Cost of reroofing (Kapaa, Waimea: 2014, insurance, house)

[KauaiHiker]

For all you homeowners out there, what's your experience with reroofing on your island? I have a single-family house, probably 2000 sqf of roof, with some ridges and hips. The cheapest quote I have is for $17K--that's to tear off and remove the old shingles, and lay down white 30-year architectural shingles (the kind with several small overlapping tabs, not 3 big tabs--seems to be the standard now). That does include about $500 of work to remove and put back the solar hot water panels, a flat lanai roof, and a few lead vents.

That seemed really high to me, but I have no prior experience. People on the mainland say a roof runs $5K-$7K including materials and labor. I understand about the shipping of materials and the high labor costs here, just wondering if I'm being taken for a ride.

[hotzcatz]

Sounds high to me, although there's more work in putting on shingles than tin roof. Had you inquired about having it replaced with tin?

There may be some sort of tax rebates for white colored roofing. There were several years ago, but I don't know if they are still in effect.

[KauaiHiker]

Thanks hotzcatz. I really wanted to put on a metal roof, the standing seam kind, not the corrugated tin. But the quotes from all roofers were always exactly double the shingles. Metal has a lot of advantages (lasts longer so more value in house, water can be collected), but not at that price. I was expecting $5-7K more for metal, not $17K.

BTW, I suspect this is a mild case of who-you-know-ism. The PV company (see below) did give us a contact who was cheaper, except he works without any insurance. Knowlegeable and professional guy, just not licensed. No thanks.

As for rebates, we're reroofing in order to add PV, and we're told we can get the rebate on both. If anybody has any experience with that, I'd love to hear how it went.

[hotzcatz]

How many quotes have you gotten? Are there that many roofing companies on Kauai? You could also ask the neighbors which contractor they use. Maybe having a contractor might be an idea, they would do roofing as well as a roofing company, wouldn't they? Although some contractors might call a roofing company to do the roof, but not all of them would.

We should be filing for the solar tax rebate this year although we've not filed yet so I'm not sure of the details. Guess it's about time to get busy on that!

Installing shingles isn't that hard of a project, in all actuality. Tear up a patch of the roof, then snap a chalk line and start nailing on tiles. It's not rocket science, just tedious. If it is a single story house with a less than five in twelve pitch roof, it might be something you could do yourself?

[PaliPatty]

I like this site---it allows you to plug in your zip code and, for our zip anyway, it seems pretty accurate. Your quote for the better roofing, solar panel issue, etc, doesn't seem terribly out of line?

Cost to Install Shingle Roof - 2014 Cost Calculator (ZipCode based)

If you do the roof yourself (like Hotzcatz said), not terribly difficult. Great videos and how-to guides are available online. Get yourself a compressor and nail gun, if you don't already have one---it will make your life so much easier. We do all our own work on our house (windows, doors, siding, kitchen, bathrooms, tiling....). We built a large totally adorable shed on the mainland and did the roof ourselves---no big deal but there are a few things you have to know to end up with something that looks good. Never put a roof on a bigger house, though.
If and when we need a new roof on this house I think we'll be hiring someone. Getting too old to be crawling on rooftops, single story or not.
Hope this helps.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Is the actual roof 2,000 square ft, or is the house 2,000 sq ft?

The cost of asphalt shingles has gone way up because they are a petroleum based product. The roofing paper that goes under the shingles has gone up in cost. All the edging and vents have also gone way up. Anyone who tells you what their roof cost 3-4 years ago won't be giving you a figure with any value..

With a complete tear off, maybe the price isn't so awful.

It can be a do it yourself job if you own a compressor and a roofing nail gun and are capable of following written directions. Not fun, but possible. But, did I mention, it is not fun?

My experience has been that any quote for a metal roof has been about twice the cost, and as far as I can tell, no real reason for it. The metal roofing is expensive, but it isn't a lot of work to install it. The good metal roof is powder coated aluminum, and you are paying aluminum prices for it, so it isn't cheap.

Get some more bids, but also get references and ask to see some of their work. Not every roofer does a good job.

[OpenD]

I like metal roofs the best for Hawai'i. To me the asphalt shingle roof is just all wrong... mainland style that isn't suited to the tropics. And anywhere you want to do rain catchment, a metal roof is essential, unless you want to do a Mediterranean tile roof, and Ufda! those are expensive.

Here are a few random thoughts to chew on...

If you have a single ply asphalt roof now, new shingles can normally be applied over it, saving the cost of a tear-off.

There are metal tiles, which give you the look of shingles or tiles, are safe for catchment, and are very long lasting.

There is a corrugated asphalt roofing material called Ondura, which is not good for catchment, but can be installed over shingles or bare deck, looks like traditional Hawaiian "tin roofs," and goes up quickly because it come in sheets. Check with Home Depot.

[merced mullet]

...wondering who you got quotes from...I received a reasonable estimate for work on the old Kapaa homestead from Aguano Construction 639-0425. Another "old time" Kapaa family recommended him to me if I wanted to retain the original architecture of the house but renovate it. He's familiar with that particular time period of construction.

Have got ahold of Kikiaola Construction in Waimea? They more high end 'cause they are a bigger company with operations on BI also.

[mskamelot]

HPM manufactures & sells metal roof system locally.
Call them up and ask for recommendation.

[PaliPatty]

Originally Posted by OpenD

There is a corrugated asphalt roofing material called Ondura, which is not good for catchment, but can be installed over shingles or bare deck, looks like traditional Hawaiian "tin roofs," and goes up quickly because it come in sheets. Check with Home Depot.

I've never heard of Ondura so I did a search. Hmmmm....very mixed reviews. It does look nice but I'm not sure it would be my choice.