In Jon Strand’s Brava cost example, two quotes both say Brava, cedar shake, and synthetic underlayment. One is $2,200 a square and one is $1,550. The product label matches; the scope does not.

When the line items look close and the totals do not, start with the scope. Labor experience, supervision, exclusions, and installation detail rarely fit into one product line.

Start by ignoring the total

The total is the last thing to compare, not the first. A large price gap can describe genuinely different work: one bid includes tear-off to the deck, rebuilt wall and chimney flashing, a corrected ventilation path, decking replacement priced per sheet, and daily cleanup. The other leaves those items as “if needed.”

Before you look at the bottom line, line the bids up against three things:

  • The written scope. Does it name tear-off, underlayment, each major flashing detail, the ventilation plan, and cleanup — or does it say "roof replacement" and trust you not to ask?
  • Photo proof of what is actually wrong. Not a satellite measurement. Photos of the valleys, the wall transitions, the pipe boots, the decking where it's soft.
  • The change-order process. When the crew opens the roof and finds bad decking, what happens? A real change order is written, and it lists the scope, the cost, and the schedule impact before the extra work happens — not as a surprise on the final invoice.

If a contractor won't put those in writing, you have your answer about that bid, regardless of the price.

The cheap Brava quote that "does not exist"

Our founder, Jon Strand, says this more bluntly than we could in a brochure. Walking through Brava pricing in one of our videos, he lands here:

You can look at a Brava quote from one company and another Brava quote from a different company, and it's not so obvious. They look the same. They both say Brava. They both say cedar shake. They both say synthetic underlayment. So why is one company $2,000 or $2,200 a square and another company's at $1,550? That's a massive swing. It does not exist.Jon Strand · Founder

That is Jon’s judgment, not a universal pricing law. His point is that a low Brava number deserves a scope audit: tear-off, flashing rebuilds, supervision, accessories, waste, and installer qualification can disappear while the word “Brava” stays at the top.

You cannot see crew experience, supervision, manufacturer instructions, or warranty compliance on a material list. Ask each contractor to name the installer qualification, approved assembly, current warranty document, site lead, and photo record.

What the price spread actually looks like

We publish a clear planning range instead of hiding the conversation. Our current project price guide lists Brava synthetic cedar at a typical project price of $120,000, with most projects falling between $100,000 and $140,000. Use that range for planning, not as a quote for your house.

The point of showing the spread is not to set your expectation at the low end. It is so that when a quote lands below the bottom of the real range, you know to ask what came out of the scope to get there.

The roof that already failed once

Jon tells one more story in that video that should stay with anyone shopping on price alone:

In the middle of editing this video, we had a homeowner reach out. They spent $200,000 on their synthetic roof. The entire thing has failed. It was installed wrong.Jon Strand · Founder

A six-figure roof can fail completely when the install is wrong. The material was real. The money was real. The crew, the supervision, and the detailing were not there — and none of that was visible on the quote that won the job. The most expensive roof is the one you buy twice.

Where quotes go sideways — and how to prevent it

  • Surprise decking charges. Cause: the quote never defined how decking replacement is measured or approved. Prevent it: require written unit pricing per sheet and a photo-based approval step.
  • Leaks at walls, chimneys, and valleys. Cause: the transitions were left vague or assumed. Prevent it: the scope should name each major transition and say what gets rebuilt versus resealed.
  • Ventilation left untouched. Cause: it is easy to skip and impossible to see from the driveway. Prevent it: ask for the intake-and-exhaust plan in writing, and how it gets verified. A ridge vent with no intake is one of the most common install mistakes we find.
  • Cleanup that isn't real cleanup. Cause: disposal and nail pickup were never planned. Prevent it: require daily cleanup and a magnetic sweep of the perimeter.

Make the bids comparable in one step

Hand every contractor the same one-page checklist of inclusions and exclusions and ask them to fill it out: tear-off, underlayment, each flashing detail, ventilation, decking pricing, change-order process, cleanup. If they will, you can finally compare apples to apples. If they won't, that is information too.