Licensed & Insured in MA Free Inspections 50-Year Warranty
Slate & Cedar Roofing Co. · Since 1964

FAQ

Everything people ask. Answered straight.

Sixty years of kitchen-table conversations, condensed. If your question isn’t here, the phone is faster than you’d think — a person answers it.

01 · Pricing & estimates

Money questions.

For most North Shore homes: architectural shingle replacements run roughly $14,000–$28,000 depending on size, pitch, and deck condition. Designer shingle adds 30–50%. Standing seam metal typically lands $28,000–$55,000, and natural slate or cedar is a different conversation we’d love to have. Every estimate we issue is line-item, so you’ll see exactly where your number comes from.

Free, about an hour, and includes drone photos and an attic check. The “catch” is shamelessly commercial: about half the people we inspect don’t need us yet, and they remember who told them so. That memory is worth more than a sales commission.

Yes — 12-month same-as-cash and longer fixed-rate terms through a local credit union partner, approved in about ten minutes. We’ll also tell you honestly when a repair now and a planned replacement in three years is the better financial path.

Because the cheapest bid usually isn’t buying what ours buys: six feet of ice barrier instead of three, all-new flashing instead of reused, W-2 craftsmen instead of whoever answered a text that morning. We’re typically within 10% of the middle bid — and we’re still here when the warranty matters, which is the expensive part to fake.

Ninety days, in writing. Material prices move, but you shouldn’t have to decide under a melting deadline. If prices drop after you sign, we pass the difference along — it’s happened, and it makes for great referrals.

02 · The work itself

Build-week questions.

Most shingle replacements: 2–4 days. Metal: 4–7. Slate restorations: one to two weeks depending on salvage. You’ll get a day-by-day schedule before we start and a photo update each evening — including the parts you can’t see from the ground.

Only twice: a ten-minute walkthrough the first morning, and the final inspection with the foreman. Otherwise, go live your life — though fair warning, a surprising number of clients take the first day off just to watch the tear-off. It’s oddly satisfying.

Tarped, plywooded, and boarded respectively — before the first shingle comes off. The dumpster sits on protective boards, never bare asphalt. And the magnet sweep happens nightly, not just at the end: kids and dogs don’t wait for fridays to play in the yard.

Our employees — background-checked, trained in-house, covered by our workers’ comp, most with us over eight years. No labor brokers, no day crews. The foreman introduces everyone by name on day one, and the same faces finish the job that started it.

We watch radar like fishermen and never open more roof than we can dry-in the same day. If weather surprises us anyway, every exposed plane is papered and tarped before the crew leaves — your house has slept dry on our watch since 1964.

03 · Warranties & afterward

Long-haul questions.

Two warranties, actually. The manufacturer covers the materials (on GAF systems, that’s their 50-year Golden Pledge®, backed by the factory, not us). We separately cover the workmanship — every nail, seam, and flashing — for 50 years on full systems. If water gets in because of how we built it, we fix it free. Period.

Once, free, with a phone call. A transferable 50-year roof warranty is genuinely useful at the closing table — listing agents around here mention us by name in the marketing sheet, which we pretend not to enjoy.

Year one includes a free post-winter checkup. After that, our maintenance plan ($249/yr) covers an annual inspection, gutter clearing, and priority storm-line status — or just call when something worries you. Warranty clients jump every queue.

The fairest skeptical question there is. Our honest answer: we’ve been at the same address for sixty-two years, the fourth generation is currently in middle school and already arguing about shingle colors, and our manufacturer-backed warranties survive us regardless. Few companies in any trade can show you that paper trail; ask to see ours.

Still wondering?

Ask a human.

Tessa answers the phone Monday through Saturday, and she’s heard every roof question ever asked — including the one you think is silly. It isn’t.

The only silly question is the unasked one

Answers are free. So is the estimate.