Question · Roof inspection
How much does a roof inspection cost?
Ours is free for homeowners and the report is yours to keep whatever it says. That is not true everywhere, so here is what the paid versions typically involve and what you should expect for the money either way.
Schank Roofing · Scottsbluff, Nebraska · Updated 2026-09-22
Why ours is free, and why that is not a catch
A free inspection is normal in roofing, and the reason is straightforward: it is how a roofer finds work. The fair question is what happens when the honest answer is that your roof is fine.
You get the report anyway, marked Good, Watch or Fix Now, with the photographs. It happens often, and it is the entire point. A roofer who only ever finds problems is not inspecting, they are selling.
The other reason to be relaxed about a free inspection: we are in Scottsbluff and we are not going anywhere. Repeat customers and neighbours are the whole business plan, which does not survive telling people they need roofs they do not need.
When you would pay for one, and what that buys
- A sale or a lender
- Some buyers, sellers or lenders want a specific document from a specific kind of inspector. That is a different product from a contractor inspection and is priced accordingly.
- An engineering opinion
- If there is a dispute, or a structural question rather than a covering question, that is an engineer rather than a roofer, and it costs considerably more.
- A maintenance survey on commercial property
- On a commercial building the inspection is the start of a capital plan rather than a single visit, which is why ours is structured as a seven-business-day audit.
For an ordinary homeowner wondering whether the last storm did something, none of that is necessary. A free contractor inspection with photographs answers the question.
How long it takes
About an hour at the house for a typical Panhandle home. Longer if the roof is steep or cut up with a lot of valleys and dormers. The written report follows within 48 hours, and if it does not, the 48-Hour Guarantee applies and you get a $100 gift card.
What should be in it
This is the part worth judging any inspection by, paid or free. Ours covers:
- A ground walk-around first: gutters, downspouts, siding, trim and anything the storm left in the yard.
- The roof surface by ladder and by drone, including field shingles, ridges, valleys, flashing, vents and penetrations.
- Hail bruising chalked so it photographs, because a bruise is not reliably visible otherwise.
- The attic underneath: decking, ventilation, insulation and any staining, because a leak shows up there long before it reaches a ceiling.
- An insurance-readiness review, so you know what to expect if you do file.
- Every finding marked Good, Watch or Fix Now, with the photograph beside it.
If an inspection does not produce photographs, there is nothing to judge and nothing to keep. That is the difference worth caring about, more than the price.
How often to have one done
Once a year is sensible in western Nebraska, and again after any storm that drops hail or hard wind on your street. Roofs here age faster than the warranty assumes, and the cheapest version of every roofing problem is the early one.