Roofing Contract Checklist: Fourteen Clauses for a Two-Day Job That Costs Twenty Thousand Dollars

1. The parties. The roofer’s legal business name, address, HST number, the person signing. Your name and the property address. Stops: the company on the invoice being a different company from the one on the quote.
2. The quote as the scope, attached and initialled. Every one of the eighteen lines: squares, shingle by name, tear-off, membrane, flashings counted, venting, exclusions. The contract says “as per attached quote dated X.” Stops: the argument about whether the chimney flashing was included.
3. Dates. A start window, the expected duration, and what delays it (weather, materials, hidden conditions) and what does not (the roofer’s other jobs). Stops: the roof that was “next week” for six weeks.
4. The rain and open-roof rule. No more roof is stripped than can be dried-in (underlayment on, membrane at eaves) the same day; the roof is never left open overnight or in rain; tarps are on site. Stops: the half-stripped roof under a thunderstorm and the ceiling that came down.
5. Hidden conditions and unit prices. Decking beyond the allowance at $X per sheet; a second layer at $Y per square foot; rotten fascia or rafter ends at $Z; all with photographs and your approval before the work, by text or email, which counts. Stops: the $3,000 “we had to” on the final invoice.
6. Site protection. Tarps over plantings, plywood where the dumpster sits, the air conditioner covered, the pool covered, the driveway protected from the dumpster truck, vehicles moved. Damage to be repaired by the roofer. Stops: the crushed hydrangeas and the cracked driveway being “not our problem.”
7. Payment. 10 to 15% deposit on signing; the balance on completion after you have walked the roof (or had it walked) and the nail sweep is done; no interim payment for materials, which are delivered the day of. Stops: half down and a disappearing act.
8. The holdback. Ontario’s Construction Act requires the owner to hold back 10% of each payment for 60 days after substantial completion against liens from unpaid suppliers and subs. It applies to a roof like any other improvement, and the contract should acknowledge it; most roofers are used to it from builders. Stops: the shingle supplier liening your house because the roofer did not pay them.
9. Changes in writing. No change to scope or price without a written change order (email counts) signed before the work. Stops: the extra ridge vent and skylight flashing nobody agreed to.
10. Workmanship warranty. A term in years (five is common, ten is good), what it covers (leaks and defects from installation), what it excludes (storm damage, your own foot traffic), and that it is from the company named in the contract. Stops: “lifetime” meaning the company’s.
11. Manufacturer’s warranty. Named, the document provided, and if it is an enhanced warranty, that the roofer is certified for it and will register it in your name within 30 days. Stops: finding at year 8 that the “50-year warranty” was never registered.
12. Insurance and WSIB. Liability certificate and WSIB clearance attached, current for the job dates, and the roofer responsible for any subcontractor’s coverage. Stops: you being the deep pocket when someone falls.
13. Cleanup. Daily tidy, final cleanup, magnetic nail sweep of lawn, driveway and beds, eavestroughs cleared of granules and debris, dumpster gone within two days. Stops: the flat tire and the dog with a nail in its paw.
14. The cooling-off period. A contract signed at your home carries a ten-day cancellation right under Ontario’s Consumer Protection Act, with a full refund of the deposit, by written notice. The contract should state it. Stops: the signed-on-the-driveway contract that cannot be undone when the references come back bad.

What a thin contract looks like

A one-page quote with “50% deposit, balance on completion” and a signature line. Most roofs in Ontario are done on that and most go fine, because most roofers are honest and most decks are sound. The other ones are the stories on the scams page. The fourteen clauses are three pages, a roofer who has been in business ten years has them in a template, and one who resists putting the rain rule or the decking price in writing has told you how the job will go.

Three things to do with it

• Photograph the roof and the yard before day one, from each side. It is the record for the site-protection clause and the “that damage was already there” conversation.
• Be there, or have someone there, at tear-off. That is when the deck is visible and the unit prices get used. Photos of any decking they want to replace, before they replace it.
• Walk it before the last payment with the installation checklist, from the ground with binoculars at minimum, from a ladder at the eave if you can do that safely, and ask for the roofer’s own photos of the ridge, the valleys and the flashings.

Sources and further reading

• Your rights when starting home renovations or repairs: Ontario government. The 10-day cooling-off period, the 10% estimate rule, and what a contract has to say.
• Construction Act, R.S.O. 1990: the 10% holdback and the lien rules that apply to a roofing contract.
• WSIB clearances: where you check that the roofer has a valid clearance certificate before anyone goes up the ladder.