Nobody can honestly promise you a number of days before they see your roof. What shouldn't change is the order. Here is the sequence of a well run replacement, and what should be done before the final payment.
Get a Free Estimate →A replacement runs in the same order every time: estimate and written scope, contract, permit and products, tear-off, deck repairs and dry-in, installation, inspection, and a walkthrough. How long each step takes depends on the roof, the material, the weather and the city, so treat any number of days as an estimate. What you can hold any roofer to is the order, and that nothing chargeable happens without your signature.
The job starts before anyone signs. Most of what goes wrong later traces back to a scope that was never written down.
Measurements from a satellite or a drone help with size, but they can't show the deck, the underlayment or how many layers are on the house. Layers get counted at the edge of the roof, and the attic shows the underside of the deck.
On tile, the first question is whether the tile can be reused. If the tile is sound and the underlayment isn't, a lift and relay keeps your tile. A different look, or tile that can't be reused, means a tile replacement. Understand Your Roof walks through the difference.
Every product named by manufacturer, line and color, the tear-off, the wood allowance and the price of anything extra, on paper, so bids can be compared line by line. Our bid comparison guide goes through it.
If you're in an HOA, the new roof may need architectural approval before anything is ordered, and that can take from a week to a couple of months. Start the submittal early. More in our HOA roof approval guide.
The contract says who pulls it. Normally the licensed roofer pulls it under their own license and schedules the inspections. What needs a permit depends on your city and the scope, so the building department for your address has the final word.
New tile is usually made for your order, and that can take up to two weeks. A roofer who promises to start tomorrow with custom tile is telling you something is off.
If there are panels on the roof, someone has to take them off before the roof work and put them back after. Find out who owns the system and who is allowed to remove it before the schedule is set. More in our roof and solar planning guide.
Expect to make room for a dumpster or trailer and deliveries, move the cars out of the driveway on work days, take down wall hangings and shelf items that vibration could knock loose, cover or move what's stored in the attic, and keep kids and pets away from the work.
The loudest day of the job, and the one that tells everybody the truth about the roof.
On a replacement, the old roof and the old underlayment come off down to the wood. On a lift and relay, the tile is lifted and stacked on the roof, not thrown in a pile, and the old underlayment comes off underneath it.
From the attic you see one side of the deck. The weather side only shows when the old roof is off. That's why a good contract carries a wood allowance and unit rates instead of a guess.
Tear-off is loud, dust can fall into the attic, and plants close to the house can take some of it even with care. Move patio furniture and potted plants away from the house before the crew arrives.
Old roofing should be hauled off and the site cleaned every day, with a magnet run over the driveway and the yard for nails.
Damaged wood gets photographed and counted. Anything past the allowance in your contract goes in by a signed change order with the price, before the wood goes on, not as a surprise on the invoice.
Boards get replaced with boards and sheets with sheets, so the new wood sits flush with the old.
The underlayment is the layer that keeps water out of the house. The name printed on the roll should match the name in your contract.
New flashing at walls, chimneys, pipes and valleys, drip edge at the eaves, and underlayment across the deck. Once those are on, the roof is dried in.
Building departments inspect the roof when the work reaches a certain stage, and again when it's finished. When the city has to see the deck or the underlayment, the next layer waits until it does.
On shingles, a starter course at the eaves and the field from there up. On tile, battens, then tile course by course from the eave, and every tile fastened.
Every pipe, vent, skylight and solar mount is a hole in the roof and needs its own flashing. Valleys need an open channel for the water.
Vents go in by type and amount, the way the contract lists them, with air coming in low at the eaves and going out high.
The caps finish the roof. On shingles, that should be ridge cap shingles, not field shingles cut into pieces.
Where a permit is required, the building department signs off the finished roof. Keep the permit and the final sign-off with your records.
Before the job is called done, walk the property with the roofer: the roof from the ground, the gutters, the yard and the driveway.
Ask for the job photos, the workmanship warranty in writing, and the manufacturer registration information.
CSLB's advice is to get a conditional release before you pay and an unconditional one after, and you can hold the next payment until you have the unconditional release for the last one.
It's due when your contract says, and never ahead of the work it pays for. Read how your own contract defines the finish line.
California requires an approximate completion date in the contract, and a good contract gives a start date too. These are the honest reasons they move, and what you should get when they do.
| Cause | What happens | What you should get |
|---|---|---|
| Rain | Work stops while the deck is open or wet, and an open roof gets covered. | A text or email with the new date |
| Permit and inspections | The city sets the inspection calendar, and work that needs an inspection waits for it. | The inspection date once it's booked |
| Material | Tile made to order and special-order products have lead times. | The order date and the delivery date |
| Deck repairs | Wood found at tear-off adds work, after you approve it. | A signed change order before the wood goes on |
| HOA approval | Nothing is ordered until the HOA approves. | The approval letter in your file |
| Solar | The panel crew's schedule has to line up with the roof crew's. | One schedule with both crews on it |
| Access | Narrow streets and gates slow deliveries and haul-off. | A plan for the truck and the trailer before day one |
How long the job takes depends on the size of the roof, the material and everything in that table, so treat any number of days as an estimate. A date change should be confirmed in writing when it happens, not discovered at the end.
It depends on the size of the roof, the material, deck repairs, the weather, inspections and access. Ask for approximate start and completion dates in the contract, and expect a written update if one moves.
Not all day. It helps to be there at the start and for the final walkthrough, and reachable by phone in between in case a decision comes up, like wood found at tear-off.
Work stops and an open roof gets covered so water stays out of the house. The schedule moves, and the new date should come to you in writing.
Because the weather side of the deck can't be seen until the old roof is off. That's why a contract carries a wood allowance and unit rates, and any wood past the allowance goes in by signed change order.
When your contract says, and never ahead of the work. Payments should follow finished stages, and you can ask for a lien release for each one. On our contracts the final payment is due at substantial completion: the roof installed and watertight and the site cleaned. For us that means the roof is done and waiting on the city's final inspection.
Where a permit is required, yes. Building departments inspect the roof when the work reaches a certain stage and again when it's finished. The permit and the final sign-off belong in your records.
Want to know what your roof's timeline would look like? We come out, walk it with you and put the whole sequence in writing. We do four kinds of roofs: asphalt shingle roofs, tile replacement with new tile, tile lift and relay, and flat roofs, across the Inland Empire.
Next in the library: the Southern California Roof Maintenance Calendar. If you haven't signed yet, start with the Roofing Contract Checklist.
Get a Free Estimate →Pages checked October 6, 2026. The GAX notes describe our own contract and the way we run our jobs.