What a roof costs in mid Missouri
Roofing is sold by the square, one hundred square feet of roof surface. Everything else in a quote is a decision somebody made about how the roof gets built, and those decisions are where two prices diverge.
The first number in any quote is the square count, and it is not the square footage of your house. A single storey home with a simple plan and a shallow pitch might carry twenty squares of roof. The same floor area with cross gables, dormers and a steeper pitch, which describes a lot of Boonville and central Columbia housing, can carry half as much again. That alone explains most of the difference between two houses that look similar from the kerb.
Layers
Every covering already up there has to come off, and disposal is charged by weight. One layer on a 2004 Ashland subdivision house is the cheap case. Two or three layers on older housing in Centralia or Fulton is materially more labour and more tonnage, and it is entirely invisible from the ground. Ask what the price assumes and what happens if the assumption is wrong.
Decking
The one line that moves after the quote. Plywood or strand board on modern housing, planks with gaps on the old stock. Anything soft, stained or delaminated gets cut out. Get a per sheet price in writing before tear off, and on older houses ask specifically about sheeting over plank decking, which is a whole roof cost rather than a patch.
The things that get quietly removed from cheap quotes
Nailing pattern. More fasteners per shingle, placed correctly, is what holds a roof down in a straight line wind. It is also invisible once the roof is on.
New flashing. Reused metal under a new roof is the classic false economy, and it produces a leak on a two year old roof.
Ice barrier at the eaves. Missouri freezing rain is occasional, which is exactly why people economise on this and then regret it in the one winter out of ten that matters.
Ventilation. In this climate, ventilation is not a finishing touch. An attic that cannot move humid air rots its own decking, and correcting intake and exhaust while the roof is off costs a fraction of doing it later.
Decking, excluded. A quote that says nothing about decking is not cheaper. It is incomplete, and the difference arrives as a change order.
Where the upgrade money is best spent
In rough order of value on a mid Missouri roof: correct ventilation, new flashing everywhere, a proper nailing pattern, ice barrier at the eaves, architectural rather than three tab shingle, and then impact rating if your insurer discounts it. Ring your own carrier about that last one before paying for it, because Missouri insurers are less consistent about the discount than some other states.
Permit and paperwork
Columbia issues a RE-ROOF permit through Building and Site Development at 701 East Broadway on 573.874.7474, and reviews to the 2018 International Codes package. Outside the city, the county or the relevant municipality handles it. There is no Missouri roofing licence to check, so ask for a certificate of insurance sent directly by the insurer and get the full scope in writing before anyone starts.
Comparing two quotes properly
Line them up and confirm they describe the same roof: same squares, same layers removed, same decking terms with a stated per sheet price, new flashing on both, same underlayment and ice barrier, same ventilation work, same shingle grade. If they do, the remaining difference is labour and overhead and you can choose on that. If they do not, the cheaper quote is not cheaper, it is smaller.
One independent mid Missouri roofing company takes requests from this site. Roof replacement covers the work itself.
Questions people ask
- Can I get a number over the phone?
A range, yes. A price, no, and anybody who gives you one has not seen the two variables that matter most. Nobody knows how many layers are up there or what the decking is doing until the old roof is off. What a good company will do on the phone is give you a range and tell you honestly what would push your house to the top or the bottom of it.
- Why is one quote thousands lower?
Check five things before assuming it is efficiency: the nailing pattern, whether flashing is new or reused, whether ice barrier is included and how far up it runs, whether an existing layer is being left in place, and whether decking replacement is in the price or excluded. Those five account for most of the gap in most comparisons.
- Does insurance change the cost?
It changes who pays rather than what the work costs. Under Missouri law a contractor may not pay or rebate your deductible, or offer you a gift card or a referral bounty in its place. If the pitch involves the roof costing you nothing, the issue is not the price.
- Is a more expensive shingle worth it?
Sometimes, and it is rarely the biggest lever. Moving from three tab to architectural shingle is usually worth it here. Moving from a good architectural shingle to a premium one matters less than whether it was fastened correctly, flashed with new metal and vented properly. Spend on the installation before spending on the bundle.