Got a roof rejuvenation quote? What it should say before you sign

A good roof rejuvenation quote shows its work. It tells you what the applicator found on your roof, whether your roof is actually a candidate, what the price covers, what gets priced separately and what paperwork comes with it. If yours is one number with a signature line under it, you do not have a quote yet. You have a price with a pen attached.

That matters more with rejuvenation than most house jobs, because you cannot check the work by looking at it. A new roof is obviously a new roof. A treated roof looks like the same roof a week later, which is the whole point of the product and exactly why the paper has to do the talking.

It does not matter whether your quote came from a Roof Maxx dealer, a local roofer who added rejuvenation to the truck, or one of our applicators. The checklist is the same, and it is the one we would want our own dealers held to.

The short version: five things a good quote has in it

• What they found on your roof, written down, with dated photos of your roof and not a stock photo of somebody else's.
• A straight call on whether your roof is a candidate, plus any repairs it needs first.
• What the price includes: the prep, protecting your house and yard, the treatment itself and the cleanup.
• What it does not include, priced on its own lines: repairs, any later treatment, any maintenance plan.
• The paperwork: the product by name with its data sheet, the warranty document if there is one, proof of insurance, a license where your state wants one, and the payment and cancellation terms.

If you only have time to check one of these, check the first. Everything else on the page rests on what the applicator actually saw.

What the quote should say about your roof

Nobody can price a rejuvenation treatment honestly from the driveway, and nobody should try. Size, pitch, access and condition are what move the price, and condition is the one you cannot see from the street. Our roof rejuvenation guide says it plainly: your applicator prices your roof after inspecting it, and the quote varies with size, pitch, condition and market.

A price worked out from a satellite photo can measure your roof. It cannot tell how brittle your shingles are.

So the quote should record the inspection. At a minimum it should cover:

• The roof itself. How big, how steep, how many slopes.
• The condition, in plain words. Granule loss, how stiff the shingles are, any lifted or cracked tabs, the state of the flashing and caulking around chimneys and vents.
• Dated photos. Photos are how you know somebody actually went up there.

Roof Maxx deserves credit on this point. Its own roof assessment page promises "dated photos of every problem area," "findings ranked by severity," "a clear list of recommended fixes" and "an estimate you can keep & compare." That is a good list. Expect it from anybody who wants your money, including us.

Then comes the most important line on the whole quote: is your roof a candidate at all? Rejuvenation is maintenance for a sound roof. An active leak, cracked or curling or missing shingles across large areas, soft or sagging decking, or storm damage with an insurance claim in progress all mean repair or replace first. If your roof has any of those and the quote still says "treat," ask why, out loud. If you want to size up your own roof before anyone comes out, our ground level checklist walks you through it from the yard.

A quote that says "not yet, your roof is too new" or "this one needs a roofer, not us" is not a lost sale. That is the quote working.

What the price should cover, and what gets its own line

Our applicators are typically on the roof for 2 to 4 hours, in one visit, with no tear-off and no dumpster. A scope that simple is easy to write down, so there is no excuse for a vague one.

The treatment price should spell out:

• The prep, and who does it. A roof should be cleared of debris before it is treated, and small problems like raised nails or tired caulking at the vents get dealt with first. Our own guidance to applicators is to fix the roof before treating it. The quote should say which of that is in the price and which is extra.
• Protecting your property. The treatment is misted on, and mist drifts. The quote should say how the plants under your eaves, your siding and your windows will be covered or shielded, and whether you need to move the car or keep the dog inside while they spray.
• The application. Our treatment goes across the entire roof surface in a single visit. If a quote covers less than the whole roof, it should say which slopes and why.
• The day and the after. When they are coming, roughly how long it takes, and what you will see. A treated roof looks slightly darker for a few days and settles back to normal within a week or two, and nobody should be surprised by that.

