A lift and relay is exactly what it sounds like: the existing tile comes off and is stacked, new underlayment goes down over the deck, and the same tile goes back. It runs about $692 – $1,352 a square against $1,200 – $2,100 for new tile on a full replacement. It is the right job whenever the tile is sound and the felt is not, which in this market is most tile roofs of a certain age. It is the wrong job where the deck has gone soft, where the tile is a discontinued profile with heavy breakage, or where more than a modest share of the tile is already cracked.
Why a fifty-year tile roof needs work at twenty
On a tile re-roof, most of the money and all of the risk is under the tile. Tile lift-and-relay, per square in Anaheim: $692 – $1,352. Existing tile comes off, new underlayment goes down, the same tile goes back. A tile roof does not fail from the top down. The tile outlives the felt beneath it by decades, so what wears out on a tile roof in Anaheim is the underlayment — and the first evidence is usually a rain-driven leak into a room that has been dry for thirty years.
When a repair is the right answer
Most people asking about a replacement have a repair, and a fair number asking about a repair have a replacement. Telling them apart is worth doing before anybody quotes. Small leak, flashing or a few shingles in Anaheim: $500 – $1,400. A pipe boot, a bit of step flashing, a handful of blown-off shingles. Section replacement, one slope in Anaheim: $1,500 – $5,300. New material on part of the roof. Colour matching is the hard part. If two contractors disagree on this, the disagreement itself is the useful information — ask each what they saw.
What to ask a roofer in Anaheim
None of these are trick questions, and all of them have answers a local contractor already knows. Every licensed contractor is required to put the licence number in all advertising, and in contracts, subcontracts and bids. An advertisement without one is itself a signal. The board's own register will confirm a number in under a minute, and it is worth the minute.
The deposit is capped by statute. A home improvement contractor may not take a down payment of more than $1,000 or ten per cent of the contract, whichever is less, unless they have a blanket performance and payment bond on file with the board. Exceeding it is a misdemeanour, and in a declared disaster area the court is required to impose the maximum fine — which tells you how commonly it is attempted after a storm. Roofing is licence classification C-39 in California, and any company can be checked on the Contractors State License Board lookup in about thirty seconds — licence number, status, expiry, bond and workers' compensation all on one screen. A contractor who answers all of these without hesitating has done this here before.
- How many layers are you expecting to remove, and what happens to the price if there turn out to be more?
- What is the licence number, and is the licence current today rather than on the day the van was painted?
- Is the tear-off debris and its disposal inside this price?
- What is the payment schedule, and what is the deposit as a percentage?
Contractors who work in Anaheim
This site covers Anaheim and the towns around it. It is a quote-matching service rather than a roofing company: you describe the job once, and up to three independent local contractors get in touch with their own prices. Nobody here climbs a ladder.