UPDATED FOR 2026
The "Savings" That Costs You Thousands: What Your Roofing Contractor Isn't Telling You
Welcome to County Roofing’s “Roofing Industry Scams Uncovered”, a series designed to shine a light on untrustworthy practices within the roofing industry.
This series is designed to empower consumers by increasing awareness of unlawful or wrongful practices we’ve seen throughout our 35 years serving Long Island and the greater New York area with roofing services based on integrity and trust.
Key Takeaways:
- Contractors eliminate necessary work like skylight replacement to underbid competitors, but those “savings” cost double or triple when done later after tearing up new shingles
- Reusing old skylights on new roofs voids warranty coverage in the sections where old components meet new systems, leaving you unprotected when seals fail
- Skipping critical flashing, ventilation, or drip edge work saves a few hundred dollars initially but causes thousands in damage over your roof’s lifespan
- Always ask contractors to explain future costs and warranty implications when they recommend skipping work—get answers in writing
- People with significant investments want a contractor they can trust when problems arise, not just the lowest bid today
Your contractor just saved you $2,800.
At least that’s what he said when he explained why you don’t need to replace those old skylights during your roof replacement.
“They look fine. Why waste the money?”
Sounds reasonable.
Five years later, those skylight seals fail. Water pours into your ceiling. The repair requires tearing up your new shingles, replacing rotted decking, and fixing the interior damage.
Total cost: $6,500.
That $2,800 “savings” just cost you double—plus five years of stress wondering when the leak would start.
Meanwhile, the aforementioned roofing contractor is nowhere to be seen, never bothering to recommend to replace those old skylights because their profit margin on it is too thin for it to be “worth their time”.
This is how the “don’t worry about it” bad practice works, and it’s one of the most common tricks with bad roofers because homeowners think they’re getting a deal.
The Skylight Talk Nobody Wants to Have
Here’s what happens on most roof replacements with existing skylights:
Your contractor quotes the job. Everything looks reasonable except for one line item: “Replace three skylights – $1,200 each.”
You ask if the skylights really need replacing.
Your contractor sees an opportunity. He can either:
Option A: Explain that old skylights on a new roof create warranty problems, leak risks, and will cost double to replace later because he’ll need to tear up brand-new shingles.
Option B: Tell you the skylights look fine, save you $3,600, win the job against competitors who quoted skylight replacement, and move on to the next project.
Guess which option most contractors choose?
Why Contractors Skip the Skylight Conversation
Skylights are low-profit, high-risk work for contractors.
They make their money on volume and square footage of shingles. A typical skylight replacement requires meticulous flashing work that takes time, demands precision, and carries a high risk of callback leaks—all for minimal profit compared to just laying down more shingles.
When contractors are competing on price, eliminating skylight replacement makes their bid look $1,000-$1,500 per skylight cheaper than competitors who include it.
That wins jobs.
The fact that it creates problems for you five years later? Not their concern. Most contractors bank on being unreachable or out of business by then.
The Warranty Void You Don’t Know About
Manufacturer warranties require all roof penetrations—including skylights—to be properly sealed and integrated with the new roofing system.
When you reuse 15-year-old skylights on a new roof, you’re betting that those old seals will outlast your new shingles.
They won’t.
Skylight manufacturers design their products for specific lifespans. A skylight installed in 2010 wasn’t engineered to seal properly against a roof system installed in 2025 with different underlayment materials, different flashing techniques, and different thermal expansion characteristics.
When that seal fails, the manufacturer rejects your warranty claim because you mixed old components with new systems. The roofing contractor rejects responsibility because “the skylight was fine when we left it.”
You’re stuck with the repair bill and no recourse.
The True Cost of Waiting
Replacing a skylight after your roof is done costs double or triple what it would have cost during the original replacement.
Why?
Because now the installer has to carefully remove brand-new shingles around the skylight, replace the old unit, install new flashing, and relay the shingles they just removed. That’s double labor for the same result—labor you already paid for during the roof replacement.
On Long Island and Westchester, a skylight that costs $1,200 to replace during a roof job typically costs $2,500-$3,500 to replace after the fact.
Multiply that by three skylights and you’re looking at $7,500-$10,500 instead of $3,600.
That’s not a savings. That’s deferred cost plus a substantial penalty for waiting.
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After completing your roof inspection, if repairs or updates are recommended, we’ll do everything we can to make affording your roof repair or replacement quick and easy.
When you work with County Roofing, you get only the best. As little as 0% interest on approval for 5 years, quick approval, easy pay, and all backed by the best guarantees in the industry.
Other “Savings” That Cost You More
The skylight scam is just one version of a common pattern: contractors eliminate necessary work to win bids, then homeowners pay more later to fix the problems.
Chimney Flashing: “The Old Flashing Is Fine”
Chimney flashing creates a waterproof seal where your chimney penetrates your roof.
Old flashing on a new roof means you have a 15-year-old seal trying to protect against water infiltration for the next 25 years. When that seal fails—and it will—water runs down inside your walls, rotting framing and creating mold problems you won’t discover until thousands of dollars in damage has already occurred.
Proper chimney flashing during a roof replacement costs $800-$1,500.
Chimney flashing replacement after your roof is done costs $2,000-$3,500, plus whatever interior damage the leak caused before you caught it.
Drip Edge: “You Don’t Really Need It”
Drip edge protects your fascia boards and prevents water from working its way under your shingles along the roof edge.
Without it, water wicks back under your shingles, rotting the fascia and eventually the roof decking. The damage happens slowly, invisibly, until you notice your fascia boards sagging or water stains on your soffits.
