Free Roof Assessment: What Happens

A free roof assessment is, in most of home services, the first step in a sale. Someone gets on your roof, finds something, and quotes you to fix it. If you expect that from us, you are being sensible.

Here is what ours involves, start to finish, so you can judge it before you book.

Why there is nothing for us to find

We sell one thing: a treatment that soaks into dried-out asphalt shingles. We do not do repairs, replacements, leak fixes or gutters. So if your roof does not need the treatment, there is no other job on it for us. A visit that ends in "you don't need this" earns us nothing, and we are fine with that.

Before anyone climbs a ladder

When we arrive, we tell you the three answers you could get: your roof is a good candidate, it is too early, or it is not a roof we can help with. The third one happens, and we say that up front so it is not a surprise later.

On the roof: six checks

We walk the roof. Not a look from the driveway, and not a drone. You cannot judge a shingle's condition without handling it.

1. Flexibility. We bend a shingle. A healthy one flexes. A dried-out one is stiff or cracks. This is the main test.
2. Granule loss. None, moderate or severe, checked on the shingles and in the gutters and downspouts.
3. Cracking. Surface cracks, or cracks right through the shingle. Through the shingle means we can't help.
4. Storm damage. Hail bruises, wind creases, split or missing shingles. Any storm damage and we can't treat it.
5. Leaks. Staining and signs of water. We will ask whether you have seen stains on a ceiling.
6. Shingles intact. Anything missing, split or lifted.

The photographs

We photograph each of those checks: the whole roof, a close-up of the shingle surface, the flex test mid-bend, the granules in your gutter, any cracked or curling edges, and anything that rules the roof out.

The photos are yours. We send them to you whatever the answer is, including when we turn the roof down. You make the decision from pictures of your own shingles, not from our word.

The answer, at the roof

You get the verdict in plain words before anyone talks about price.

• Good candidate. The shingles are worn but sound, which is the roof the treatment is for. We show you the photos and give you a price there. Most roofs come to between $1,000 and $2,000 in total, depending on the size and pitch. More on how the price works.
• Too early. The roof is in good shape and there is nothing for us to do yet. We tell you to come back to us in a few years.
• Not a roof we can help with. We show you the photo of why: the hail bruise, the split, the crack through the shingle. Then we give you the name of a roofer who does repairs and replacements.

Nothing is owed for the visit in any of the three cases. If you are a candidate and want time to think, take it. The photos stay with you either way.

What we won't do

We won't quote over the phone. You can't tell a shingle's condition from the ground, and we won't guess. And we won't treat a roof that doesn't qualify, however much the owner wants it done. A treatment on a damaged roof would fail, and it would be our name on it.

Before you book

If your roof is already leaking, call a roofer first. If you have a replacement quote and you are not sure about it, read when a second opinion is worth getting. And if you want to know whether your roof might be past saving, start here.

Otherwise, book the assessment. You can read how the treatment works first, or how it compares with a new roof.