Residential roofing · Inspections
Roof inspections and roof certifications
A written report on what the roof actually is, with photos, and - where the roof earns it - a certification you can hand to escrow. If the roof does not earn it, you get a scope and a price for what would fix that.
- CA Licence #1052777
- We price match like-for-like bids
- 5–10 years on labor and workmanship
What a roof certification actually is
A roof certification is a short written document from a licensed contractor stating that, as of the date it was inspected, the roof is watertight and - absent something nobody can foresee - should remain serviceable for a stated period. Two years is the term people usually ask for.
It normally carries the contractor’s name and license number, the inspection date, the roof type and approximate age, the condition found, any repairs performed, and the term. That is the whole document. It is deliberately narrow.
What it is not: a certification is not a warranty, not an insurance policy, and not a promise that the roof will not be damaged. It is a professional opinion of condition on a specific date. Anyone selling it as a guarantee is misrepresenting it.
Inspection and certification are two different things
People use the words interchangeably and then get surprised. They are not the same product.
| Roof inspection | Roof certification | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | The work of examining the roof and documenting what is there. | A written statement of condition and a stated term. |
| What you get | A report: findings, photos, condition, remaining life estimate, and a repair scope if one is needed. | A one-page document, typically issued in addition to the report. |
| Condition of the roof | Any condition. A failing roof still gets a report - a useful one. | Only a roof that is watertight. Repairs come first. |
| Typical reason | Buying, selling, budgeting, a second opinion on someone else’s bid, or just wanting to know. | A transaction where the other side asked for one. |
Every certification starts with an inspection. Plenty of inspections never produce a certification, because the roof does not qualify - and that answer is worth just as much when you are the one buying the house.
Why it comes up in escrow
There is no California law requiring a roof certification to sell a house. It shows up anyway, in one of four ways, and it helps to know which one you are dealing with because they are solved differently.
1. The buyer asked for it
The most common route. A general home inspection report says something like "roof at or near end of expected service life - recommend evaluation by a licensed roofing contractor," and the buyer’s agent turns that into a request for repairs or a certification. Home inspectors are generalists covering the whole house, and many of them are limited in how far they will go onto a roof, so "have a roofer look at it" is a routine and reasonable line in their reports.
2. The lender’s appraisal flagged it
On FHA financing in particular, HUD’s appraisal rules require the appraiser to flag a roof that does not have a remaining physical life of at least two years and to make the appraisal subject to inspection by a professional roofer. That is a large part of why "two-year cert" became the phrase everyone uses. Confirm the current requirement with your lender - guideline details change, and we do not underwrite loans.
3. An insurance carrier wants the roof addressed
Carriers writing California homeowners policies have gotten substantially more particular about roof age and condition. A buyer who cannot bind coverage cannot close. A current written report with photos and a stated condition is often what the underwriter is after.The report is yours to send. We give it to you; you forward it wherever it needs to go.
4. The seller wants to get ahead of it
This is the smart use of the document and the one most people miss. California sellers of one-to-four-unit residential property have to deliver a Transfer Disclosure Statement, and it asks directly about the roof and about known leaks. A seller who already has a written inspection knows what they are disclosing, knows what the buyer’s inspector is going to find, and has priced the repairs before anyone turns them into a renegotiation. Finding out about a bad valley in your own time is cheaper than finding out during a 17-day contingency period.
What is in the written report
The report is the part that is genuinely useful, whether or not a certification comes with it. Ours covers:
- The property and the date. Address, date of inspection, our business name and California license number, and who performed the inspection.
- Roof type, approximate age, and layer count. Covering material, what the underlayment appears to be where we can see it, and whether there is more than one layer on the structure - which matters, because California limits a structure to two roof coverings at a time.
- Condition of the covering. Wear, granule loss, cracked or slipped tile, fastener condition, and how failure is distributed. Sun-beaten south and west slopes almost always tell a different story than the north slope on the same house.
- Flashings and penetrations, item by item. Valleys, headwall and sidewall flashing, kick-outs, chimney counterflashing, skylight curbs, pipe jacks, vents, and any solar or satellite attachments. This is where most residential leaks actually start, so this is where the detail goes.
- Low-slope and flat sections. Seams, terminations, drains and scuppers, and evidence of ponding. Almost every house has a porch, an addition, or a flat wing somewhere.
- Drainage. Gutter condition, sizing and pitch, whether downspouts are actually carrying water away from the structure, and the condition of the fascia the gutters are hanging on.
