Interior work and roofing estimate

Wednesday - 5/17/11
Made headway today framing in the upper walls between the two bathrooms and the roof.  I had to get creative in lining up the header attached to the roof with the wall below.  I incorporated the weighted string method to insure the top plate lined up with the top plate on the wall.  Awkward but workable!

I was making good progress until the roofing guys came back with their estimates.  And then Pat, my Dallas and fellow Cedar Creek Lake property owner in the next sub-division friend came by for lunch.  When I got back I tried to pick up where I left off but my forward momentum was lost.  I quit for the afternoon to contemplate the roof work....and to do my laundry (somethings never change!).  I was able to pick up again later in the evening.

The Estimate
The estimate came in just under $14k for the carport structural work and full metal roofing for both the house and carport.  Not as much as I feared but also not for the cleaner looking tapered flat panel standing seam metal roofing I indicated as being my first preference.  Their two estimates covered a standard composition shingle roof ($5420) and the metal roof ($10,170), plus, in both cases, the carport structural work ($3688).

I asked about the price of my first choice standing seam roof.  They suggested that with all the roof deck leveling and prep work to support that particular roof style, I could double the metal roof price.  Their arguments made sense but I couldn't help but feel slightly annoyed that they assumed I wouldn't go for it and thus didn't provide an estimate for it.  I tend to think it was more likely they'd have to order special roof panels or have them made or, as in the other roofing guy, they'd have to rent the equipment as opposed to using stock materials they have ready access to.

I'm not opposed to the hip style, it just wasn't my first preference.  I gave it due consideration and talked it through with my buddy Jens in Germany who went through his own nearly year long new house building project.  He commented that when you're standing under it, a metal roof is a metal roof and you can't see it....AND...money not spent there is money spent elsewhere.  True

So.... Unless you're specifically looking at it from the road directly in front of the house or someone points it out, you probably wouldn't notice it anyway.

The Decision
Sigh.....OK, hip style it is!