Adding drip edge during roof replacement costs $3-$5 per linear foot.
Replacing rotted fascia boards and damaged roof decking costs $15-$25 per linear foot, plus the cost of tearing off sections of your new roof to access the damage.
A contractor who eliminates drip edge saves you $600 on your original project.
Five years later, you’re paying $4,000 to fix fascia damage.
Ventilation Upgrades: “Your Ventilation Is Adequate”
Inadequate attic ventilation traps heat and moisture under your roof, cooking your shingles from underneath and dramatically shortening their lifespan.
A roof designed to last 25 years might fail in 15 years with poor ventilation. You won’t know until the shingles start curling and cracking prematurely—symptoms that look identical to manufacturing defects but are actually caused by inadequate airflow.
Upgrading ventilation during a roof replacement adds $1,200-$2,500 to your project.
Replacing your entire roof ten years early because inadequate ventilation destroyed it costs $12,000-$18,000.
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We have over 35 years of experience living up to CertainTeed’s tough standards. That means CertainTeed trusts our home improvement work enough to stand behind it with their best guarantees.
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The Questions That Protect Your Investment
When a contractor tells you work isn’t necessary, here’s what you need to ask:
“If we don’t do this work now and it needs to be done in five years, what will it cost then?”
This forces the contractor to acknowledge that the cost increases dramatically when done separately. If they claim it won’t need to be done at all, ask them to put that in writing.
“How does skipping this work affect my manufacturer warranty?”
Many contractors don’t actually know the answer to this question. The ones who do know generally won’t tell you unless you ask directly. Get the warranty implications in writing.
“Can you show me where in the manufacturer specifications it says this work is optional?”
Manufacturer installation instructions specify exactly what components need to be replaced or upgraded during a roof replacement. If your contractor is contradicting those instructions, they’re either ignorant or dishonest—neither of which is good.
“What will happen to this component over the lifespan of my new roof?”
This question forces contractors to think beyond winning the immediate job. A 15-year-old skylight might look fine today, but will it still be fine in year 20 of your new roof? If not, when will it fail and what damage will that failure cause?
County Roofing Systems: We Have the Hard Conversations
Other contractors tell you what you want to hear to win the bid.
We tell you what you need to know to protect your investment.
We have the skylight talk. Every time. We explain exactly what happens when you put old skylights on a new roof. We show you the warranty implications. We walk through the cost comparison of replacing now versus replacing later.
Then we let you decide.
Why? Because we’re still going to be here in five years when those decisions matter. We’re not a fly-by-night operation that wins jobs by telling homeowners what they want to hear, then disappears before the consequences show up.
We’ve been serving Long Island and Westchester for nearly four decades. Our reputation depends on roofs that perform correctly for their entire design lifespan—not roofs that develop preventable problems because we skipped critical work to underbid a competitor.
Click the button below to give us a call today:
Full Assessment, Not Sales Pitch
Other contractors look at your shingles, give you a number, and move on to the next estimate.
Every County Roofing Systems project starts with a comprehensive inspection—free.
We don’t just look at your shingles. We examine every component that affects your roof’s performance: skylights, chimneys, ventilation, flashing, drip edge, and underlying structure.
Then we explain exactly what needs to be done and why.
If your skylights are 15 years old and you’re getting a new roof, we’ll tell you they should be replaced and explain the cost implications of waiting. If your ventilation is inadequate, we’ll show you how that affects shingle lifespan and energy costs.
We give you all the information you need to make an informed decision—not just the information that makes our bid look cheaper.
Elite Certifications Mean We Follow the Rules
As GAF and Owens Corning certified contractors, we’re required to install roof systems according to manufacturer specifications.
Other contractors make up their own rules about what work is “optional” to keep their bids competitive.
Those specifications aren’t suggestions. They’re requirements for warranty coverage.
When manufacturer guidelines say skylights should be replaced during a roof replacement, we can’t ignore that just to win a bid. Our certifications hold us accountable to those standards.
That protects you because it means we’re not cutting corners to make our price look better.
Trained Professionals Who Know What Actually Matters
Every member of our installation crew is home-grown and NRCA-trained.
Other contractors hire whoever’s available and hope for the best.
Our professionals have been trained in proper roofing techniques by the National Roofing Contractors Association. They understand how decisions made today affect roof performance ten years from now.
When you work with people who actually know what they’re doing, the shortcuts become obvious. The “optional” work that isn’t actually optional gets identified before it becomes a problem.
Nearly Four Decades of Being Here When It Counts
Other contractors disappear the moment there’s a problem.
If you’re investing $15,000-$25,000 in a new roof, you’re not looking for the cheapest bid. You’re looking for someone you can trust when something goes wrong.
Someone who’ll answer the phone in five years if you develop a leak. Someone who’ll still be in business in ten years when that roof is halfway through its lifespan. Someone who’s not going to vanish the moment there’s a problem.
That’s what County Roofing Systems provides. We show up. We’ve been showing up for nearly four decades, and we’ll still be showing up when your roof is twenty years old and still performing exactly as it should.
Because the next time you need roofing work—from a simple roof repair to a complete roof replacement—you need a company that’s going to tell you the truth about what work needs to be done.
Even when that truth means your project costs more upfront.
Even when it means you might choose a competitor with a lower bid.
We’d rather lose a job by being honest than win it by hiding problems that will cost you thousands later.
Call County Roofing Systems today at (631) 400-7663 for a free estimate.
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With County Roofing, you can get fast approvals with as low as 0% financing on new roofing projects for up to 15 years, with payments as low as $149:
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Monthly payments as low as $149
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