What a roof replacement costs on the Puget Sound
Ask three roofers what a replacement costs here and the answers can sit thousands of dollars apart without any of them being unreasonable. They are pricing different work, and on Puget Sound housing the part 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 labor 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 labor, 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 are up there, and who pays to haul them?
- This single answer separates a recover from a strip, and the two are different jobs at different prices. Ask what the estimator found rather than what is typical for the street.
- Is a per-sheet rate written into the bid?
- It is the honest way to price something nobody can see yet. A bidder who names a rate is telling you they expect to find something; one who omits it is hoping they will not.
- Are the valleys getting new metal, or keeping the old?
- On a treed lot the valleys have been carrying debris for decades, and their metal is usually the first thing to go. Assuming reuse keeps the bid low and the final invoice open.
- What at the eave is actually in the price?
- The eave is the last part of a roof to dry here, and it is where most local coverings actually end their lives. A quote that prices the field but not the edge has priced the easy half.
- New flashing at the walls and chimney, or the old one sealed again?
- Replacing it is the difference between a roof that is finished and a roof that is mostly finished. In a climate this wet, the joints are where the water is looking.
- Are intake and exhaust both named in the quote?
- Ask for intake and exhaust by name. A vented attic dries the deck from below through eight damp months; an unvented one turns the household’s own moisture into rot nobody can see.
Next step: How long a roof actually lasts here