What actually gets checked
A real inspection is not a walk round the garden with a clipboard. On the roof:
- Every slope, including the ones you cannot see from the street — which in a hail event are usually the ones that took it.
- Shingle condition by hand, not only by eye. Bruising is felt, not seen.
- Penetrations — pipe boots, vents, satellite mounts, anything that goes through the deck.
- Flashing at chimneys, sidewalls, step and kick-out points.
- Valleys and valley metal.
- Ridge, ridge cap and exhaust ventilation.
- Gutters, downspouts and collateral surfaces — the soft metal that records the storm most legibly.
And off the roof: the attic, where daylight through the deck, damp sheathing, staining along rafters and blocked intake ventilation tell you things the surface will not.
What you receive
- A dated photo report of every damaged slope, vent and flashing point. Dated matters — it is what ties damage to a storm.
- An itemised written estimate if work is needed: materials, labour and timeline, line by line, including a per-sheet price for decking so there are no mid-job surprises.
- A straight answer on whether this is a repair, a replacement, or nothing at all.
- Shingle and colour options, with physical samples, if you decide to go ahead.
All of it is yours to keep whether you hire anybody or not. If the roof is sound, you have a dated record saying so — useful the next time somebody knocks claiming your street was hit.
When to get one
After any significant hail or wind event in your area, even if nothing looks wrong. Especially then.
Before you list the house. A roof problem discovered by the buyer's inspector is a negotiation you lose. Discovered by yours, it is a decision you make.
Before you buy. A general home inspector looks at a roof; a roofer inspects it. The difference is several thousand dollars often enough to matter.
Around the fifteen-year mark, and every couple of years after. That is when pipe boots start failing and when you want to know how much life is actually left rather than guessing.
If you have a leak, obviously — but also if you found granules at the downspout, or your neighbours are all replacing.
Why it is free
Because the roofing contractor pays us, not you. That is the whole arrangement, and we would rather say it plainly than have you wonder where the catch is.
There is no scenario in which a homeowner receives a bill from us, and no obligation attached to the inspection. If the roof is fine, the honest answer is that the roof is fine — a contractor who finds problems on every roof does not stay in a network for long.