Roof Replacement — every city we serve

Service life depends on the material, the quality of the installation and whether the attic beneath it is ventilated. As a general guide:

• Three-tab asphalt shingles — roughly 15 to 20 years
• Architectural (dimensional) asphalt shingles — roughly 25 to 30 years
• Impact-resistant Class 4 shingles — similar lifespan, with far better hail performance
• Designer and luxury asphalt — 30 years and beyond
• Standing-seam metal — 40 to 70 years
• Single-ply flat systems (TPO, EPDM) — 20 to 30 years on a well-drained deck

Two things shorten every one of those numbers: poor ventilation, which bakes shingles from underneath, and hail, which takes life off a roof in a single afternoon. A roof in the Midwest is frequently replaced for storm damage well before it reaches the end of its rated life.

Decking is the structural skin, usually plywood or OSB, and it is what everything else fastens to. Drip edge controls water at the roof's edges. Ice-and-water shield is a peel-and-stick membrane that seals around the fasteners driven through it. Underlayment is the backup barrier for the whole field. Starter strip gives the first course a sealed edge to bond to. Shingles are the visible wear layer. Flashing handles every place the roof meets something that is not roof. Ventilation keeps the assembly dry and at a sane temperature. Remove any one of them and the system fails at that point, which is why a low bid that skips a layer is not a cheaper roof — it is a shorter one.

A roof needs balanced airflow: intake low at the soffits, exhaust high at the ridge. Air enters cool, picks up heat and moisture from the attic, and leaves at the top. When exhaust exists without intake — a common shortcut — the system pulls air from inside the house instead, and performance collapses.

Bad ventilation costs you twice. It cooks shingles from the underside and shortens their life, and most manufacturers condition their material warranty on adequate ventilation, so an unvented roof can invalidate the coverage you paid for. In winter, the same defect drives ice dams: escaping heat melts snow high on the roof, and the meltwater refreezes at the cold eave and backs up under the shingles. We assess intake and exhaust on every replacement before a single bundle is loaded.

We do not publish a price per square, because a number without a roof attached to it is marketing rather than information. What we can tell you plainly is what moves the number:

• Size, measured in squares — one square is 100 square feet of roof surface, not floor area
• Pitch — steep roofs need more safety equipment and slow the work considerably
• Height and access — two- and three-story homes, tight lots, no room for a dump trailer
• Existing layers — every layer of tear-off is labor and disposal
• Decking condition, which nobody can price honestly until the old roof is off
• Complexity — valleys, dormers, chimneys, skylights and every penetration that needs flashing
• Material selected — three-tab, architectural, impact-resistant, designer or metal
• Code-required items in your jurisdiction, such as ice barrier or ventilation minimums
• Gutters, fascia, soffit and siding if the storm or the age of the house took those too

We measure the roof, put the scope in writing line by line, and the estimate is free. Financing options are available if the work is not going through an insurance claim.

Architectural asphalt is the default for most homes in our markets: two or more laminated layers, a dimensional look, solid wind ratings and sane cost. Impact-resistant Class 4 shingles are worth a serious look anywhere hail is routine — they are built to survive a steel-ball impact test, and many carriers offer a premium discount for them, which can pay back part of the upgrade every year you own the house. Designer lines imitate slate or shake at a fraction of the structural load. Standing-seam metal costs more up front and outlives everything else, with concealed fasteners and excellent wind and snow behavior. Single-ply membrane belongs on low-slope and flat sections, which cannot shed water fast enough for shingles no matter how well they are installed.

Every roof carries two. The manufacturer's warranty covers the material against defects, and its term depends on the product line and, frequently, on whether the installer holds the manufacturer's certification. The workmanship warranty covers the installation — the labor, the details, the flashing — and it is only worth as much as the company behind it. Ours is a lifetime workmanship warranty on the roofs we install, from a company that has been here through three generations since 1947.

What voids warranties, in practice: inadequate ventilation, incorrect nailing, reused flashing, pressure washing the shingles, and unrelated trades walking the roof and breaking seals after the fact. Keep your final invoice and warranty paperwork together — you will want both if you sell the house.

Putting new shingles over old ones is faster and cheaper, and we do not do it. A layover hides the decking, so nobody knows what is under there. It telegraphs every flaw of the old roof through the new one. It traps heat and shortens the life of the new material. It adds dead load. It complicates every flashing detail. And it caps out fast — codes generally permit no more than two total layers. Tearing off costs more on the invoice and less over the life of the roof.

Most residential replacements are a one- or two-day job once the crew is on site: tear-off and dry-in on day one, finish and cleanup on day two, with larger or steeper roofs running longer. Weather moves schedules, and we would rather move a start date than dry a roof in ahead of a storm.

Before the crew arrives, do these: move vehicles well clear of the drip line, take pictures and mirrors off walls that share framing with the roof, cover attic storage with sheeting, put away patio furniture and grills, keep pets inside and away from the work, and plan for noise from early morning on. If you have a satellite dish or solar array, tell us in advance so it is handled deliberately instead of discovered mid-tear-off.

Permit requirements are set by the municipality or county, not by us, and they vary widely across 500+ cities in five states. We pull the permit where the jurisdiction requires one and build to the current code — which can add items your old roof never had, such as ice barrier at the eaves or a ventilation minimum. Those show up as separate line items rather than surprises, and on an insurance job they are frequently recoverable as code upgrades.

If a storm caused the damage, the roof may be a claim rather than a purchase, and the process is different: inspection and documentation first, then your claim, then the adjuster, then scope agreement, then the work, then release of the held-back depreciation. If there is no storm damage and the roof is simply worn out, it is an ordinary home improvement and financing is usually the right conversation. We will tell you honestly which one you are looking at — including when the answer is that your roof has several years left in it.

Shingle color changes how the whole house reads, and it is genuinely hard to judge from a three-inch sample. Look at full-size boards in daylight against your brick or siding, and look at installed roofs in your own neighborhood. Darker roofs hide staining but run hotter; lighter roofs stay cooler but show algae streaking more readily. If you are in an HOA, check the approved palette before you fall in love with a color, and keep in mind that a roof is a twenty-five-year decision, so the safer choice usually ages better than the fashionable one.

Yes, with care. Asphalt shingles rely on a heat-activated sealant strip to bond, and in cold weather that bond forms slowly, so cold-weather work calls for hand-sealing in the vulnerable areas and a crew that understands the material is more brittle in the cold. What we will not do is install in active precipitation or on an iced roof. In practice, winter roofing in the Midwest is a matter of picking the right days, and emergency work gets dried in immediately regardless of season.

Ask any contractor two questions: who installs the roof, and who answers the phone in February. Storm season fills every market with crews from out of state, and a workmanship warranty from a company that has left the state is a piece of paper. We are a licensed and insured, family-owned company running our own crews out of local offices across Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky, with 24/7 emergency service, a BBB Torch Award for Ethics, more than 50,000 satisfied customers, and three generations of the same family behind the name.