The difference between an estimate and a proposal

Many roofing contractors advertise a free estimate, and homeowners often hear that number as the price. It is not. The difference between an estimate and a proposal is the difference between a rough figure and a written offer, and knowing which one you are holding changes what you should do next.

What an estimate is

An estimate is what the word says: an approximate calculation of value, quantity or extent. In roofing it usually arrives by phone or email, often before anyone has set foot on your property.

Contractors can do a surprising amount without leaving the office. Satellite imagery and aerial measurement services return roof area, pitch, facet count, and the linear footage of ridge, hip and valley. From those numbers a contractor can count squares, price material, and quote a range in a few minutes.

What an estimate does not do:

• It does not bind anyone. No offer has been made and none has been accepted.
• It does not account for what nobody has looked at: rotted decking, layered roofs, failed flashing, undersized ventilation, a previous repair that made things worse.
• It does not describe scope in enough detail to compare fairly against another contractor’s number.

Estimates are still useful. Use one to decide whether a project is inside your range and whether a contractor is worth an appointment.

What a proposal is

A proposal is written, it follows a physical visit, and it is a formal offer to perform defined work for a stated price. The contractor who prepares one has been on your roof, or at minimum on your property, and has measured what is actually there rather than what the satellite saw.

A proposal worth signing names:

• The scope of work item by item: tear-off, decking replacement allowance, underlayment, flashing, ventilation, disposal and cleanup.
• Materials by manufacturer and product name, not by category.
• The price, and how change orders are priced if hidden damage turns up once the old roof comes off.
• Both warranties in writing, the manufacturer’s on the material and the contractor’s on the workmanship, with their durations and their exclusions.
• License number, general liability coverage and workers’ compensation status.
• Payment schedule, expected start and duration, and what happens when weather moves the schedule.

Modern contractors often build the proposal on site. Thirty to forty-five minutes of loading measurements into their software and you have a document in your inbox before they leave. Some need to check a material lead time or a code question first and send it the next business day. Longer than that is worth asking about.

Why the distinction matters

A written proposal is the beginning of a contract. In general terms, a contract requires an offer, acceptance of that offer, and consideration, meaning the value each side exchanges, along with parties legally capable of agreeing and a lawful purpose. The proposal supplies the offer and defines the consideration. Your signature supplies the acceptance.

Receiving a proposal obligates you to nothing. It puts terms into a form that can be compared, questioned, negotiated, and later enforced if the work does not match what was promised.

State law adds requirements on top of that. Many states require home improvement contracts above a set dollar amount to be in writing, and several dictate clauses that must appear in the document, including cancellation rights and limits on how large a deposit a contractor may collect. The rules vary widely. Your state contractor licensing board publishes them, and reading yours before you sign takes a few minutes.

How to use both

1. Collect estimates from two or three contractors to set your expectations and thin the field.
2. Bring the strongest candidates out to the property for a real evaluation.
3. Compare the resulting proposals on scope and materials before comparing them on price. A cheaper number covering less work is not a cheaper roof.
4. Ask each one directly: what happens when the deck comes up and there is rot underneath, and what does that cost?

Get a read from someone who is not bidding

A proposal tells you what a contractor will do. It does not tell you whether the work is necessary. Where a roof is old enough to argue about, or where a sale, a claim or a dispute is in play, an inspection from someone with no stake in the outcome is worth what it costs.

That is the work NRCIA members do. A LeakFREE® Check is a five-zone inspection covering the interior, the attic, the exterior, the perimeter and the rooftop, documented in a LeakFREE® Roof Inspection Report. Where a roof meets the published criteria, the member can issue a LeakFREE® Roof Certification through InspectionPLUS®, recording the roof’s condition at that address on that date.

Across 6,460 member inspections nationwide, more than 66 percent of roofs either qualified for a LeakFREE® certification or could be repaired to qualify. For roughly two roofs out of three, the honest conversation is about repair.

NRCIA sets the standard and accredits the members. The members do the inspecting.

Find an inspector first

Find an accredited NRCIA inspector near you in the NRCIA member directory.

LeakFREE®, Forensic ROOF®, Mr. RoofCheck®, InspectionPLUS®, Today’s Inspection… Tomorrow’s Protection®, and Got Leaks?® are registered trademarks of Field Gate FLP, used by permission. RoofGUARD™, ForensicGUARD™, DisasterGUARD™, E3GUARD™, and Think Like a Raindrop™ are trademarks of Field Gate FLP.