Is it ehtical to give one estimator of roof repair the estimate of another? Of course, it runs the risk of local contractors talking to each other; the last time a traded in a used car, the first offer was $2,000, the next $1,900, the third $1,800. But I digress. Is it ethical to tell Bob, “You gave me a quote of $9,000. Joe says he can do it for $8,000”?
My personal ethics would say that only do that if you are actually willing to go with the other offer.
Also, there is probably no particular reason to actually disclose who the other contractor is.
What would be unethical about it?
I don’t think there is any issue saying that you’ve received a lower quote, and see what the higher contractor is willing to do.
I’d keep in mind a few things:
-These guys know their business better than you. So anything you can do to level the playing field such as comparing quotes for yourself is fair game.
-Keep in mind at the proverbial ‘end of the day’ one of these contractors is going to put on your roof. You don’t want to grind them into the ground such that they will cut corners and not care.
-Roofing isn’t fundamentally difficult. Doing roofing well is more difficult. At some point, you get what you pay for. And having a reputable contractor that will be in business for the next decade plus is worth something.
I don’t see why it would be unethical unless you had some sort of non-disclosure agreement with the first contractor.
You don’t need to say the name, just say “The going rate for this job seems to be $8,000 in this area. If you can match that I’d be happy to give you my business”.
I don’t think I would actual show them a written estimate from another contractor, but saying “you seem to be about $1k higher than others in this area” is a perfectly fine negotiating tactic.
Thanks. I can see a problem of, say, reducing the materials cost by using blandex instead of plywood.
The only guy to submit a quote yet did mention that he would like to know “If someone is close, I may be able to meet it”.
I don’t know about the ethics, but I would be sure to understand exactly what Joe was doing for his lower bid vs what Bob was offering. I put on a roof a few years ago & watched a lot of YouTube videos to prepare. After about 20 videos, some pros, some amateurs, I learned that roofing is much more complicated than just nailing on shingles. There are a lot of things that Bob might be doing that would make his offer better even if more expensive – is he bonded/insured, do his workers use safety gear, is he removing the old roof or just putting the new roof over it, replacing vents or reusing the old ones, what about damage to your lawn, and much more I can’t remember.
It just seems rude. Obviously, I’ve not done this before.
I worry that they will replace good material just to make money. For example, replace intact plywood sheets.
I work in the commercial contracting business and there’s nothing rude about “You’re at $9,000 and I have a number for $8,000 which looks comparable.” You don’t need to name names. Generally speaking, we’d rather know the competition’s price and we might try to meet it, try to come close and say “This is what we can do but we think we offer a better product/service” or just not waste our time revising a proposal three times without knowing that we really needed to come down 30% (and we weren’t going to).
The other guy would, of course, rather you didn’t shop his number around and just give him the work but that doesn’t make it unethical.
Years ago I needed to buy a car. I looked at Toyota Corollas at several dealerships and eventually decided on the make, model, radio, etc that I wanted. I had a large down payment and financing was pre-approved.
On the day I wanted to buy the car I went to two local dealerships. I told each one I didn’t want to fuck around, I just wanted to know the best deal they’d give me on the car I wanted to buy (yes, I was crude back then).
The first dealership gave me a price. Then I drove to the other dealership and they were about $400 more expensive. I got up to leave, telling them why I was leaving and the salesman went absolutely nuts! “That’s BULLSHIT!!!” I just left, but he was still yelling at me as I walked away.
Back on the topic of roofing, when we had our roof replaced the contractor (who also did our siding and windows) gave a very specific estimate. Turns out he missed one thing due to hurrying during inspection. We had to talk him into exceeding his estimate. He’s a truly good guy and we couldn’t stand to see him do all that work with not much profit.
That sets my mind at ease. Thank you.
Old joke. I’ll leave out the ethnic references.
A city commissioner is in charge of selecting a contractor for a new building. The first contractor, we’ll call him Tom, looks at the plans and says he’ll do the job for 1 million dollars. The commissioner goes to a second contractor, he’s named Dick. After looking at the plans Dick asks how much Tom quoted for the job. After being told Tom’s price Dick says it can’t be done for just 1 million dollars because union labor is required and a lot of drainage and ground reinforcement work has to be done before construction starts, and they’re asking for a lot of expensive windows that raise the price per square foot for the building itself. So Dick gives him a price of 2 million dollars. The third contractor, Harry, looks at the plans and asks what Tom and Dick wanted to do the job. After hearing their prices Harry says he’ll do it for 3 million dollars. The commissioner asks him why so much and Harry responds “Simple. A million for me, a million for you, and a million for Tom.”
Exactly right. My wife and I do a lot of research for big-ticket projects like this, and we rarely take the lowest offer or try to force good offers lower because it’s clear there’s going to be a quality difference somewhere.
Ever worked as a roofer? 
It’s exhausting, even if the job isn’t done very well, especially if you’re mostly doing the grunt work of hauling 70 lb bundles of shingles.
The only way to alleviate that concern is to hire a reputable company. And stay in touch with the day-to-day work. I think a quality roofer will tell you his estimate & what is included in that estimate. You could also stipulate that if any unexpected problems not included in the estimate, such as plywood replacement, arise, they discuss it with you before continuing – most such problems are going to be visible even to a nonroofer. Good luck… I can tell you from experience that whatever they’re charging, if they do quality work, is well worth it. It just looks easy. 
Just wanted to unscore the previously mentioned importance, when comparing quotes, of having a full and complete list of what’s included in each quote, including the underlayment, etc. Something simple like that can cause a big difference.
I have worked as a roofer (during one long brutal summer and one missed college semester).
It’s viewed as the least technically demanding of all the construction trades (discounting slate roofing which isn’t the type of roofing we’re talking about). Is it physically demanding and exhausting? Hell yeah. Difficult from a trade perspective? Nope.
Agreed. One summer would be about all anyone would need to realize that roofing was not something they wanted to do for a living. I used to watch those guys and the guys doing masonry block construction, and thank my stars I was an electrician.
Electrician. Now there’s a trade that doesn’t get it’s due. Because one can rewire an outlet they think they can be an electrician . . . but no.
Hat’s off to you!