About Cowichan Roofing

No figure is quoted before the roof has been looked at. An assessment takes about an hour on a typical Duncan or North Cowichan home and covers the shingle field, the penetrations and flashing, the valleys and gutters, and the attic side wherever access allows.

The reason is simple: the expensive variables are invisible from the ground. Sheathing softened under a long-running valley leak, insulation blocking soffit intake vents, or a second shingle layer nobody mentioned all change the number materially. A quote produced without seeing those is a guess that gets revised upward mid-job.

A scope that can be compared against another quote names seven things: how many existing layers come off, what underlayment is specified, whether flashing is new or reused, whether ventilation is being brought to the BC Building Code minimum of 1/300 of the insulated ceiling area, what allowance covers replacement sheathing, what the disposal and cleanup include, and what the manufacturer's system requires to stay within its terms.

Anything missing from that list is a variable that surfaces later. The roof cost guide sets out the ranges those choices produce across the Cowichan Valley.

British Columbia does not issue a provincial roofing trade licence, which means the phrase 'licensed roofer' carries no specific meaning in this province. Three things can be verified before work starts: active WorkSafeBC coverage, commercial general liability insurance, and manufacturer certification for the particular system going on the roof. Proof of all three is available on request.

Asking any Cowichan Valley roofer for the same three documents is reasonable and standard, and a contractor who will not produce them has answered the question.

The specification changes across this valley more than the distances suggest. Duncan averages roughly 1,500 mm of precipitation a year, Lake Cowichan about 2,048 mm with 72 cm of snowfall at 180 metres, and Cowichan Bay adds salt air and open wind across the tidal flats. A roof detailed for the sheltered inland valley is under-specified on the water, and a coastal spec is short on ice-and-water membrane at Lake Cowichan elevation.

That is the argument for assessing each property rather than pricing from a regional average — and it is why moss treatment, ventilation and flashing get more attention here than shingle brand.