"Free roof inspection" means very different things depending on who is offering it. Here is what a real one includes and what you should walk away holding.
Every roofer in Oklahoma offers a free inspection. They are not the same thing, and the difference matters when you are deciding whether to spend several thousand dollars.
The part that separates a real inspection from a sales call
Someone gets on the roof.
That sounds obvious. It is not what always happens. A meaningful number of "inspections" are a walk around the yard with a pair of binoculars, followed by a confident opinion. You cannot see granule loss or mat bruising from the ground, so an assessment made from the ground is a guess dressed up as expertise.
What we look at, in order
The field. Walking the slopes, checking for granule loss, soft spots, bruising, cracked or curling shingles, and how the surface has aged relative to its age.
The edges and the ridge. Wind lifts shingles at the rakes, eaves, and ridge first, because the adhesive strip has the least support there. A course that lifted and broke its seal will not reseal itself.
Every penetration. Pipe boots, vents, the chimney, satellite mounts, anywhere something comes through the roof. This is where most leaks on an otherwise healthy roof actually start.
Valleys. Where two slopes meet, water volume concentrates and debris collects.
The gutters. Both their condition and what is sitting in them, since granule accumulation is evidence about the roof above.
The attic, where we can get to it. The underside of the decking tells you things the top surface will not: active leaks, old water staining, daylight through the sheathing, rusted fasteners, damp insulation, and whether the ventilation is doing anything.
What you should walk away holding
Photographs. Of the actual problems, on your actual roof. Not stock images of hail damage, not somebody else's roof.
A written summary of what was found and what it means.
A straight answer about whether you need work done. Including, when it is true, no.
If a roofer will not put it in writing, you do not have an inspection. You have an opinion.
The honest version includes bad news for the roofer
Most roofs we inspect do not need to be replaced that week. Some need a repair. Some need nothing at all and just need looking at again next year.
Saying so costs us a job in the short term and it is the whole business in the long term. A roofer who finds a catastrophe on every roof he climbs is running a sales operation, not a roofing company.
When to get one
After any significant storm, before you buy a house, and roughly once a year otherwise, especially after a rough spring.
Call or text 405-684-0450 and we will come out. Free, no obligation, and you get the photos either way.
Related service
Roof Inspections in OklahomaFree, documented inspections with photographs you can actually use. After a storm, before you buy a house, or once a year to catch small problems while they are still small.