Hi,

First time getting roof repairs done, the house was built in 1924, had a roof replaced in 2005 but has leaks currently (we think.)

I had a roofing company come out and estimate the cost to repair/replace the roof, immediately the salesperson started stating that the roof was incorrectly installed and that he could see there were three layers (cedar shake, then some asphalt, and finally the current top we can see)

He said regardless of what we do; we have to pull it back, lay plywood down and then put the new roof on and that there is about $70k of work. Finally, the top we wanted to put on was about $27k (it is a "higher-end" finish).

Also note: this is a pointy Tudor house, so the roof has a steep pitch.

I am getting other quotes this week, but for a house of this age given the information I have provided, does this seem right?

Thanks,
Chris.

Without knowing the size of the roof or more detailed scope, at first glance I'd say yes it seems very high and you should shop around. For this size of project, you should get at least 3 quotes and compare them all against each other to ensure they are all pricing the same scope of work. Good luck!

@Chris Fentiman Although it’s been about 20 years now so figure in some additional costs for price of materials and labor increases and inflation but I reroofed an 8000sq ft 3 story Tudor style house for about $20,000 removing shingles and replacing plywood as needed and laying an underlayment. If I had to guess I’d say worst case scenario in today’s money might be $40-45,000. So definitely get a few other estimates.

@Chris Fentiman Oh yes house was from 1908.

That’s an outrageously high price. Get more quotes and you will see. 

Back in 2018 we completely re-roofed a large duplex built in 1897, including the 1960's 2 bedroom ranch home addition attached to the rear of the home. The 1897 roof literally had 3 layers of cedar shakes & 4 layers of old shingles. It required all new sheeting on both roofs, plus new drip edge, ice shield up 3ft, chimney flashing, new gutters & downspouts. $15,000. Prices MUST have gone up.

@Chris Fentiman I would heed the advice of @Brendan Miller . Get two or even three other bids ands and that will give you you the data to answer your question. 

@Chris Fentiman

Post a pic of your roof from google earth

Your estimate was roughly $85k too high at first glance (maybe more)

Wow, how large is the house : 100,000 square feet? You are being robbed.

Thank you to this community for helping me out. I am glad that you exist.

Update:

The roof had three layers (Original 1924, another from the ~1960s, and the final from ~2000), the flashing was non-existent, and the style of home (Tudor revival) has steep pitches (basically vertical).

After internalizing your feedback, I got another five quotes, and things started to normalize around $50k. A few weeks ago I decided on one, and last week the roof was ripped it off and a new one installed. No more leaky roof solved several issues near dormers and protected investment for another X0 years.

Thanks again, BP!

Originally posted by @Chris Fentiman :

Thank you to this community for helping me out. I am glad that you exist.

Update:

The roof had three layers (Original 1924, another from the ~1960s, and the final from ~2000), the flashing was non-existent, and the style of home (Tudor revival) has steep pitches (basically vertical).

After internalizing your feedback, I got another five quotes, and things started to normalize around $50k. A few weeks ago I decided on one, and last week the roof was ripped it off and a new one installed. No more leaky roof solved several issues near dormers and protected investment for another X0 years.

Thanks again, BP!

How many sq feet is this? I was grumpy about paying 7k for a roof on a 1k sq ft house but that included a complete 2nd layer of decking.

 

@Nicky Reader - Property has now been converted from SFH to multi-family - it's three stories high and a total interior of 5000sqft