Most disputes between homeowners and roofers begin in the same place: a misunderstanding about what was included in the quote. The roofer believed something was excluded; the homeowner assumed it was covered. Halfway through the job the disagreement surfaces and by then the roof is open and the leverage has shifted.
Roofing quotes look simple on the surface. There's a price, a scope description and a colour. The complexity sits in the inclusions and exclusions. This post is a guide to what to look for in those sections, what should be there and the items that most commonly cause trouble when they're missing.
What should be in every quote
There are roughly nine common roofing materials on New Zealand homes. The four most common account for the majority of residential properties.
A complete reroof quote should explicitly include the following items. If any of these are missing or described vaguely, ask the roofer to add them before you sign.
- All roofing material, specified by manufacturer, product, profile, colour and gauge (0.40mm or 0.55mm steel are the two common options)
- All flashings, including ridges, hips, aprons, barges, valleys and any specialist flashings the roof needs
- Roofing underlay installed beneath the new material
- All fixings, including screws to the correct specification for the material and environment
- Removal and disposal of the existing roofing material and all waste
- Scaffolding or edge protection, appropriate to the roof pitch and height
- Electrical sleeving where powerlines connect to the property
- Site clean-up including removal of metal swarf from gutters and surrounding ground
- Manufacturer warranty documentation provided on completion
- Workmanship warranty from the roofing company, typically 5 to 10 years
Quotes that bundle several of these into vague language like "all materials and labour" are worth pushing back on. The line items matter because they're how variations get identified later. A clearly itemised quote makes it obvious when something falls outside the original scope.
What's commonly excluded and what to do about each
Some exclusions are legitimate and standard. Others are red flags. Knowing the difference is the difference between a smooth job and a dispute.
Sky dishes and TV aerials
These should be explicitly excluded from the scope of work. The roofer will remove the dish to access the roof and reinstall it after the job, but cannot guarantee reception quality afterwards because realignment requires specialist equipment. Sky engineers handle dish alignment. If your quote doesn't address sky dishes at all, ask. If it does address them, the right exclusion language is something like: "Roofer will reposition and reinstall sky dish but cannot warrant reception; client to engage Sky for realignment if required."
This is a Roofbuddy operational standard that came from years of post-job disputes about satellite reception. The clarity at quote stage is worth more than the apparent generosity of a roofer who promises to handle it.
Chimneys
Brick chimneys require step flashing up the sides and apron flashing at the base. Metal flue chimneys require a collar flashing. Both should be specified explicitly. A quote that says "chimney" without naming the flashing approach is incomplete.
Gutters and downpipes
Gutter replacement is optional and should be quoted as a separate line if included. Many gutters reach end of life around the same time as the roof and replacing them concurrently while scaffolding is on site is usually cheaper than two separate jobs. If your gutters look tired, get them quoted alongside the roof. If they don't, leave them out.
Purlin repair
Purlins are the timber members the new roofing fixes into. When converting from tile or decramastic to steel, full purlin replacement is normally required and should be included. When re-roofing steel over steel, some level of purlin repair allowance is conventional, but the full extent often can't be known until the existing roof is removed. A reasonable quote will allow for a small amount of purlin repair and then quote variations for anything beyond that. A quote with zero purlin allowance is either optimistic or expecting to add the cost as a variation later.
Structural work, fascia repair, painting, plastering, weatherboard work
These are usually excluded and should be priced separately if needed. A quote that includes everything-and-the-kitchen-sink for an unusually low price is worth examining closely.
The flashings worth asking about specifically
Most quotes itemise flashings in general terms. A few specific types are worth raising explicitly because they're the ones most commonly mishandled.
Apron flashings into cladding
Where the roof meets a wall, the flashing has to integrate into the cladding above it. On simple horizontal junctions across single boards this is straightforward. On raked junctions cutting across multiple cladding boards, plaster, or sheet materials, the work becomes significantly more complex and can require a carpenter alongside the roofer. The cost difference between the two can be several thousand dollars. Quotes should be specific about which is which.
Back trays around penetrations
Back trays are the horizontal flashings that direct water away from the rear of a penetration (a chimney, a skylight, a vent). A roof with multiple penetrations and no mention of back trays in the quote is missing a critical detail. Ask.
Valleys
Valleys are the channels where two roof sections meet downward. They handle a disproportionate amount of water flow and need to be installed before the roofing sheets above them. A quote should mention valley flashings explicitly on any roof that has them.
Three questions to ask before you sign
Once you've read the quote, three direct questions will surface most of what's missing.
- "Is there anything you're allowing for that we haven't discussed?" This invites the roofer to surface the assumptions they've made.
- "What's the most likely variation on a job like this?" A roofer who knows their craft will name the realistic candidates: purlin repair, hidden timber damage, a tricky apron flashing. A roofer who says "none, it's all here" is either supremely confident or being optimistic.
- "What's specifically excluded?" Direct, clarifying and worth getting in writing.
Why this matters more than the price
Two roofs at the same price can deliver completely different outcomes if the underlying specifications are different. Two quotes for what looks like the same job can hide thousands of dollars of variations if the inclusions list isn't aligned. The hour spent reading the small print at quote stage saves the day, the week and sometimes the relationship that gets damaged when a job goes sideways.
Roofbuddy's role in this is to write specifications properly in the first place. Every Roofbuddy quote is built from the same detailed scope document so the comparison between roofers is genuine. The exclusions are explicit. The inclusions are itemised. Variations are discussed and priced separately when they arise rather than tacked on at invoice time.
Get a properly written specification and free comparable quotes at roofbuddy.co.nz.