Who Holds Your House Keys on Roof Day

A roofing crew on tear-off day can need more of your house than the roof. The attic hatch is the obvious point of entry, but the crew may also need the door from the garage, a side gate, a path through a fenced yard, or a key to a shed where ladders and bundles are stored. Each of those is a moment when a key leaves your hands and goes into someone else's pocket for the length of the job. Before you choose a roofer, ask how each one plans to hold your keys, what happens to them at the end of each day, and who is responsible if a door gets locked or a key goes missing.

Where the crew will need access

Most homes in the St. Louis area have more than one way in, and the crew will use whichever entrance is closest to the work. In older houses in Kirkwood and Webster Groves, that is often a side door off the driveway. In newer subdivisions in St. Charles County and Chesterfield, it can be an attached garage with a keypad, or a gate that needs a code to reach the back yard. A crew that knows the house will ask about these before the first truck arrives, not on the morning the tear-off starts.

Ask each roofer to list every door, gate and cabinet the crew expects to touch. The list should include the attic hatch, any door used to move materials in or out, the water shutoff if the crew is working near a plumbing vent, and any outside hose bib or electrical box a crew member might use. A roofer who cannot name these points in advance has not yet planned the job in enough detail to hold your keys safely.

Four ways keys get handled

Keys are usually handled in one of four ways, and each carries a different risk. The first is that you hand a key to the foreman and get it back at the end of the day. The second is that a door is left unlocked and the crew uses it without any key exchange. The third is a lockbox on the door or a keypad code shared with the crew. The fourth is that you are home for the full day and no key changes hands at all. Each roofer tends to prefer one of these, and the preference tells you something about how they run jobs.

• Key handed to a named foreman, signed for, and returned each evening.
• Door left unlocked with a crew member posted near it.
• Lockbox or keypad code given to the crew for the job dates only.
• Homeowner home for the full day, with no key leaving the house.

A key handed to a foreman is easy to track if the foreman writes it down. A lockbox is easy to forget to close. An unlocked side door with a crew member nearby is only as safe as that member's attention on a windy morning. A roofer who has thought this through will name one method and explain how it is recorded.

Questions to put to each roofer

Ask the same questions of each roofer, in writing if you can, so the answers can sit side by side. Put them in the order you would want them answered.

1. Which doors, gates and cabinets will the crew need, and which of those will be locked on job days?
2. Who holds each key or code, and is that person named in the contract or on the job sheet?
3. Where is each key kept at the end of the day, and does the crew return it to you or to a locked box?
4. If a key is lost or a door is locked by mistake, who calls the locksmith, and who pays for the call?
5. Does the crew lock the house before leaving each day, or does the homeowner check it?
6. What happens to a key if the job runs past the planned end date?

Lockouts and the locksmith call

A lockout on a roof job is rarely dramatic, but it costs time. A crew can lose half a day waiting for a locksmith, and a locksmith's trip can cost more than the homeowner expects, especially on a weekend or after dark in late October when the days are short. The cost is usually small compared with the delay. Ask each roofer how the company has handled a lockout before, and whether it has a locksmith it calls or whether the homeowner is expected to find one.

A roofer who answers this in a single sentence is probably not thinking about it in advance. A roofer who describes the steps, from the first call to the moment the door opens, has usually lived through that morning before. Ask what they do first and who is told. Ask whether the foreman has a phone number you can call that day, and whether it is the same number written on the start sheet.

Keys in a lockbox or keypad

A lockbox on the door or a keypad code on the garage is common, and it can be the cleanest option if the crew is given the code only for the job dates. Ask who else knows the code and how it is changed when the job is done. A code that stays active a year after the roof is finished is a code someone has to remember to close. Ask the roofer to confirm in writing that the code is used only for this job and will not be shared beyond the crew.

If the house has a smart lock, ask whether the crew will receive a temporary access code and whether the company can see when that code is used. Some roofers have this capability and some do not. Neither answer is a problem on its own. What matters is that the roofer gives you the true answer before the job starts.

Getting the key plan into the paperwork

A verbal promise to be careful with your keys does not change what the contract says. Ask for the access plan to be written into the scope or the job sheet, with the names of the people who hold keys and the times they receive and return them. If another trade will be on the property during the roof work, such as a gutter crew or a painter, list them too, since they may need the same doors. Keys that pass from one trade to another without a record are a common source of a lost key on a multi-trade job.

When you review the written plan, check that it matches what you were told in person. If the foreman said the key goes back to you each night but the plan says it stays in a lockbox, ask which one will happen. Ask the roofer to correct the paper rather than explain the difference away.

What the answers tell you

The clearest answers usually come from roofers who planned the access before they quoted. A roofer who names each door, names the person who holds each key, and describes the locksmith step without hesitation has thought about the job as a series of moves through your house. A roofer who answers each question with we will figure it out on the day is asking you to trust that the morning will go well without a plan.

If you want to check a specific answer, call the office at (314) 220-2333 and ask for the access plan in writing. Keys Roofing can walk you through which doors and gates the crew will need on your house before any work begins, and how key handling would work on your property. Ask every roofer you are considering the same question, and compare the lists rather than the impressions each one leaves you with.