How much to replace a roof?

[TNDemo]

We are selling our house and it is being inspected as I write this. The house is 29 years old. When it was about 10 years old the people before us put on a second layer of roof so the top layer has been there for 19 years. The buyer mentioned that it was going to be the issue so I know we are going to have to negotiate it. It is not leaking anywhere but it is at the end of its life. I know prices vary from state to state, so how much ballpark are we talking here to strip the two layers and put on a new one in Tennessee?

[Worst Username Ever]

1. How big is the roof?

The LEAST for a full tear off on a VERY small house would be around 5K. You are probably talking more than 10K though.

[kcwayne]

2. Figure on roughly $1.50 per square foot.

There are factors the contractors apply such as pitch of the roof, number of angles, etc. This is in Indiana which is probably similar to you.

[T Roosevelt]

3. Depends on a number of things

Our house in Florida, ~2300 sqft under roof, architectural shingles (~10% more expensive) was $8k.

[TNDemo]

4. It is 2,180 sq ft - all one level.

You guys are scaring me.

[bif]

5. Get at least 3 prices

They vary a lot. We got prices ranging from $4,800 to $7,000

[babylonsister]

6. We had ours done this spring.

One level, aboutr 18500 ft. sq. Had to take it all down and rebuild from platform up as we also had two layers. Cost roughly $7,000. We live in TX so we had this roofing stuff put on that was reflective on one side to supposedly keep the house cooler, though my electric bill hasn't reflected (no pun intended)that. Deductible was about $1,100, insurance picked up the rest. Hope this helps!

[HarveyBriggs]

7. Interesting

It depends on the size of your house -- square footage of the roof and in some cases how extreme the slope of the roof is.

Two to four grand for asphalt shingles. You should be able to get bids.

A new roof should not slow down your negotiations. It's not like something inside the home where the repair can be an annoyance while you are moving out, or somebody is moving in.

If the roof is not leaking, then it should not harm your appraisal that much. Once you get bids, you might be able to offer a credit for the cost of a new roof as a term of the sale. Be willing to show the bids you have gotten.

Personally, I would take the credit and here's why: If you re-roof the house, the seller is likely to use the cheapest 20-year shingle available. But it doesn't cost that much more to go with a better dimensional 30-year shingle. And who knows? Seller might also go with a lousy roofer who doesn't flash the roof properly.

Five years before I movved into the house I'm living in the home was re-roofed and wasn't flashed properly. It's not something that is easily detctable -- particularly when the seller had covered up some of the damage the poor flashing job had created.

Here's another thing that happened. The seller was advised to install a new HVAC system, and installed the cheapest one available. Even the placement of the AC condenser was done on the cheap -- instead of spending a couple of extra bucks to place the condenser on the cooler east side of the home, the seller placed the condenser on the hot SW side of the home, making it work harder during the hottest part of the day. I'd have gotten something much more efficient, and even seriously considered a heat pump.

Offering a credit doesn't hurt as much, and may benefit the buyer.

Harvey Briggs

[HarveyBriggs]

8. It helps to be "sub-contractor friendly" I suppose.

I've always been told I was easy to work with, looking at some of these prices I didn't know how easy to work with I was!

By "easy to work with," I mean work with their schedules, thier down times, etc. I re-hab a lot of houses and sub out a lot of work. My policy with subs is, "let me know when you're not busy, and I let them know the projects I have going. So I might get a call from a plumber, "Hey, about that new drain stack you were talking about last time I was there ... I'm in the neighborhood and have a few extra hours on hand."

You'd be surprised the kind of bargains you get working like that.

My neigbor spent $2K getting a large tree removed. I spent $300 getting two very large trees and three medium-sized tree removed. The difference? By buying a chain saw ($300) and keeping the firewood-sized logs for myself, only requiring him to haul away the brush, and waiting 'till off-season I saved a bundle. Had I wanted to rent a commercial chipper, and spent five bucks for a bag of lawn fertilizer I would have saved the money he charged for the hauling and had garden mulch for next spring. (The nitrogen in the lawn fertilizer fuels the compost process, and the P & K add nutrients to the garden -- thanks to Tim McVeigh it's difficult to get bagged nitrogen any more.)

Of course, you're in a bind, timing wise.

So shop around. And really, try the "roof credit" route.

Harvey.