The Cable and Phone Drop Is Easy to Forget on the Roof Bid

The cable and phone line that runs from the pole to the eave is one of the few parts of a roof job that neither the homeowner nor the roofer usually thinks about until the crew is on the ladder. When the old shingles come off the front slope, that line is still attached to the house. It sits in the way of the ladder, the tear-off, and the dumpster. The bid either names who handles it or it does not, and two roofers can post nearly identical totals while only one of them has priced the call to the provider.

Who owns the drop, and why that matters

In most Chesterfield neighborhoods, the drop wire, the bracket or mast that holds it to the fascia or siding, and the connection at the wall belong to the cable company or the phone company. They do not belong to the homeowner, and the roofer does not own them either. That ownership shapes who can take the line down. Providers set their own rules for who may request a disconnect, and those rules differ from company to company. Some will only move their equipment on a work order placed by the account holder. Others will accept a request from a contractor. The wait for that appointment can be longer than the roof itself, so a homeowner should not assume the crew will lift the line and set it back the same afternoon.

Call the provider before the start date is fixed. Ask what they require, how many days of notice they need, and whether a technician has to be present for the reconnect. The answers decide whether the schedule in the bid is realistic.

What a bid should say about the line

A bid that covers the drop line will answer a short list of questions in writing. The answers do not need to be long, but each one should be specific enough that you could hold the roofer to it.

• Who calls the provider to disconnect the line, and by what date that call is made.
• Who reconnects the line after the new drip edge, fascia, and flashing are in place.
• Whether the bracket or mast that holds the drop to the house is reused, repaired, or replaced.
• Whether the crew will tie the line back out of the way while the roof is open, or whether the line will be left in place as it hangs.
• Whether any reconnect fee charged by the provider is included in the total or billed to you separately.

If the bid says utility lines by others and nothing more, the job has been handed to the homeowner without that being said plainly. Ask the roofer to revise the sheet so the line is either a named item with a price or a named responsibility with a name attached.

Roofer comparison

Put the drop line on the side-by-side sheet with the same weight you give gutters, drip edge, and pipe jacks. Two bids may both describe a full tear-off and new underlayment, yet one of them says nothing about the wire at the eave. The other names the provider, gives a date for the disconnect, and states who reconnects. Those are different jobs even if the shingle count is identical.

Keys Roofing writes its scope with photos and measurements and puts that written scope in the homeowner's hands. Ask any roofer, including Keys, to show where the drop line enters the house on the photo sheet and to write down who is responsible for each step. A roofer who can point to the spot on a photo usually has already looked at the bracket.

Where the line meets the wall

Where the drop enters the house, there is usually a small penetration through the siding or fascia, and often a bracket fastened to a board that the roofer will be working around. A replacement that removes the old fascia or a section of siding can leave that bracket loose. The holes it leaves are a common place for water to get in. Ask whether the bid includes resetting the bracket, sealing its holes, and flashing the entry if the drop comes through a wall rather than a fascia board.

The sealant at a bracket is not a durable substitute for proper flashing, and the first freeze and thaw cycle is when a loose bracket shows its problem. A St. Louis winter will test the seal within a season or two. The detail belongs in the written scope, not in a verbal promise made at the door.

What it costs

The disconnect and reconnect itself is often a small charge on a provider invoice, if there is one. The cost that matters more is the day. If the provider cannot come out until a later date, the roof either waits with its old shingles stripped and the deck exposed, or the crew works around a line that is still live. Both outcomes have a price. An open roof waiting on a provider appointment is a schedule risk, and a rushed reconnect at the end of a long day is a workmanship risk.

Ask each roofer how the bid plans around the provider's timing. A bid that starts the tear-off before the line is safe to move has pushed its cost into your idle days or into a reconnect done in a hurry. Do not compare totals until both bids handle the line in the same way. If one total is lower only because it leaves the provider call out, add that call and the reconnect back into the comparison before you decide.

Provider fees differ from company to company and from one service area to another, so there is no single number to use. What you can compare is whether each bid shows the charge or leaves it open. An open charge is a cost even when it is not on the roofer's sheet.

What to ask

Take these questions to every roofer you are comparing. The answers should be written on the bid or on a sheet attached to it.

1. Which company provides the cable and phone service to the house, and what do they require before they will disconnect the line?
2. Who places that request, and how many days of notice does the provider need before the crew arrives?
3. Will the line stay live during the tear-off, and if it is moved, where will it be tied back?
4. Is the bracket or mast reset, replaced, or left as it is, and who seals the holes it leaves?
5. Is the reconnect included in the total, or is it a charge you will pay to the provider separately?
6. Who checks the reconnect before the crew leaves the property, and does that check appear in the written scope?

If the answer to the first question is that nobody has checked, the bid is not finished. The office at Keys Roofing can be reached at (314) 220-2333, and it is worth calling before you schedule a start date, not after the dumpster has arrived in the driveway.