How a Reading job runs, step by step: free quote, written scope, written quote, sign-off - and the cheaper option named when there is one.
Free inspection, a written contract, and the permit pulled by us rather than you.
Tell us the address and which town it is in. The permit comes from that town's building department and each has its own fee schedule and diary -- though the registration that actually protects you is statewide and does not change at the town line.
Both together. Outside: the slope and the details that fail. Inside: the layer count, the deck type, and the things a New England roof space tells you -- old water tracks above the wall plate, frost on the deck, insulation flattened and dark in one patch.
In writing, as this state requires over $1,000, with the registration number on it. Decking as a rate per sheet. Ice barrier coverage and ventilation stated rather than assumed. Read it before you sign anything, and check the number if you want to.
Obtaining the permit is the registered contractor's job under c. 142A and doing it ourselves is what keeps your Guaranty Fund eligibility intact. Then the work, the inspection, and a before-and-after set of photographs that is yours whatever happens next.
These are Middlesex County ranges; your own is quoted once we have looked.
Up to about $30,000 on large roofs.
Minor work from about $150.
Ventilation work quoted separately.
Asphalt is $6.75-11.50 for comparison.
Epdm $5-9, tpo $6-12 per sq ft.
Repairs that follow, $350 - $1,800.
Massachusetts gives you more than most states. Both of the commonest ways to lose it are things the homeowner does.
Home Improvement Contractors register with the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation under M.G.L. c. 142A. Hire an unregistered contractor and you are NOT eligible for OCABR arbitration and NOT eligible to seek money from the Guaranty Fund. Not reduced -- not eligible.
This is the one almost nobody knows. Pull the permit yourself and you fall into the homeowner exemption, which disqualifies you from recourse under c. 142A and from the Fund. Obtaining permits is the registered contractor's responsibility under that same chapter.
Any home improvement over $1,000 must be in writing, which covers every roofing job. A verbal price on a roof is not a contract in this state, and a scope that says only 'strip and re-roof' cannot be held to anything.
How far does the ice barrier run up the slope? In this climate a token strip at the eaves is not enough -- it wants to reach past the point where the heated building ends. It is the single most useful thing you can ask a roofer north of Boston.
Worth knowing before you start ringing round, particularly if this started in February.
Wet heavy snow north of Boston does not blow off a roof -- it sits. The melt-refreeze cycle runs at the eaves for weeks, and the ceiling below reports the whole winter's work during the first proper thaw. Which is why the calls arrive in a cluster, in the same two weeks, right across the town at once.
That cluster is the worst moment to be choosing a contractor, because everyone is busy and the temptation to take whoever can start tomorrow is strongest. It changes none of the arithmetic: the registration still has to exist, the contract still has to be written, and the permit is still ours to pull. A roof arranged in September is arranged by people with time to do it properly, at the same price.
A free written quote, no obligation.