Every inspection is priced in writing before the visit. We do not publish one flat price, because a small single roof and a large multi section roof with moisture testing are very different jobs, and a published price would have to assume the worst case for everybody.
What we can do is explain exactly what moves the number, so that when a quote arrives you can tell whether it is priced for your building or priced for safety.
What sets the price
- Roof area and number of sections
- Access: building height, roof hatches, and whether a lift is needed
- Testing: infrared scan, moisture survey and core samples
- Report type: standard condition report or a detailed report for a buyer, lender or insurer
- Number of buildings: portfolios and annual programs are priced per program
Two of those five move the price more than the rest. The first is access. Getting a crew onto the roof is close to a fixed cost that barely changes with roof size, so a building reached by internal stair and hatch is cheap to inspect and one that needs a lift, a permit or a route through a tenant space is not. The second is testing, because infrared work often requires an evening visit and core sampling adds time at every location.
Complexity beats area. A crowded retail roof takes longer to inspect than a warehouse twice its size, because the hours go into details rather than distance. When you supply the roof area, tell us the approximate number of rooftop units as well. It changes the estimate more than the square footage does.
Every inspection includes
- A written scope and price before the visit
- Photos of every defect, with locations
- Urgency ratings for each finding
- A remaining life estimate and recommendations
Those four are the floor, not the upsell. If a competing quote is cheaper, check it against this list before assuming it is better value. A report without located photographs cannot be used to get comparable bids, and a report without urgency ratings leaves you to decide what is serious, which is the job you were paying somebody else to do.
Report type changes the price
A condition report written for an owner and a report written for a lender are the same inspection with different documentation, and documentation is work. The second one has to stand up to someone who was not there and has no reason to trust it, which means a fuller narrative, a clearer methodology section, cost ranges stated with their assumptions, and photographs indexed against a roof plan.
Decide who will read the report before you ask for a price. If the answer is a board, a bank, an insurer or a buyer, say so at the quote stage. Upgrading the report afterwards means writing it twice, and the inspector cannot add detail that nobody recorded on the day.
How to compare quotes
- Put them on the same scope. Decide whether you want moisture testing, then ask everybody to price the same thing.
- Check what the report contains, not just what the visit contains. The report is the deliverable.
- Ask what is excluded. Access equipment, additional buildings and return visits are the usual omissions.
- Ask for turnaround in writing. A cheap report that arrives after your board meeting has no value.
- Confirm independence. A report from a contractor bidding for the repair work is a proposal.
Budgeting for a program
Annual and twice yearly programs are priced across the whole portfolio rather than per visit, which usually lowers the cost per building. The saving comes from scheduling: one mobilization covering several roofs, planned in advance rather than booked in an emergency.
The larger saving is indirect. Scheduled inspections find problems while they are still repairs, and emergency call outs carry a premium that scheduled work does not. See the services page for how a program is structured, and the building types page for what we prioritize on each kind of property.
Get a quote
Send the address, building type and approximate roof size through the contact form. We reply with a written quote naming the scope, the inclusions and the report turnaround.
Common questions
Why will nobody quote a flat price for a roof inspection?
Because the same square footage can be an hour of work or a full day, and a flat price would have to assume the worst case for everyone.
- A warehouse with hatch access and few penetrations is a different job
- A retail center of the same area with dozens of units needs a lift
- Expect a written quote against a written scope instead
- Treat a number given over the phone with no scope behind it as a guess
Send the address, the building type and an approximate roof area, and the scope can usually be defined without a site visit. The commonest dispute is not the fee, it is a quote written for one scope and an invoice written for another.
Is a free roof inspection worth taking?
Only if you read it as what it is. A free inspection is a sales visit, so the document is a proposal rather than an independent assessment.
- It carries no weight with a lender, an insurer or a buyer
- It is a normal part of getting priced when you know the roof needs work
- The trouble starts when it is used to answer whether the roof needs replacing
- Two tests separate the useful free visit from the expensive one
Ask whether the inspector will provide moisture testing, and whether the report will still be usable if you hire a different contractor. If both answers are no, you are receiving a quote, so price the independent version before you commit.
What does a moisture survey add to the cost?
Equipment, time and usually a second visit, so it costs meaningfully more than a visual inspection. Whether that is worth paying depends on the decision it supports.
- Infrared scanning waits for the thermal contrast, which appears after sunset
- Core samples add cutting, recording and proper repair at every location
- A visual inspection is enough for routine maintenance budgeting
- For repair against replacement, or a purchase, the survey produces the number
Wet insulation is the largest variable in a replacement cost and cannot be seen from the surface. Ask for the survey as a separate line rather than bundled, then add it only where the visual findings warrant it. A targeted survey of two suspect sections often answers the question.
Who pays for the inspection when a building is being sold?
The buyer, in most commercial transactions, because the inspection is part of their diligence and they need a report they commissioned and can rely on.
- Sellers sometimes inspect before listing so the roof is priced into the deal
- Occasionally both happen on the same building
- What rarely works is a buyer relying on the seller's report
- That report was written for someone else, and a lender will want its own
As a buyer, commission your own and make sure the scope includes core samples and a layer count. As a seller, inspect early enough to fix the cheap findings. Agree who pays before the inspection is booked and put it in writing.
What extra costs can appear after the inspection is booked?
Three appear most often: access equipment, wasted visits and additional roof area. All three are avoidable by checking before the date is fixed.
- A lift that turns out to be necessary changes the price
- A locked hatch that sends the crew away means a second visit
- A building with more roof than the record showed changes the scope
- Ask the scope to state its assumptions explicitly
It should name the roof area it is priced on, how access is expected to be gained, how many buildings are included and what happens if any of that differs on the day. Agree the rate for a return visit in advance, not while a crew waits on the roof.