Your Clothesline Crosses the Drop Zone: Compare Each Roofer's Plan

A clothesline looks harmless until a roof crew needs the path under it. In Chesterfield yards the lines often run from the back corner of the house to a pole or a tree, and they sit right where the tear-off debris, the dumpster line and the ladder all want to go. A line still hung with laundry when the crew arrives is a line someone will have to cut, step under or take down in a hurry. Ask each roofer what they plan to do with it before the first shingle comes off.

Why the line matters on roof day

Tear-off sends old shingles, nails and granule-heavy debris down the slope and onto whatever sits below the eave. Clothes on a line catch that debris, pick up nails and then need to be washed again, and a damp towel with grit in it is not something you want to hang back up. The line itself is a trip hazard for crew members carrying bundles across the yard. A crew working to finish a slope before the afternoon rain will not stop to lift it, so the line either gets stepped over or pulled down with a bundle still on the rope.

None of this is unusual. The yard work on a roof job is much the same from street to street, and the line is one more item in the same family as the sprinkler heads, the patio furniture and the mailbox. What differs from bid to bid is whether the roofer says who handles it. The question to ask is not whether the crew will be careful. The question is who takes the line down, when, and whether that is written into the scope.

Roofer comparison

Put the clothesline question to each bidder in the same words, and write down the answer next to the bid total. The answers usually fall into a few groups, and it helps to know them before you hear them.

Three answers you will hear

• The homeowner takes the line down the night before and rehangs it after the crew leaves. This puts the work on you, and it costs an hour of your time at each end of the job.
• The crew moves the line to a pole or an anchor they set aside, or lowers it clear of the work zone. This is a real plan, but ask whether the time is in the labor on the bid or billed separately.
• The crew will not touch the line, and the homeowner should keep the yard clear on roof days. This works only if you can actually keep the yard clear, since a crew that finds a line in the way will work around it and the debris will land where it lands.

Each answer can work. Each one means something different for your Saturday, and none of them is the same as a roofer saying the crew will be careful. Careful is a habit, not a plan. A plan names the line, names who moves it and says when.

Look at what the written scope says and what the roofer says out loud. A sentence in the proposal that mentions protecting the yard is a start. A specific note that the clothesline will be taken down, bagged and rehung, and by whom, is a plan you can check against the other bids. The protection and cleanup language in a written scope should name the items the crew expects to work around, and the clothesline belongs on that list if it sits in the drop zone.

Ask whether the roofer marks a drop zone, a fenced path or a clear lane for the dumpster and the magnet sweep. A roofer who can point to where the debris will fall can also tell you whether a line strung across that area is in it. A written scope from Keys Roofing comes with photos and measurements, and the same discipline applies to the yard. Ask for the yard to be photographed before the work starts, so the state of the lines is on paper before the first bundle goes up the ladder.

What it costs

The cost of a clothesline question is usually small, but it is not zero. If the crew moves the line, the time may sit inside the labor on the bid, or it may appear as a separate line or a change order later. If the homeowner takes the line down, the cost is your own time and a load of laundry to wash again. Neither is a reason to skip the question. The point of asking is to know which of those applies, so the bid totals can be compared without a hidden item showing up after you sign.

Put the clothesline next to the other yard items on your list: the dumpster placement, the sprinkler heads, the cars and the plants. A bid that says nothing about the line and nothing about the yard is not finished. A bid that says the crew will handle the line but does not say whether that is included in the total is still unclear. Ask for the answer in the scope text, or get the number in writing, not just a verbal promise from the person at the door.

When you compare totals, mark any bid where the yard work is described only in general terms. A bid that describes the drop zone, the lines and the anchors in its own words is easier to hold to than one that says the site will be protected. The difference shows up in the scope pages, and it is the sort of detail that decides whether two quotes describe the same job.

What to ask

Write the questions down before you call, and ask every roofer the same ones. A short list is enough. The office line for Keys Roofing is (314) 220-2333, and the questions below work for any roofer you are comparing.

1. Where will the clothesline sit relative to the dumpster, the ladder and the debris fall line on my yard?
2. Will the crew take the line down, move it or leave it, and who does that work?
3. If the crew moves it, is that time in the bid total or billed separately?
4. Will the photo record include the line and its anchor points before the work starts?
5. If a line end, a clip or a pole is damaged during the work, who writes that down and how?
6. Does someone from the crew stay on site to rehang the line, or does the homeowner need to be home?

Ask how long the crew expects to need the lane clear. A one-day tear-off and a two-day install are not the same yard problem, and a line that can stay down for two days may not be workable if it has to come down every morning and go back up every evening.

Practical notes for the day

Take the line down the night before if you can. Bag the wet and dirty items separately from the clean ones, and pull the clothespins and small pieces off the rope too, since they are the things that blow into the gutter or the flower bed. If the line is fixed to a tree, tell the roofer which tree and check that no bundle is planned to hang from the same branch. If the line is fixed to a post near the eave, the crew may need that corner clear before they set a ladder there.

Spring weather in Chesterfield brings wind, and a line that holds on a calm morning can sag or swing into the work zone by afternoon. After rain, the ground around a pole can be soft, so a pole set in wet clay is not a safe anchor for a crew walking past it. If the weather turns while the roof is open, ask the roofer what they do with a loose line before the next rain comes through. The rain plan on your bid should answer that, and so should the crew lead on the morning of the job.