What should sit on its own line, with its own price:

• Repairs. Replacing shingles and fixing leaks is roofing. If your roof needs it, you should see it as a separate item, and in some states it has to be done by a licensed roofer.
• A later treatment. Some owners treat again a few years down the road. That is a separate job, priced on its own. If a quote bundles in a second treatment, it should say when it happens and what changes if you cancel it.
• A maintenance or warranty plan, if one is offered, so you can see what the treatment costs without it.

This is usually why two quotes for the same roof look nothing alike. One is the treatment. The other is the treatment, three repairs, a plan and a return visit. Compare them line by line, not total to total. If you want to know what moves the price in the first place, we broke it down in how much Roof Maxx costs.

The paperwork that should come with the price

• The product, by name. You are allowed to know what is going on your roof. Ask for the technical data sheet. We publish the science behind ours, and we send the data sheet and test reports to anybody who asks. "Our proprietary blend" is not a product name.
• The warranty, as an actual document. Not a line on the quote that says "warranty included." The real terms: what it covers, what it excludes, how long it runs, whether it is prorated and who stands behind it. To be plain about ours, the House Dressing treatment on its own comes without a warranty. Participating applicators offer the 10-Year Roof Care Program, a maintenance plan that includes a 10-year limited warranty. Read it before you sign, the same as you would any roof warranty.
• Proof of insurance. Ask for the certificate, not a verbal yes. General liability is the baseline for anyone getting on your roof, and it is fair to ask whether the policy actually covers roof work.
• A license, where your state requires one. The rules for this work change from state to state, and there is no national answer. We dug into what the licensing boards have actually said. Ask which license the company holds, if any, and check it with your state's board.
• Payment terms. What you pay, when, and what you get back if the job never happens. A one visit job does not need a complicated payment schedule.

Red flags on a rejuvenation quote

• A price with no inspection behind it. The big one.
• Today-only pricing. A sound roof is not an emergency. If it were an emergency, rejuvenation would be the wrong product.
• Added years promised like a guarantee. Every brand's number is a ceiling, ours included: up to six years per treatment is a manufacturer figure, and condition, shingle type, weather, preparation and application rate all move the outcome. We explain what those years really mean in how long roof rejuvenation lasts.
• Before and after photos where the roof looks brand new. Rejuvenation does not make a roof look new. A roof that suddenly looks brand new in a photo is usually cleaning or coating, not rejuvenation.
• Insurance promises. If anybody tells you your insurer will give you a discount or keep covering your roof because of a treatment, get that from your insurer in writing, not from the salesperson. We make no insurance claims at all.
• "Treat it anyway." A quote to treat a roof that is leaking or shedding shingles is a quote to skip.

If you signed at the kitchen table

Plenty of rejuvenation is sold like plenty of home services. Someone comes to the house, inspects the roof, sits down with you and asks for a signature before they leave. Signing is fine if you are sure. If you are not, know where the exit is.

The FTC's Cooling-Off Rule gives buyers three days to cancel certain sales made at home, and the right lasts until midnight of the third business day after the sale. It covers sales of $25 or more made at your home, and when it applies the seller is supposed to hand you a copy of the contract or receipt and two copies of a cancellation form. It also has exceptions, including sales made because you asked the seller over to repair or maintain your personal property, so do not assume it covers your roof job. Read the FTC's plain language page on the rule, check whether your state has rules of its own, and ask the company to print its cancellation terms on the quote.

A company that is confident in its price will not mind you sleeping on it.

How House Dressing applicators quote

House Dressing is a plant-derived rejuvenation product sold through independent dealers. Our applicators inspect before they price, they quote from the roof and not the driveway, and our guidance to them is to say "not yet" or "call a roofer" when that is the honest answer, even though it costs them the job.

If you want to know where your roof stands, start with the roof rejuvenation guide and find an applicator. And if you are already holding a quote from somebody else, run it through this list first. If it passes, good. You found an honest one, and that matters more than whose name is on the pail.