How the business runs

A roofing business built for two- and three-family houses

This is a roof replacement business working East Orange and the Essex County municipalities next to it. The work is residential and small multi-family: asphalt, flat and slate, on the pre-war and post-war housing this city is made of.

It is organized around the building type rather than the covering, because in this city that is what decides the job. A three-family house is outside the ordinary-maintenance exemption and inside a separate state inspection regime, and an owner who finds both out from an inspector rather than from their roofer has been badly served. So the survey establishes unit count first, the scope states the permit position in writing, and where a slate roof can be repaired instead of stripped we say so -- because the difference is tens of thousands of dollars.

Replacement and re-slating -- not general building work
No storm-damage paperwork of any kind
No help with a housing inspection beyond the roof itself
No price without walking the roof and the roof space

New timber roof framing and ceiling joists inside an attic — **On the roof**Survey before any price is given

How it runs

Four steps, no surprises

Free inspection, the unit count and permit position in writing, then a written quote. No curbside numbers.

Call or message

Tell us the address and how many dwelling units are in the building. That one answer settles whether this is ordinary maintenance or permitted work, and whether the building is a registered multiple dwelling -- which is usually the first thing an owner wants to know.

Survey, roof and roof space

Both together. On slate the underside tells you whether the nails have gone, which is the difference between a repair and a replacement. On asphalt the eaves tell you whether an ice barrier was ever there. Layer count gets checked at the rake edge while we are up.

Written scope, then the price

Named details rather than 'replace roof': ice barrier coverage, drip edge, underlayment, nailing, and decking priced per sheet. The permit position is stated in writing, including when the honest answer is that none is needed.

The work, and the photographs

Tenant notice and a waste route agreed before the day, a sequence that keeps every unit covered overnight, nails swept, and a before-and-after set that is yours whatever you decide to do next.

Before you choose

Five checks worth making on every quote, including ours

Two of them are specific to New Jersey and one is specific to buildings like the ones on this street.

Is there an HIC registration number on it

New Jersey registers home improvement contractors rather than licensing roofers, and the number belongs on every advert and contract. The register is public. The wording is a tell too: the code says not to call it a license, so a New Jersey roofer advertising their roofing 'license' has not read the rules closely.

Does the quote state the unit count and the permit position

This is the one nobody asks. One or two units detached is ordinary maintenance; three is permitted work on a registered multiple dwelling. A quote silent on which your building is has skipped the first question of the job.

If it is slate, who is actually assessing it

A contractor who does not work slate will reliably recommend stripping it, because that is the job they can do. Ask what specifically has failed -- the slate, the nails or the flashings -- and ask to be shown.

Does it name the ice barrier and the nailing

Both are invisible once the roof looks finished and both are what gets you through February. Coverage at the eaves and the nailing pattern are measurable lines on a scope. 'Replace roof' is not a scope.

Did anybody go up

No figure should be given without the roof and the roof space being looked at. We do not quote at the curb and we do not quote from a photograph alone.

About