Size and pitch: the foundation of every quote
Roofs are measured in squares (100 square feet each), and your roof's footprint times its slope determines how many squares of everything the job needs. Pitch matters twice: steeper roofs have more surface per footprint and they slow the crew down, since everything above walkable pitch needs more safety gear and more careful movement.
This is why two houses with identical floor plans can get meaningfully different quotes. A low-slope ranch and a steep two-story are different jobs wearing similar square footage.
Complexity: every interruption costs detail work
Valleys, dormers, skylights, chimneys, and roof-to-wall transitions each add flashing work, cutting, and time. A clean gable roof is the cheapest shape there is; a roof that looks interesting from the street is interesting on the estimate too.
This is also where quality hides. Flashing details are exactly where rushed crews save their time and where most future leaks come from. Detail-heavy roofs are where the cheap bid is most dangerous.
Materials: the visible choice and the invisible ones
Shingle grade moves the price (architectural vs 3-tab is its own conversation), but so do the layers you'll never see: underlayment quality, ice-and-water membrane in the valleys, new flashing versus reused, ridge venting. A quote that's mysteriously low has usually gone quiet about exactly these line items.
We install CertainTeed systems to their spec, which is what keeps the enhanced warranty coverage on the table. (Warranties, decoded.)
The deck: the number nobody can promise
Under your shingles is plywood decking, and nobody knows its condition until tear-off. Soft or rotten sections must be replaced before new shingles go on; skipping that is how bad roofs get built on good shingles. Decking is the one honest unknown in every replacement quote.
What you can demand is how it's handled: per-sheet pricing in writing before the job starts, and photos plus a conversation the moment anything is found. That's our standard. 'We found some rot, the new total is X, here's why' should never be a surprise at the final bill.
What doesn't move the number (much)
Shingle color. The season, mostly (timing is about scheduling, not price). Permits don't apply at all: roofing doesn't require them in Oregon. And despite the occasional sales theater, there's no legitimate 'sign tonight' discount; pricing that evaporates overnight was never real. (How we feel about pressure tactics: we don't use them.)
When you're ready for a real number on your real roof, the instant estimate takes thirty seconds, and a free assessment turns it into a written quote with photos. Financing can spread whatever the number turns out to be. (Enhancify, explained.)