing, vents, the shingles by brand and line, the hip and ridge caps, and both warranties with their lengths. Each material should be named by brand.

Why are two roofing quotes so far apart?

Often because they do not cover the same work. Put them side by side, line by line: the tear-off, how far the ice and water shield goes, the underlayment, the flashing, the vents, the shingle line and both warranties. Then check whether each total includes HST.

Is a 50-year shingle warranty standard?

Not on Owens Corning’s standard warranty. Its TRU PROtection period, when the coverage includes labour, is the first 10 years. The first 50 years come with System Protection or a higher level, which a Platinum or Preferred Contractor has to register.

Does the shingle warranty cover rotten plywood?

No. The Owens Corning warranties do not cover wood decking. Rotten plywood is found at the tear-off and replaced as part of the roofing work, so ask how the quote handles it.

What a quote can’t show you

A quote is a list. It can’t show you the deck under the old shingles or how the attic breathes. Those you see on the roof and in the attic. That’s why Adem usually goes up on the roof himself before he writes ours.

If you already have a quote from another roofer and you’re not sure what it covers, call Adem at (705) 770-0636 and he’ll go through it with you. For a quote on your own roof, book a free roof inspection. We serve Wasaga Beach, Collingwood, Stayner, Barrie, Midland and Simcoe County.