Three roofing estimates are open on the table. One is a single line and a number. One runs to two pages of trade language. The third is somewhere between. Nothing in them lines up, and the cheapest is thousands below the dearest for what is supposedly the same roof.
Comparing prices without comparing scopes is how people buy a roof twice. This guide reads a roofing quote in Edmonton line by line — what each item on a roof estimate means, which ones get quietly left out, and the one rule in Alberta law that governs how much money a contractor may take before the work is finished.
The short answer: what a complete quote shows
An estimate you can act on states the measured roof area in squares, the waste percentage, how many layers come off, a rate for replacing sheathing, the underlayment and ice-and-water by name, every metal detail, the ventilation, disposal, permit handling, the workmanship warranty with a number of years on it, and the payment schedule. Anything missing is not free — it is unpriced.
Two neighbouring guides, deliberately separate. What a new roof costs and what drives the range is roof replacement cost in Edmonton. How to check the company itself — the three documents, the questions, the answers that end the conversation — is how to choose a roofing contractor. This guide is narrower than both: it reads the document.
Measurement: squares, waste and pitch
Squares, and why the number is bigger than your house
Roofing is priced by the square, and one square is 100 square feet of roof surface. Roof surface is not floor area: pitch and overhang make the roof considerably larger than the footprint the assessment notice lists. A quote should state the number of squares it is based on and how that number was obtained — measured on the roof, from a drawing, or from aerial measurement software.
Two estimates with different square counts for the same house are not both right. Ask each for the figure before you compare anything else, because every other line scales off it.
Waste percentage
Material is ordered with a percentage added for cuts and offcuts. A simple gable roof wastes little; a cut-up roof with several valleys, hips and dormers wastes a great deal more. The number itself is a judgement call, not a standard — what matters is that the quote names it and that the reason matches your roofline. A quote with no waste line either buried it or will be back for a change order.
Pitch, storeys and access
Steep pitch means staging and fall-arrest, slower work and higher cost, and it is a legitimate line rather than an upsell. So is access: where the bin can sit, whether material has to be carried, whether a boom is needed. If two quotes differ and only one mentions pitch, that is probably where the difference lives.
The lines that keep water out
This is the part of the document where a cheap estimate gets cheap. Every item below is a separate product with a separate cost, and every one of them is invisible once the shingles are on.
Tear-off, and how many layers
Removing the old roof is labour plus disposal, and two layers costs meaningfully more than one. The quote should say how many layers it assumes and what happens if a third appears. Roofing over an existing layer is cheaper and hides the deck, and it is one of the standard ways to lose a manufacturer warranty — see what voids a roof warranty in Alberta.
Sheathing, by the sheet
Nobody can see the deck through the old roof, so nobody can price it in advance honestly. What a quote can do is fix the rate: a price per sheet, agreed before the work starts, with damaged sheets photographed as they come out. A quote that names a fixed decking figure is guessing; a quote that is silent on it has left you exposed. The mechanics are in roof decking repair.
Ice-and-water membrane and underlayment
These are two different products and they should be two different lines. Self-adhering ice-and-water membrane goes at the eaves and in the valleys, and it is the layer that stops backed-up meltwater in this climate — Insurance Bureau of Canada's hail protection guidance lists installing a self-adhering waterproofing underlayment when re-roofing among its longer-term recommendations for homeowners.
The quote should state how far up the slope that membrane runs, not just the word “eaves”. Underlayment is the separate sheet over the rest of the deck: synthetic or felt, and the quote should say which.
Flashings, boots, drip edge and starter
Step flashing at walls, valley metal, chimney and skylight flashing, new pipe boots, drip edge at the eaves and rakes, and a proper starter course. Reused flashing is the most common source of a leak on a roof that is otherwise brand new. If the quote says “flashing as required”, ask which pieces are new — flashing repair is a whole service for a reason.
Ventilation
Ridge vent, box vents or a power vent, and the intake at the soffit that makes any of them work. Ventilation is the line most often dropped, and it is the one that quietly drives attic condensation and shortened shingle life afterwards — see attic ventilation.