- Attic observations where access allows. Staining on the underside of the sheathing, rusted nail shanks, daylight, soft decking, insulation that has been wet, and whether the attic is getting the ventilation it needs.
- Photographs of everything called out. Not a stock diagram - photographs of your roof, keyed to the findings, so that anyone who reads the report later can see what we were looking at.
- A plain-language conclusion. Estimated remaining service life, a list of anything that needs attention, and a straightforward recommendation: leave it alone, repair it, or plan for replacement.
- A priced repair scope, if there is one. Separate from the report, so you can compare it to anyone else’s number.
If a certification is being issued, it is issued after the repairs are done, not alongside a list of open items. A certification that arrives with unresolved repairs still on it is not a certification - it is a cover letter.
How we inspect, by roof type
Tile
The tile is not the waterproofing layer. An inspector who never lifts a tile can tell you the tile is intact and tell you nothing at all about whether the roof is watertight. We lift tile in several representative locations - a south or west slope, a valley, next to a chimney or a plumbing penetration, and one field area - and look at what the underlayment does in our hands. Felt at end of life tears like a cracker. That finding goes in the report with photos.Here is the full explanation of why tile roofs fail from underneath.
Architectural and composition shingle
Granule loss and where it is concentrated, cupping and clawing, exposed or backed-out nails, blown-off tabs along ridges and rakes, sealant strip condition, and every flashing. On a shingle roof the age of the covering and the condition of the flashings usually settle the question together.
Low-slope and flat
Seam condition, terminations and edge metal, curb and parapet flashing, blistering and splits, and drainage. Water still standing 48 hours after rain is the industry’s working definition of ponding, and it is a real finding rather than a cosmetic one - it accelerates whatever the membrane is going to do anyway.
Metal
Fastener and washer condition, backed-out screws, panel ends and transitions, sealant at penetrations, and corrosion at cut edges and laps. On manufactured and mobile homes - a large share of the housing stock in Kern County and the foothill communities - the perimeter and the seams are almost always where the story is.
What we will not do
We will not walk a roof that is unsafe to walk. Wet tile, brittle Spanish tile on a steep pitch, and a deck that is soft underfoot are all situations where getting on the roof damages it or injures somebody. In those cases we inspect from ladders, from the attic, and from close range at the eaves and rakes, and we say plainly in the report what we were able to examine and what we were not. A report that implies more access than we actually had is worse than an honest one.
What we do not do
Worth stating plainly, because a lot of companies offering "free roof inspections" in California are doing something else entirely.
- We do not handle insurance claims. We do not file them, we do not negotiate with adjusters, we do not meet adjusters on the roof on your behalf, and we are not public adjusters. If you want to send our report to your carrier, it is your report - send it. That is the extent of it.
- We do not do storm restoration work. If somebody knocked on your door after a wind event offering a free inspection and promising your insurance will pay for a new roof, that is a different business model than ours, and it is worth being careful with.
- We do not do fire rebuild work.
- We will not find damage that is not there. An inspection whose conclusion is "this roof is fine, call us in five years" is a normal outcome and one we write regularly.
Reasons to inspect that have nothing to do with a sale
- You do not know how old the roof is. Extremely common on a house you bought used. An inspection converts "sometime in the nineties, probably" into a real number you can plan around.
- You are budgeting. Knowing you have four to six years left is worth a great deal more than discovering you have none the week a storm arrives.
- You have a bid you do not trust. A second opinion on somebody else’s "you need a full replacement" is a legitimate and frequent reason to call us. Sometimes we agree. Sometimes the honest answer is a repair.
- Solar is going on the roof. Find out how much life the roof has before an array is bolted to it. Removing and resetting panels to reroof underneath them is a real and avoidable expense.
- After a Santa Ana wind event. Wind damage is often invisible from the street - a lifted row along a rake, a slid course of tile, a torn pipe boot.
- Before the rain starts. September and October are the right window in both of our markets. Seeroof maintenance and wet-season prep.
Roof inspection and certification questions
Is a roof certification required to sell a house in California?
No. There is no California law requiring a roof certification to close a sale. It comes up because a buyer asks for one, an agent puts it in the contract, a lender wants the roof condition addressed, or an insurance carrier wants to see the roof before writing a policy. It is a negotiated item between buyer and seller, not a legal requirement - which also means the term and the scope are negotiable.
What is the difference between a roof inspection and a roof certification?
An inspection is the work: we get on the roof, look at the assembly and the penetrations, check the attic where we can, and write up what we found with photos. A certification is a separate, narrower document - a written statement that as of the inspection date the roof is watertight and, barring events nobody can predict, should stay serviceable for a stated period. Every certification requires an inspection. Not every inspection produces a certification, because not every roof qualifies for one.
