Matching a Low Bid on a 60-Square Re-Roof
You are bidding a 60-square, 6:12 architectural shingle replacement on a 1978 two-story colonial in a northern Illinois suburb. Your takeoff includes tear-off of two layers, synthetic underlayment, ice-dam protection at all eaves, new drip edge, ridge and soffit ventilation, and the permit. Your price is $31,400. The homeowner shares a competitor's written proposal at $22,900: no ice-dam protection, underlayment type and fastener schedule unstated, ventilation listed as 'existing,' and a note that 'permits, if required, are the homeowner's responsibility.' From the attic you noticed no soffit intake path and 3/8-inch plywood sheathing with two soft spots near a valley. The homeowner likes your company and asks you to 'meet the other number.'
1. Explain the $8,500 gap and state what you will and will not do to close it.
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Itemize the difference in writing rather than defending a lump sum.
What the other bid actually deletes:
- Ice-dam protection is required by IRC R905.1.2 for roof coverings where winter design conditions warrant it, and northern Illinois municipalities enforce it at the eave. Deleting it is not a discount - it transfers a foreseeable ice-dam claim to the homeowner, and it can void the shingle manufacturer's warranty.
- Underlayment and fastening are code and manufacturer requirements, not options. An unstated fastener schedule usually means the minimum, which is a liability on a 6:12 in a wind zone.
- 'Ventilation: existing' on a house with no intake path is a no-op; the exhaust you are adding needs intake to work.
- 'Permits are the homeowner's responsibility' does not transfer the exposure. Whoever installs unpermitted work absorbs the stop-work order, the re-inspection, and the removal cost.
What you can legitimately do: offer a good/better/best written proposal, a compliant but lower-tier shingle, or a phased scope. What you must not do is meet the number by deleting code-required scope - you would own the resulting failure.
2. The homeowner asks for 'value engineering' options. What alternatives are defensible?
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Value engineering is legitimate only when it changes the product or the schedule, never the code minimum.
- Product tier: a compliant entry-level architectural shingle with a shorter warranty instead of the premium line - same underlayment, ice barrier, and fastening.
- A measured ventilation upgrade priced as a separate line, with the net free area math shown (roughly 1/150 of the attic floor area, reducible to about 1/300 where a ceiling vapor retarder exists and intake and exhaust are balanced - verify against the locally adopted code).
- Phasing or a maintenance agreement to spread cost without reducing scope.
- Owner-performed work that carries no code or warranty consequence (e.g., landscaping protection, removing satellite dishes).
Show the homeowner her real comparison: the $22,900 bid plus the ice barrier, permit, and ventilation she will pay for anyway - or pay for later, at emergency prices, from inside a stained ceiling.
3. How do you price and control the questionable 3/8-inch sheathing and the two soft spots?
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Handle it as a priced contingency, not a guess.
- Verify first: check panel thickness and span rating against the code's sheathing table and the shingle manufacturer's minimum deck requirements. Where panels are under-spanned, delaminated, or deflecting visibly, they must be replaced - overlay or shimming is not a remedy.
- Put a unit price in the contract (per sheet of matching thickness, installed), so the discovery has an agreed value.
- Scope the investigation: soft spots near a valley usually mean a long-standing leak. Probe the area, inspect the rafter for rot, and report in writing within the contract's notice period before covering anything.
- Document with photos before and after, and obtain a signed change order.
Expect roughly a few sheets, not two - but quote the unit rate so the number is never in dispute.