Roof Replacement in Bronx, NY

The Bronx has every kind of roof in it. Up in Riverdale and Fieldston it’s 1920s Tudors and Colonials, out in Throgs Neck and Country Club it’s shingle roofs taking wind off the water, and across the rest of the borough it’s attached and semi-attached brick houses with a pitched front and a low-slope roof in back. I’m Stavros Latos, I own REVMA Roofing, and we’re based in Bayside, right across the Throgs Neck Bridge. I come out to every Bronx estimate myself.

What happens from the first call to the last nail

First, I look at the roof with you. We go over the material you have, what you want, and the details that drive the price: pitch, dormers, valleys, the chimney, the parapet, how many layers come off. Then you get one written price for the scope we agree on. No three-prices routine, no “sign tonight” discount.

Before the crew shows up, we plan staging. A lot of Bronx houses are attached, with no driveway and street parking all around, so we figure out where the container goes, when it can be there, and how the old roof comes down without damaging the neighbor’s side. On attached houses, we talk to the neighbor before tear-off.

On the day, we strip it down to the deck, check every sheet of plywood, and replace what’s soft. Three to five sheets are already in your price, and extra sheets are $110 each, so there’s no surprise. Then ice and water shield in the valleys and at the eaves, synthetic underlayment, drip edge, starter strip, the shingles, new flashing at every wall and chimney, and a ridge vent. Most shingle roofs are done in one day. Before we leave, we sweep for nails and walk the job with you.

The low-slope section in back

A lot of Bronx houses have a pitched roof up front and a low-slope section behind a parapet, and that back section is where a lot of leaks start. When I look at your roof, I look at the whole thing and tell you straight what shape that back section is in, so nothing gets missed while the main roof is being done.

Riverdale and Fieldston slate

A lot of the slate up there is close to a hundred years old. Good slate can still have life in it, but the nails and the flashing give out before the stone does. Sometimes the right answer is to keep the sound slate and redo the flashing, and sometimes it’s a new roof. I’ll tell you which. Fieldston is a designated historic district, so visible work there also goes through Landmarks Preservation Commission review.

Why we never lay a new roof over the old one

The reality is an overlay hides problems. If there’s rot in the deck, a second layer just traps it. NYC code also prohibits a recover over two or more existing layers. So we rip it off and do it from scratch, every time.

What it costs

For architectural shingles, figure about $875 to $1,100 a square installed, so a 20-square roof runs around $17,500 to $22,000. My pricing usually runs 25 to 35% less than the big companies because I don’t carry their overhead, and if you have a competitor’s written quote for the same roofing system, we’ll price match it. You get a written workmanship warranty on top of the GAF manufacturer warranty.