If your board is about to replace roofs across a community, the process that protects you is not complicated. Define the scope of work before you ask anyone for a number, verify every contractor before you let them bid, and then compare the bids on what is inside them rather than what is on the bottom line.
I have been roofing along the Wasatch Front for nearly 40 years, and I have watched boards in Layton, Kaysville, and Bountiful handle this well and handle it badly. The ones who handled it badly usually made the same mistake. They collected three prices before they decided what they were buying.
Start with the scope, not the bids
A homeowner replacing one roof can let the contractor define the job and still come out fine. A board cannot. You are spending money that belongs to every owner in the community, and you will be asked to explain the decision at a meeting. That is a much easier conversation when every bid you received was priced against the same written scope.
You do not need an engineer to write one. You need a page that answers these questions.
- Full system or shingles only. A roof is shingles, underlayment, flashing, drip edge, starter and ridge components, and ventilation. Decide which of those are being replaced and which are being reused.
- Decking replacement terms. Nobody knows the condition of the wood until the old roof comes off. Require a per sheet price in the bid and a written rule about who approves the extra work.
- Ventilation. If the buildings have had ice dam or attic moisture problems, ventilation belongs in the scope, not in a change order later.
- Gutters and downspouts. Include them or exclude them, but say which, because this is the most common hidden difference between two bids that look identical.
- Staging, parking, and cleanup. Where dumpsters sit, where materials get loaded, and what daily cleanup looks like in a community with children and shared parking.
Check your governing documents before you write any of it. Many associations already dictate materials, colors, or an architectural approval step, and those documents govern. If yours are unclear about what the association is responsible for and what an individual owner is responsible for, settle that question before the project starts rather than during it.
Who should be on your bid list
Three or four serious bidders is plenty. Ten is not thoroughness, it is a scheduling problem, and good contractors stop returning calls once they can tell the list is that long.
Every company you invite should hold a valid Utah S280 roofing contractor license, carry general liability and workers compensation coverage, and have done multi building work before. Community projects are not simply bigger. They involve phasing, resident access, and a longer schedule, and a company that only does single family replacements will be learning on your buildings.
Ask each bidder for references from other associations in Davis or Weber County, and call the board members, not only the property manager. Board members remember what the project felt like from the inside.
Be especially careful in the weeks after a hailstorm, when out of state crews work neighborhoods door to door. A community is an attractive target for an outfit that plans to be gone by spring.
Why three bids that look the same are not the same
When one number comes in well under the others, the reason is almost always in the exclusions. Flashing reused instead of replaced. Ventilation left exactly as it is. Permits and inspections billed separately. Decking priced at a rate buried in a footnote. Gutters quietly removed from the scope.
Read the line items and require every bidder to price the same document you handed them. If a bid arrives as one line and a total, send it back. We go through this in more detail in what should be included in a roofing estimate, and the same standard applies to a community project, only with more buildings riding on it.
A board that awards a project on price alone is not saving the community money, it is handing the cost to a future board.
Verify every bidder yourself before the board votes
You can do all of this from a laptop in one evening, and no board member should ever be climbing on a roof to check anything.
- Look up each contractor license number through the Utah Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing. The search is public and takes about two minutes. - Require the certificate of insurance to come directly from the insurance agent rather than from the contractor, and ask that the association be named on it. - Check any manufacturer certification a company claims through that manufacturer's own contractor directory. Real certifications are listed publicly and are easy to confirm. - Confirm a local business address and ask for recent local work you can drive past on your own.
Phasing a project across multiple buildings
Most communities cannot replace everything at once, and they should not try. Phase by condition rather than by convenience. The building with active leaks or the worst wind damage goes first, even if it is the awkward one at the back of the property.
A few things are worth settling before the first phase begins.
- Price protection. Ask how long the pricing holds across phases and what happens if material costs move between them.
- Product continuity. Shingle lines get discontinued. If your phases span several seasons, ask each contractor how they will handle a color or product that is no longer available when the last building comes up.
- Weather windows. Along the Wasatch Front, the practical replacement season runs from spring through late fall. Work can happen in colder weather, but it takes planning, and a phase that starts too late in the year is a phase that finishes in the snow.
Keeping residents informed is part of the contractor's job
Your board should not become the complaint desk for a project you hired someone else to run.
Before work starts, the contractor should provide written notice to every affected unit with the dates that building is scheduled, what time crews arrive, where residents need to move vehicles, and what to expect for noise and vibration. Owners with pets, small children, or medical equipment need somewhere to raise that ahead of time.
During the work, residents need one point of contact who is not you. Daily cleanup and a magnet sweep of parking areas and lawns should be written into the contract, not offered as a favor.
How warranties work in a community
There are two warranties on any roof. The manufacturer covers the materials. The contractor covers the workmanship. In a community, a third question matters just as much, which is who holds the paperwork.
The association should receive and keep the warranty documentation, the permit and inspection records, and the product information for every building and every phase. A board four years from now will need to know exactly what went on which roof, and an owner selling a unit will need to know whether coverage transfers.
Ask each bidder what workmanship warranty they put in writing and whether their manufacturer certifications allow extended coverage on the materials. Contractors who hold current manufacturer certifications can often offer stronger warranty options than uncertified installers, and that is worth asking about while the bids are still open.
Does your board have a roofing project coming up? We offer free assessments for communities in Davis, Weber, and Morgan counties. We will walk the buildings, tell you what we see, and give you a written scope your board can bid out to anyone you want. No pressure, no obligation. Give us a call or schedule online
"Great experience! We're very happy with the new roof and the quality of the work. The team were polite and friendly. They cleaned up after the job and left everything in great shape. I would use again in a heartbeat and definitely recommend them."Gary Carpetnter , Google Review