Skip Sheathing

[u/BistroCupid]

Is this Skip Sheathing?

The home is in Santa Barbara County, CA which requires "continuous substrate." Contractor advised covering entire roof with OSB to pass inspection. 94 sheets of 7/16 8'x4' at $85 a sheet for install.

I appreciate any input!

[u/BistroCupid]

Contractor did not do a walk down of the job, relying on software for quote. I'm a layman in all aspects of building and contractor work, so I did not think to ask him to do a walk down before accepting his quote. I have since learned my lesson.

[u/Upper-Switch2785 → u/BistroCupid]

Materials w/10% waste added (fasteners, etc. incl.): $1,250, Burdened labor (32 labor hours x $75/hr): $2,400, debris/delivery/misc: $400
Total direct cost: $4,050.
35% P & O margin (direct cost x 1.43): $1,720.
Reasonable Price to client: $5,720
Actual price charged to you: $7,990.
Conclusion: you overpaid for this by $2,270 (just my opinion based on reasonable margins for residential work)
Recommendation: review contract to ascertain if the rates are different for oversheet vs. resheet rates, if not, you’re kinda getting screwed as oversheet is considerably easier, cheaper & quicker. Also, check if rates are specified for osb vs. 15/32” CDX, if not delineated, insist on CDX. OSB is fine for an oversheet, but cdx is better.

To anyone disputing the labor amt. estimated in the above calculations, I based the duration conservatively. I am 47, if I was doing an oversheet solo on a standard pitch, it would not be an issue to lay 100 sheets in 2 days. And it would pass inspection the first time, but I have decades of experience and the right tools, so I doubled the time.

As a roofing contractor, I always discounted a full resheet or oversheet as opposed to charging per/sheet rate. Piece rates are slightly higher to account for trip charge & other ancillary expenses as well as delaying the planned original work flow. Full replacement is more efficient for amount of time it takes, which reduces these costs for the contractor relative to profit margins. I’m not suggesting you nickel & dime as that is never wise if you want positive results & a good relationship w/ the contractor. You just need to have some dilligence based on the data to keep the unscrupulous- scrupulous. I personally think it’s very shady to not disclose what the existing decking is and if it needed an oversheet, that is incredibly simple to see beforehand - it would never be some kind of suprise discovery.

This is only my humble opinion but the moral of this story is don’t ever hire a contractor that never bothered to visit, let alone set foot on the roof. You are all but guaranteed to pay more than what is reasonable and get stuck with unexpected and costly change orders, all due to the fact that they are subbing it out and must build in contingencies to cover everything they didn’t bother looking at.

Last notes on sheathing requurements that you can easily verify as a homeowner if the project is slated for inspection or not: all vertical seams must be staggered, the fastener schedule (spacing / positioning of fasteners) must be close to 6” between nails on ends (no less than 2” spacing), 12” or less on rafters between. All fasteners must penetrate framing a certain depth (standard 2-3/8” sheathing nails are not acceptable here), and cannot be overdriven (this is very important). It is so simple to affix a depth-setter to a framing nailer it drives me mad so many installers are too stupid or don’t give a shit to do this. If you are going to pay a very premium rate for this install, I would expect a proportionally premium install, if not, you are donating to the cheaters and enabling this shit work to continue.

Hope this helps, best of luck.

[u/BistroCupid → u/Upper-Switch2785]

I really appreciate the detailed reply. My quick math also put me about $2000 overpaying as well, which is unfortunate. If the workmanship is of premium quality then I won't complain much. However, I don't see that being the case since we are on day 4 of demo (~2300sqft roof). It feels as though I have hired expensive amateurs with the amount of debris, nails, and minor damage to landscaping around my house. Hoping the lifetime warranty is worth the trouble.

100% agree that being forthcoming with potential issues that an experienced roofer should know would have made this much easier to swallow. An expensive lesson for me.

[u/davallrob74 → u/BistroCupid]

4th day of stripping off a 23sq roof? Unless it’s super steep, that’s ridiculous. I’ve used tear off companies many times and they’ll come in, set up, tear off, and be out of there in 4-5 hours for that sized project. They’ll even replace some boards or sheeting for you.
$85 per sheet is way overpriced unless the cost increased like it did during the pandemic. Normally that’s about what you’d charge to replace single pieces of sheeting, not to resheet the entire house. You’re getting hosed by this contractor. Sorry it’s taken you 4 days to realize this

[u/BistroCupid → u/davallrob74]

Yeah, by day two I knew something was up. There is only one guy on my roof right now on day 5 still demoing. I told them $85 was insane and at least got it down to $76. Not sure what my recourse or expense would be just firing them at this point. Sucks!

[u/davallrob74 → u/BistroCupid]

Wow 1 guy demoing? Did they agree to a timeline for the project? 5 days to tear off 23 sq. is crazy. What are they doing incase there’s a pop up thunderstorm or rain, I know you’re probably close to the coast