Looking for recommendations on roofers in the Greater Boston area... (Arlington: home, roofing)

[Nobodybody]

Money is definitely an object.

I'd like to save as much as possible while still having a quality roof installed that won't leak. I've considered the following points:

- Looking for a roofer who is small enough that may let me do most or all of the shingle tear off to lower the price of installation, and/or let me help out for the rest of the job to reduce the cost.

- Does Mass Save offer any financing options if your roof is somehow 'energy efficient' or anything?

- I've considered solar - solar panels and solar shingles - and wonder if any companies offer a discount or any advantage to installing solar at the same time as a new roof. Besides solar shingles, which are expensive and I'm not sure I'm going that route, I can't think of anything else but want to be sure.

- Lastly, roofing quotes seem to vary quite a bit, so a simple recommendation of a quality roofer or roofing company who is low cost could go a long way.

- Any other ways to save on a roof, or things to consider or take advantage of when replacing a roof? I'm a first time home owner, this is our first home, and a new roof is the first priority.

Thanks!

[gf2020]

Where are you located?

Most roofers work in a pretty limited geographic area.

[SalamanderSmile]

We used Ranch Roofing, in Arlington I think. We got them from Angies List and had a good experience. We had a Foursquare with two additions and two full width porches and they did a tearoff of three layers and 30 year dimensional shingle for like $7500 but that was about 7 years ago. It was a little more than half what I had budgeted so I thought it was a good deal.

[KKay9]

Ranch here too, last summer. It was a BIG job. Quite large, 1.5 story, long and low house, so lots of roof. All kinds of roof pitches and weird valleys too. Strip two layers and replace some plywood. Replaced shingles with rubber on a 2 pitch section. Ice and water shield under all of the 4 pitch sections, not just the bottom. Replaced seven, 30 year old, leaking skylights. They also brought in carpenters to replace a broken, patched together, 24 foot beam in the room over the garage with an LVL and built a purlin wall while the roof was off.

It was not cheap, of course, but they did a fine job, communicated well and brought in enough guys to get the entire job done in two days, so we weren't without a roof for any length of time . I did shop around some and their price was not at all out of line, just expensive because the size of the job. I was afraid of going with anyone smaller, as there was too much work to risk a company without the resources to be efficient about it.