My neighbor down the road has a standing seam metal roof on her log home. It looks gorgeous. But she says it's not so much fun in winter when the metal heats up and 2 feet of snow slide off and pile up in front of the house. And it can be a little noisy during a real heavy rain.

Most of the houses in my town were built in the mid 1800s. They still have the original roofs. Slate.

We still use tarpaper over the plywood,(then the shingles) hope they used that,& didn't jam the pieces together or they will buckle, hope they used enough nails or whatever in their guns so that the shingles don't just lift up in high wind & go sailing. Some houses have a lot of metal showing around stuff on roof, others most of it is hidden including the ridge areas. Depends on roofer & some have little experience.

christopherh, your neighbor with the metal roof needs snow cleats up there! They will keep the snow from sliding off until it melts. They use them in heavy snow areas - I see em at ski resorts. Thinking about getting some for my shop building, it has up to 20 linear ft. of roof and when15" unloads from up there, that's a lot of snow on the sidewalk!

ohmmm, how frustrating.

I wish I could have referred you to my roofer. He's been in business in our small city for 25 years or more, with a stellar reputation. The entire crew (all 10 of them) spoke English - most likely born and raised locally.

We did the tearoff ourselves (I have teenaged sons), but the roofer provided a truck for the debris, backup up to the garage. He quoted tearoff separately, in case for some reason we weren't able to do it.

He and his crew showed up at 8 am on a Saturday, and were finished shortly after noon. Like you, our house is a split entry with an attached garage - not a complicated roof at all. Luckily the sheathing was all in good shape.

When they were finished, they went around the house with a plastic pail and a big magnet in the bottom, to collect any nails that had fallen off the roof. There was hardly any evidence that they had even been there - except for the pretty new shingles.

Oh, and the bill was less than the bid. He bid the job in early May, but we didn't get on the schedule until September - because he has such a good reputation, he's in high demand. He ended up getting a good deal on our shingles, and passed that savings on to us.

Several neighbors were so impressed with the speed and quality of the work that they came over to ask us who did it. I don't think the roofer even bothers to advertise - word of mouth gets him all the work he needs.

There ARE reliable, efficient, conscientious contractors out there, if you can find them!

Around here, most of the laborers and some of the building trades don't speak English. It has no bearing on their ability to do the job, as long as the supervisor can communicate with them. I appreciate the OP's sense of humor in the situation, but I'd say that a reputable contractor is the most important factor in any work on your house.

We know all about the cleats. The homes with the slate roofs have them.
But I think she's the type who says you don't need them in summer, and in winter the weather's too bad to install them.