The lines people skim past
Disposal, and where the bin goes
An asphalt tear-off produces a lot of weight. Disposal should be included and named, not invoiced afterwards as an extra. Ask where the bin will sit, who is responsible if the driveway is marked, and whether a city permit is needed for street placement.
Permit handling
A like-for-like re-roof is usually treated as maintenance rather than construction, and work that changes the structure, the roof line or the penetrations is not — and the authority depends on which municipality you are in. Whoever applies owns the compliance record, so the quote should say who applies and who pays. The authorities are listed in roofing permit rules for Edmonton and the Capital Region.
Site protection and the magnet sweep
Tarps over landscaping, plywood against the siding, and a magnetic sweep of the lawn and driveway at the end. Small money, and the difference between a finished job and a punctured tyre in October.
The workmanship warranty, with a number on it
The manufacturer covers defects in the material. The contractor covers the installation, and that promise is worth what the paper says and nothing more. The quote should state the workmanship term in years and what it excludes.
Alberta also has a third-party route: ARCA issues its own warranty certificates through an ARCA warranty programme that requires an accepted system, a member contractor and an independent inspection — ask whether your job is eligible rather than assuming.
Money, deposits and the paperwork around them
The Alberta deposit rule, which most homeowners have never heard
This is the one piece of hard law in the document. Under Alberta's consumer legislation, a business that solicits or concludes a contract away from its own place of business and accepts money before all the work is done is carrying on prepaid contracting, and prepaid contracting requires a provincial licence.
The same page lists what a licence application demands: information on the business, a criminal record check, a security, copies of the standard contracts, and a fee.
What to do with that. If a roofer asks for money up front, they should hold a prepaid contracting licence — and you can look a business up through Alberta's business licences service rather than take anyone's word for it. Note the exemption on the same page: contracts for business or commercial buildings are outside the licensing requirement, so this is a homeowner's protection specifically.
The payment schedule
A schedule tied to milestones — material delivered, tear-off complete, final sign-off — tells you more about a company than its brochure does. So does the reverse: a large deposit demanded at the door, cash preferred, or a discount for paying before anything happens. If a deductible or a settlement gap is the obstacle, financing is the legitimate answer, and it appears as its own document rather than as a discount.
On an insurance job the quote is a scope, not a price
When the work is a claim, the insurer estimates the damage and you pay your deductible. IBC is explicit that you can use a contractor of your choice, and equally explicit that if your contractor charges a different price, you are responsible for the difference.
So the document to compare against is the insurer's scope, line for line, and anything genuinely missing from it is a supplement to be requested with evidence — not a surprise invoice at the end. The process is in how a roof insurance claim works.
A worksheet for comparing two estimates
| Line to check | Quote A | Quote B | What a good answer looks like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Squares, and how measured | A number plus a method | ||
| Waste percentage | Named, and matched to your roofline | ||
| Layers to be removed | Stated, with what happens if there is another | ||
| Sheathing rate per sheet | A rate, not a guess, with photos on removal | ||
| Ice-and-water: where and how far | Eaves and valleys, with a distance | ||
| Underlayment type | Synthetic or felt, named | ||
| Flashings: new or reused | Each piece listed as new | ||
| Ventilation: exhaust and intake | Both, not just the ridge | ||
| Disposal | Included and named | ||
| Permit: who applies, who pays | In writing | ||
| Workmanship warranty term | A number of years and its exclusions | ||
| Deposit and payment schedule | Milestones; a licence if money moves early |
Fill it in from the two documents before you look at either total. If a row is blank on one estimate, that is the conversation to have - not the price difference.
Read that way, a roof estimate in Edmonton stops being a number and becomes a scope of work: squares and waste, layers and sheathing, ice-and-water and underlayment, flashings and ventilation, disposal and permit, warranty term and payment schedule. Two honest estimates that disagree on price usually disagree on two or three of those lines, and the disagreement is findable in ten minutes.
Before you sign anything, put both documents side by side with the worksheet above, ask for the missing rows in writing, and check the licence if money is changing hands early.
If you want the scope established independently of anyone's price, start with a documented roof inspection — a written, dated assessment of what the roof actually needs is the fairest basis on which to read anyone's estimate, and on a storm claim it is also what the claim runs on. A roof assessment in writing outlasts every verbal promise made beside it.