We recently went through a three-week process of getting quotes for roof repair/maintenance, and I thought I would share our story in hopes that it helps others who may also be shopping.

This all started when our gutter cleaning service was up on the roof, and the gentleman said we have some loose or torn shingles that we might want to get repaired.

One of the first roofing companies out to look at our roof was Guardian Roofing. The Guardian sales guy walked around and was saying, "This roof needs to be replaced. I see shingles that are delaminating, lifting, and the grains are worn out ."

The Guardian sales guy also said we have a Certainteed brand roof; He explained that he knew this because he looks at 800 roofs a year, and he knows this brand well. He further explained to us that it's a 20-year roof, and since it's 19 years old, its due to be replaced. When I asked him about repairing, he said there was no point in spending $8,000 fixing it, when it would be better to put that money towards a new roof. We asked for a quote, so he returned to his truck to work on the quote. He came into the house after, and we sat down and went over all his sales materials, roofing samples, and he provided us a quote to replace the roof for $52,000 plus tax. That's not a typo, $52k. It is a big roof, but this seemed very high.

We then proceeded to call and schedule nine additional roofing companies to have them out to inspect our roof. This turned into a little project for me to search out the best price considering $52K seemed high to us, so I set up a lot of appointments.

When the second roofing company came out, the first thing he said to me was…" Am I at the right house? Your roof looks excellent; I'm a little confused as to why you think you need a replacement."

He went up on the ladder and looked around, inspected the attic, came back, and said, you don't need a roof. This is a GAF Timberline roof, it's a very thick shingle, and it's rated for 30-40 years. He has been in the roofing industry for 30 years. He then said he would feel bad about tearing this roof off and replacing it, as it's still got a lot of life left. He suggested that we may want to have someone go up and do some minor maintenance/repairs, replace the rubber pipe boots, replace some broken shingles and address a few missing nails, loose nails, small holes, etc., but don't' replace it.

Inspections three through eight came back with the same info. It's a GAF Timberline roof, and we are good for awhile still, no need to replace it at this time. I heard many times, "Am I at the right house? This roof looks like it's in great shape."

We did have two other companies try to sell us on a new roof, for the record.

While I won't go into a list of all the companies we had out, they were all highly "A" rated on Angie's list with positive reviews. A range of smaller companies to some of the larger companies we see advertising on TV.

I just wanted to warn others that it's essential to get lots of opinions and quotes as there are some dishonest companies or salespeople out there that are just looking for a buck/commission and don't care about the customer's actual needs.

Cost:
While these other companies were out, we asked them if they could provide a quote, even though we didn't need a new roof, so that we can start planning for the future. Out of all companies, Guardian Roofing was the most expensive by a long shot!

The average cost was $28k, with the lowest being $17,500.

Anyway, it pays to shop around and get opinions/estimates.

Those companies that were honest with us are going to be the ones that we select from when it comes time to replace.

As for the repairs, those quotes came back from $800-$1500, not $8,000, as the Guardian sales guy suggested.