Roof replacement

[M5]

Received quotes to replace shingles and decking on the 18sq roof for our rental property 1700 miles away... $7300???!!!!!!!

We decided to do it ourselves since we were going to be in the area recently anyway. Watched Youtube videos and asked a neighbor for some tips/tools and off we went. Tore off 2 layers of asphalt shingles, replaced rotten fascia boards, installed new decking and 30 year architectural shingles in 5 1/2 days.

Total DIY cost ~$3700

I never have the desire to roof again but am very proud of our effort and savings!

[Blindsquirrel]

   That is dedication!

[AccidentalMiser]

Nice job.  We did our roof two years ago but went with metal instead.  As you say, it's  a lot of work and I never want to do it again but I also saved many thousands of $ by doing it with my sons.

[pecunia]

I've shingled roofs before, but didn't do my house the previous Summer.  I received three bids.  the spread was enormous.  I went to the cheapest guys.  They were easy to work with.

The most expensive bidders came to the house with two salesmen, a TV movie demonstration, samples and a log sales pitch.  They wouldn't leave until I threw them out.  It was an education.

[Syonyk]

I never have the desire to roof again but am very proud of our effort and savings!

Yeah, but you know how to do it now, and that's about as in depth as you can get for a reroof job.  Everything else you help with will be cheaper!

I've helped reroof... I have no idea many houses and buildings.  It's one of those things a church group I was part of did as practical service projects, and it turns out, a swarm of college students and a few people who know what they're doing can do an awful lot of roof in a long Saturday.  It saves a ton of money, and as long as you're not doing it in the peak of summer, it's not that bad.  We usually did it in the spring or fall (it feels weird roofing without a college football or basketball game on the radio).

[nedwin]

Good job!  I've never done roof work, but have done concrete flat work and quickly learned it was not what I wanted to do for a living.

Similar to you, some years ago I had a rental far from where I lived.  It was an attached, zero lot line, duplex style house.  The owner of the other side worked to get a few quotes for a new roof over the whole building.  The first quote was $9000 ($4,500 each), second was $12,000 and the third $24,000.  The first quote was from a contractor that lived in the neighborhood.  He crawled all over the roof taking measurements and provided a detailed description of what he would do for that price.  The second contractor also crawled across the roof for measurements and was competitive with the services offered.  The third was from a large contractor that advertised heavily in all media formats.  The estimator didn't even get out of the pickup.  He parked in the driveway, rolled down the window, and stated a price.  We obviously went with the first contractor and the work was top notch.

[fattest_foot]

I've done some roof patching (quite a lot, actually). I've considered trying to re-roof the entire thing myself, but it's overwhelming because I feel like you'd have to do it all at once and be fully committed.

Glad to see there are a few Mustachians who've tackled it and it's not too intimidating.

[M5]

Thanks all!

[Car Jack]

I did the same thing on our first house.  When we moved into our present house, we had a detached garage built and in order to keep cost low, I shingled it along with wiring it and painting. 

Roofing is not rocket science.  It's just a lot of hard work.