What a roof replacement costs on the Puget Sound
Two quotes on the same house can be thousands of dollars apart, and it is almost never because one contractor is greedy. It is because the two numbers include different work — and on Puget Sound housing, the work that differs is usually hiding at the edges, in the valleys, and under the moss.
The lines that move the number
Tear-off comes first: code allows two layers at most, so a roof recovered once before must now be stripped completely, which adds labour and disposal. Decking is the wildcard — nobody knows how many sheets are soft until the roof is open, and on pre-war stock that started life under cedar, spaced boards may need sheeting over entirely; an honest quote prices decking per sheet instead of pretending to know. Then the lines this climate makes likely: valley metal on roofs that have carried needle loads for decades, and edge work — drip edge, fascia repair, the first inches of deck at the eaves — priced per foot, because coverings here die at their edges first.
Two more separate a complete job from a covering swap: new flashing at chimneys and walls versus reusing the old, and ventilation — the intake-and-exhaust balance that decides whether the attic dries the new roof from below or rots it. On treed lots, expect a canopy line too: staging under mature firs and hauling debris off a wooded lot is real labour, and quotes that price it show it.
Why timing changes the quote
The Sound’s replacement season concentrates into the dry window, roughly July through September, and the calendar fills from the middle out. Quotes gathered in spring consistently get more contractor attention and more schedule flexibility than quotes requested at the peak — same roof, same firms, different position in the queue. On plat-era streets where whole blocks reach replacement age together, quoting a season ahead of your street’s wave is the single easiest money-saver available.
Before you sign, make every bidder answer
- How many layers come off, and is disposal included?
- What is the per-sheet price for decking replacement?
- Is valley metal assumed reused, or priced new?
- What edge scope is included — drip edge, fascia, deck edge?
- New flashing or reused flashing at chimneys and walls?
- What exactly does the ventilation scope include?
Next step: How long a roof actually lasts here