[fintstone]

Yep. Like with most things, experience seems to work quite well.

I had a lot of shingles get torn off my second home by a storm/falling tree on my attached garage when I was away at my primary home.

Ambulance chaser roofers showed up and contacted me. They showed up when the insurance guy came too. They wanted to replace all the shingles on the garage for the total insurance amt (which covered a damaged fence, tree removal, etc.). The roof was almost new and was replaced just before I bought the home...so I didn't need an entire roof. I only wanted them to fix the damaged area...and at first, they agreed. But, when I tried to schedule the work, they refused to do a smaller job.

It took me a long time to cut up the fallen trees and remove them myself. Then I called an older local guy that I found mentioned on the internet (no website) who came and gave me an estimate and did the work. I was not there but heard them talking on my video camera. He identified the shingles just by looking and apparently had the materials (shingles, ridge cap, and fascia board) left over from other jobs. He came with a small crew and knocked it out in a couple hours. It came out perfect (can't tell it ever happened) and cost $1100 vice the $7500 the other guys wanted. Win/win for both of us.