Compare roofing quotes when half the roofs are metal

On a valley property with shingle on the house and metal on everything else, two quotes can be thousands apart and describe different buildings. One priced snow guards over the walk and closures under every cap; the other priced panels and assumed. One measured the layers at the rake; the other guessed. Mark what each quote actually commits to, and the gap explains itself.

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Set the quotes against each other

Quote A Quote B Quote C

Does the quote specify…	A	B	C
The layer assumption, and the price if the tear-off finds more Why it matters Re-covering was normal here for decades, and a house can be carrying two or three generations of material, sometimes metal laid straight over shingle. Pulling two layers is far more labor and disposal than one, and a bid that assumes one on a house carrying two is a different bid wearing the same total.
A per-sheet rate for decking, with an assumed count Why it matters Soft boards only show themselves once the roof is open. A stated rate and count turns the main unknown of the job into a bounded number instead of a surprise on day one.
The underlayment, named by product Why it matters Under metal especially, nobody sees this layer again once the panels go on. A word like felt or included is not a specification, and the difference shows up ten winters later.
Ice-and-water membrane: how far up from the eave, and in the valleys Why it matters Meltwater backing up under the covering is the local failure, and this membrane is the main thing that stops it. The useful question at the eave is how far past the wall line it runs, not whether it is there at all.
Flashings at walls and transitions: replaced or reused Why it matters Reusing and re-sealing old metal is quicker on the day, and it is the usual reason a young roof starts staining a ceiling. On masonry, ask the follow-up: is the counterflashing let into the wall, or fastened to the face of it?
On metal: closures, clips and the ridge detail, named Why it matters The cap you can see is not the seal; the shaped closures under it are. They cost very little, they take a few minutes to skip, and blown snow finds the gap they were meant to fill.
Snow guards: where they go, and how they attach Why it matters Metal sheds snow in a slab rather than gradually. Above a doorway, a walk or a lower roof it matters, and how they fasten matters too — clamped to a seam, or screwed through the panel.
Attic ventilation: corrected, or reinstalled as found Why it matters Warm air reaching a cold deck is what puts ice at the eaves every February. Intake, exhaust and baffles are least costly to fix while the roof is off, and reinstalled as found means the question was skipped.
The permit: who pulls it and where it sits in the price Why it matters Included, billed separately, or left to the owner are three different deals. The permit also becomes the documentation the next owner of the house will wish existed.
Tear-off disposal, dumpster placement and yard protection Why it matters A roof comes off in pieces and lands somewhere. On a narrow borough street that is a permit and a plan; on a farm property it is which gate the truck uses. Who pays for the container and how the ground is protected belong in the number.
A start window and what happens on rain days Why it matters The season here is finite and the autumn queue is real. How the crew closes the roof overnight, and what a delay does to the start window, are worth two sentences in writing.
The labor warranty, separate from the shingle warranty Why it matters The manufacturer covers the material and the contractor covers the workmanship, and on metal in particular nearly everything that goes wrong is workmanship. Who stands behind the labor, and for how long, is worth more than the brand name.
Items specified	0/12	0/12	0/12

How to read the result

A quote with every row filled is not automatically the one to sign, and a short one is not automatically evasive. The grid shows where two contractors have priced different jobs. When one names a per-sheet rate for closing gapped deck boards and the other never mentions the deck, the lower total has left that cost for the morning the old metal comes off and the boards are visible.

Take the empty rows back to whoever left them empty and ask for them in writing. Most contractors will oblige, and the comparison you make afterward is the one to trust, especially with the autumn queue already forming.

Use this page

Reproduce or link to this checklist freely, with credit to susquehannaroofing.com. It was written for valley homeowners who own more than one roof and keep getting quotes written for one.