How the business runs

A roofing business built around one local distinction

This is a roof replacement business working Elizabeth and the surrounding Union County boroughs. The work is residential and small multi-family: shingle, flat and metal, on detached houses, attached rows and two- to four-family buildings.

It is organized around something specific about New Jersey. Most roofing advice online is written for warm-climate, detached, single-family housing under codes that are not this state's. Elizabeth is none of those things. So the site states the New Jersey position -- when a permit is genuinely required, what an ice barrier is for, and which widely quoted rule belongs to a different state entirely -- and prices every job against published New Jersey figures rather than a national average.

Replacement work only -- no storm-damage paperwork of any kind
No solar, no siding, no windows -- roofs only
No doorstep prices, and no quote from a photograph alone
No work on a roof we have not walked, whatever the deadline

Foil-faced insulation under the rafters of an attic — **On the roof**Survey before any price is given

How it runs

Four steps, no surprises

Free inspection, the permit position in writing, then a written quote. No obligation, no curbside numbers.

Call or message

Tell us the address and whether the house is detached, attached or has more than two units. That one answer already tells us whether this is permitted work, which is usually the first thing you want to know.

Survey, roof and roof space

Both together. The covering tells you what has happened; the underside of the deck and the eaves tell you how far it has got and whether an ice barrier was ever there. Layer count gets checked at the rake edge while we are up.

Written scope, then the price

Named details, not 'replace roof'. Ice barrier coverage, drip edge, underlayment, nailing, and decking priced per sheet. The permit position is stated in writing, including when the honest answer is that none is needed.

The work, and the photographs

Frontage and waste route agreed before the day, nails swept, and a before-and-after set that is yours to keep whatever you decide to do next.

Before you choose

Five checks worth making on every quote, including ours

Two of them are specific to New Jersey, and the first one catches more than you would expect.

Is there an HIC registration number on it

New Jersey registers home improvement contractors rather than licensing roofers, and the number belongs on every advert and contract. The register is public. Note the wording too: the code says not to call it a license, so a New Jersey roofer advertising their roofing 'license' is telling you something about how closely they read the rules.

Does the quote state the permit position

Detached one- or two-family is ordinary maintenance -- no permit, no inspection. Attached, or three units and up, is not. A quote that says nothing about which of those your building is has skipped the first question of the job.

Does it name the ice barrier and the nailing

Both are invisible once the roof looks finished and both are what gets you through February. Coverage at the eaves and the nailing pattern are measurable lines on a scope. 'Replace roof' is not a scope.

Are the quotes specifying the same roof

Three-tab versus architectural, a tear-off versus an overlay, and a decking allowance versus a lump guess each move the price by thousands. A cheaper quote is often a lesser roof rather than a better deal.

Did anybody go up

No figure should be given without the roof and the roof space being looked at. We do not quote at the curb and we do not quote from a photograph alone -- and a price offered before either is an opening position, not a quote.

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