Roof Inspection Checklist: What Contractors Should Document Every Time
A thorough roof inspection is the foundation of every good estimate. Miss a detail during inspection and you'll either underbid the job or surprise the homeowner with change orders. Neither outcome builds your reputation.
This checklist covers what experienced contractors document on every inspection — whether you're bidding a full replacement, assessing storm damage, or doing a maintenance walkthrough.
Before You Climb: Pre-Inspection Setup
Before anyone gets on a ladder, handle the basics:
- Property address and date — obvious, but contractors skip this on handwritten notes more than you'd think
- Homeowner name and contact info — you'll need this for the estimate and any follow-up
- Satellite measurement report — order a RoofRecon report before the site visit so you already have total area, pitch, and line measurements before you climb
- Photos of the property from the street — front and sides, capturing the full roofline
- Weather conditions — note if it rained recently, if the roof is wet, or if wind is a factor for safety
Having the satellite measurements in hand before you climb means you're verifying data, not collecting it from scratch. That's faster and more accurate.
Structural Assessment
Start with the big picture. These items affect whether you're doing a repair, overlay, or tear-off:
- Roof deck condition — any sagging, soft spots, or visible damage from the attic side
- Rafter and truss condition — check for cracks, splits, or signs of water damage
- Sheathing integrity — look for delamination, rot, or missing sections
- Overall geometry — does the roofline look straight and level, or are there visible dips
If you can access the attic, do it. Five minutes in the attic tells you more about the roof's condition than an hour on the surface.
Surface and Material Condition
This is where most contractors focus, and for good reason — it's what the homeowner sees:
- Shingle condition — curling, cracking, blistering, granule loss, missing tabs
- Shingle age estimate — based on wear patterns and material type
- Moss or algae growth — note location and severity
- Surface uniformity — are there patches, mismatched shingles, or signs of previous repair
- Nail pops — exposed or lifted nails that have worked through the shingle surface
For storm damage inspections, also document:
- Hail impact marks — soft spots in shingles, dents in metal components
- Wind damage — lifted, creased, or missing shingles
- Debris impact — marks from branches or other objects
Flashing and Penetrations
Flashing failures cause more leaks than shingle failures. Check every transition point:
- Chimney flashing — step flashing, counter flashing, and cricket condition
- Plumbing vent boots — cracked rubber, loose base, missing storm collar
- Skylight flashing — check all four sides, look for sealant deterioration
- Wall-to-roof transitions — step flashing and kick-out flashing at every wall intersection
- Valley flashing — open valleys: check metal condition; closed valleys: check shingle wear pattern
- Drip edge — present and properly installed along eaves and rakes
Ventilation
Proper ventilation extends roof life by 20–30%. Document what's there and what's missing:
- Ridge vent — continuous or individual, condition and length
- Soffit vents — open or blocked by insulation
- Power vents or turbines — if present, note count and condition
- Gable vents — note if present, size, and whether they conflict with ridge vent system
- Balanced intake/exhaust — does the system have adequate intake to match exhaust capacity
A satellite measurement report gives you the attic square footage, which you can use to calculate the NFA (Net Free Area) required for proper ventilation.
Drainage
Water has to get off the roof and away from the foundation:
- Gutters — condition, alignment, sagging, damage
- Downspouts — count, placement, connected to drainage or splashing on grade
- Gutter guards — if present, condition and effectiveness
- Ponding water — any areas where water collects instead of draining
- Ice dam evidence — staining or damage at eave edges (relevant in northern climates)
Document Everything with Photos
For every item you check, take a photo. Label it or organize by category. This serves three purposes:
- Estimate accuracy — you can reference photos when building the scope of work
- Homeowner communication — showing a cracked vent boot is more convincing than describing one
- Insurance documentation — adjusters want timestamped, organized photo evidence
A good inspection should produce 30–60 photos. It takes 10 extra minutes and saves hours of back-and-forth later.
Put It All Together
The best inspection workflow combines satellite data with field verification:
- Order a RoofRecon satellite report before the visit — $5, 5 minutes
- Review the measurements and identify areas to verify on-site
- Run through this checklist on the roof
- Compare your field observations against the satellite data
- Build your estimate from verified measurements and documented conditions
This approach is faster, more accurate, and produces better documentation than starting from scratch on every job.
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