How long is a roof certification good for?
Ours are valid for 12 months. A certification is a statement about the condition of a roof on the day it was inspected, and a roof changes — one wet season can undo what was true last spring. A 12-month term is what we are willing to stand behind honestly. If you see a much longer term offered elsewhere, ask what happens to it after the first winter.
Can you certify a roof that needs repairs?
Not as it sits. A certification says the roof is watertight now - so anything that stops it from being watertight has to be corrected first. We inspect, give you a written scope and price for what needs doing, and the certification is issued after that work is complete. A certification handed over with open repairs still listed is not worth the paper.
Is a certification a warranty on the roof?
No, and this is the most important thing to understand about the document. It is a licensed contractor’s professional opinion of condition on a specific date. It is not insurance, it does not cover the roof against future storm damage, and it does not make us responsible for a roof we did not install. Work we perform ourselves carries our own workmanship warranty - that is a separate thing.
The home inspector already looked at the roof. Why would I need this?
A general home inspector covers the entire house and is often limited in how far they will go onto a roof - many report from the ground, a ladder at the eave, or a drone, and their reports routinely recommend evaluation by a roofing contractor. That recommendation is frequently what sends people to us. We look at one system, we get on it where it is safe to, and on tile we lift tile to see the layer that actually does the waterproofing.
Can I give the report to my insurance company?
Yes. It is your report and you can do whatever you want with it - forward it to your carrier, hand it to a buyer, give it to your agent, or file it with your house records. What we will not do is handle a claim for you. We do not do insurance claim work or storm restoration, we do not negotiate with adjusters, and we are not a public adjuster. We inspect the roof and tell you what is true about it.
How does an FHA loan affect this?
HUD’s appraisal rules require the appraiser to flag a roof that does not have a remaining physical life of at least two years, and to make the appraisal subject to inspection by a professional roofer when it does not. Worth separating two things people conflate: that two-year rule is about how much life the roof has left, not about how long a certification document lasts. Our report states the condition we found and the remaining life we would put our name to; the certification itself is valid for 12 months. Confirm current requirements with your lender - guidelines change and we do not underwrite loans.
What does an inspection cost and how long does it take?
Residential inspections start at $495. Commercial inspections start at $595. Those are starting points, not flat rates - size, pitch, height, roof type, and access all move the number, and a steep two-storey tile roof is a different job from a single-storey composition roof. Call 661-578-3346, describe the property, and we will give you the price on the phone rather than after we show up. Most single-family inspections take a matter of hours, and you get the written report and photos afterwards, not a verbal summary at the truck.
Do you inspect tile roofs differently?
Yes, and it matters. A tile roof can look flawless while the underlayment beneath it is finished, so an inspection that only looks at tile from above tells you almost nothing about whether the roof is watertight. We lift tile in several representative places - a sun-beaten slope, a valley, near a penetration - and look at the membrane. That is the only way to write an honest report on a tile roof.
Related services
- Roof repair and leak diagnosis - when the report finds something
- Tile underlayment replacement - the most common serious finding on a tile roof
- Reroofing and replacement - when the roof is genuinely finished
- Gutters - almost always part of what an inspection turns up
- Roof maintenance - what to do between inspections
What it costs
| Inspection | Starting at |
|---|---|
| Residential roof inspection and report | $495 |
| Commercial roof inspection and report | $595 |
Starting prices, not flat rates — size, pitch, height, roof type, and access all affect the final number. Call 661-578-3346 and describe the property and we will price it on the phone. Certifications we issue are valid for 12 months.
Why call Green Coast for an inspection
- Two CSLB classifications - C-39 (Roofing) and B (General Building), in business since 2019.
- Published starting prices rather than a number we make up when we see the address.
- California license #1052777 - licensed, bonded, and insured. Verify it at cslb.ca.gov.
What you end up with
A written report with photographs, a plain-language condition summary, and - if the roof qualifies - a 12-month certification. If it does not qualify, you get a priced repair scope instead, so you know exactly what closes the gap.
Where we inspect
Inspections across Los Angeles County and Kern County. See the full list of cities we serve.
Get the roof looked at properly
Tell us whether this is for a sale, for a lender, for your insurer, or just for you - it changes what the document needs to say, and we would rather know up front.
Serving greater Los Angeles, the San Gabriel Valley, and Kern County. CA License #1052777 - verify it at cslb.ca.gov.