The housing stock sets the job
Richardson has a mix of 1960s and 1970s ranch-style houses close to the older core of town, and newer two-story homes in the subdivisions further out toward Sachse and Murphy. Many of the older ranch homes carry a single layer of shingle that has been replaced once or twice already, while the newer builds are usually still on their first roof.
Each type fails a little differently. Older decking sometimes has plank gaps that let a nail miss its mark; a roof that has taken several hail seasons shows granule loss unevenly across slopes depending on which direction faced the storm. The tear-off is where all of that gets found, so the estimate always carries a deck allowance priced per sheet and only billed if it is actually used.
The layers, from the deck up
After tear-off and any deck repair, ice and water barrier or a synthetic underlayment goes down across the field, with extra protection at valleys, around penetrations and along sidewalls. Metal drip edge is installed at the eaves under the underlayment and along the rakes over it, and starter strip runs the full perimeter with the adhesive line facing out so the first course seals against wind.
Architectural shingles are laid with six nails each on the marked nail line, because Dallas-area wind events call for more than the four-nail minimum some manufacturers allow. That extra nailing is the difference between a roof that stays put in a spring storm line and one that loses tabs across the yard.
Ventilation, done right the first time
A lot of older Richardson attics were built with a couple of gable vents and nothing else, which is not enough to keep the attic reasonably cool through a Texas summer. A re-roof is the cheapest moment to fix this: a continuous ridge vent is cut in, soffit intake is confirmed open, and the two are sized to work together rather than fighting each other.
The target is roughly one square foot of net free vent area per three hundred square feet of attic floor, split evenly between ridge and soffit. Where the soffits are closed off or the house has little overhang, edge vents are used instead.
Permits and inspection
Richardson requires a building permit for a roof replacement, filed before the job starts. The inspector generally wants to see the decking and underlayment before the field shingle covers them, so the schedule is built around that visit rather than around convenience.
Homeowners receive the permit paperwork, the manufacturer warranty registration, and a photo set of the decking before it was covered. That photo record is the evidence if a question ever comes up about what was under the old roof.
What the day looks like
A typical single-story Richardson home is a one-day tear-off and re-roof with a crew of five or six. Larger two-story houses, or homes with more than one layer to strip off, sometimes run into a second day. Landscaping is tarped, the driveway is protected where the dumpster sits, and the yard gets a magnet sweep before the crew leaves.