Our Process
How a roofing job runs in Columbus, step by step: the call, the written quote, the work and the final walkthrough — and the less expensive option named when there is one.
Four steps, start to finish
A written quote before any work, with the $300 permit question answered on it.
Call and describe it
The address, what you are seeing, and roughly how old the roof is. That is enough for an estimated range on the call and a time to look at it.
Look, measure, and ask the permit question
Squares measured, layers counted at an edge, the deck checked from the attic wherever there is access, and the job set against the $300 line.
A written quote with the permit on it
Every line priced on its own, with the permit as a line when the job needs one and a plain sentence saying so when it does not, and anything we could not see written as a condition.
Permit, work, walkaround
Where a permit is needed it is pulled before work starts.
Every range on one page
Estimated ranges across Bartholomew County. Your own written quote follows.
Roof Replacement - $10,000 - $18,000 (est.)
Average columbus home of about 2,100 sq ft.
Roof Repair - $300 - $1,000 (est.)
Small repairs in columbus; moderate ones $1,000 - $5,000.
Roof Leak Repair - $300 - $1,000 (est.)
Columbus small-repair band; tracing included.
Emergency Roof Repair - $300 - $5,000 for the repair (est.)
Temporary cover quoted on its own first.
Storm Damage Roof Repair - $300 - $5,000 (est.)
Small to moderate in columbus; about $9.20 - $11.62 per sq ft nationally.
Flat Roof Repair - $300 - $5,000 (est.)
Columbus repair bands; no flat-roof figure published.
What to do before a roofer arrives, and what to ask when one does
Some of it needs a roofer today. The rest is time to get the permit question answered.
Catch any water and photograph it
A bucket under the drip, belongings moved, and a few photographs of the stain before anything is touched.
Note when it leaks, and the roof's age
In every rain, only in wind, or only in a thaw; and the year the roof went on, if you know it.
Ask whether the job needs a permit
In Columbus and Bartholomew County, roofing replacement needs a permit once the cost passes $300.
Keep the paperwork together
The written quote, the permit when there is one, and the photographs.
After a storm, the cover is fast and the paperwork is not
Worth knowing before the next warning, because the busiest week is the worst week to be deciding.
Bartholomew County has 19 tornadoes on record since 1950, and the EF2 that crossed it near Columbus Airport in March 2025 ran 13.55 miles. When wind like that comes through, every roofer's phone rings in the same hour.
So the job is split. Temporary cover goes on the day the water comes in. The permanent repair, and certainly a replacement, is quoted once the weather settles, with the permit question answered and the permit pulled before the work starts.
- Active leaks covered the same day where light and weather allow
- Temporary cover quoted separately from the permanent repair
- Permanent repairs quoted in daylight, with the permit answer
- Replacements scheduled once the permit is in hand
Want a figure on it?
The estimated range before we travel, and the figure in writing before any work starts.