Roof replacement in Leesburg without the surprises

We are a repair-first company, so we hold replacement to a higher standard than "it looks old." A roof earns a replacement recommendation when several of these show up together during the free inspection:

• Granules in the gutters and bare asphalt showing. Once the mineral surface is gone, Florida sun breaks the mat down quickly. On a south-facing slope in Highland Lakes this often shows years before the north slope.
• Shingles that crack when lifted. A repair needs shingles flexible enough to be lifted and re-sealed. Brittle three-tab from the 1990s snaps instead, so every repair creates two new openings.
• Leaks on more than one slope. One leak at a pipe boot is a repair. Stains in the garage, the lanai ceiling and a back bedroom point to a system that has reached the end of its life.
• Soft decking from the attic. Dark, delaminated plywood around valleys or eaves means water has been getting past the underlayment for a long time.
• Patches on patches. Three colors of shingle, roof cement smeared along the valleys and a tarp that has been up since Milton all say the same thing.
• A renewal letter that asks for roof documentation. Florida carriers can ask for an inspection on a roof 15 years or older; at that point the roof's remaining life becomes a paperwork question as well as a water question.

Age alone is not the test. A well-ventilated architectural shingle roof from 2004 in Legacy of Leesburg can be in better shape than a 2012 roof over a hot, unvented attic in an older Palmora Park ranch. We look at condition, then age, then the 25 percent rule below.

Florida's existing-building code (FBC-EB 706.1.1) says that when more than 25 percent of a roof section is repaired, replaced or recovered within any 12-month period, the whole section has to be brought up to current code, which in practice means a full replacement of that section. That rule is why a storm patch can turn into a re-roof.

Since SB 4-D took effect on May 26, 2022, F.S. 553.844(5) carves out an exception: the 25 percent rule does not apply if the roof was built or replaced to the 2007 Florida Building Code or later. The 2007 code went into force on March 1, 2009, so that date is the dividing line.

• An original Royal Highlands roof from 2003 is on the wrong side of the line. If Milton stripped more than a quarter of the rear slope, the rear slope is a replacement, not a patch.
• A Legacy of Leesburg roof that was replaced in 2016 is on the right side of the line. It can be repaired beyond 25 percent as long as the repair itself meets code.
• An Arlington Ridge home built in 2010 is on the right side of the line from day one.

We measure the damaged area against the full section, write the percentage on the estimate, and show you the photos we used to get there. If the number is 18 percent, you get a storm repair estimate, not a replacement pitch.

Nearly every roof replacement Leesburg homeowners ask us about comes down to architectural shingles or a metal panel system. Both can be installed to meet Lake County's 130 to 140 mph design-wind band with Florida Product Approval. The differences are in cost, lifespan, weight and what your community's architectural review committee will accept.

If you are leaning metal, the metal roofing page goes through standing seam, exposed fastener and 5V profiles in detail. The main site also has a longer shingle-versus-metal comparison for Florida if you want the full argument before we come out.

Every roof replacement in Florida needs a building permit (F.S. 553.79), and Leesburg is one of the few places where the office depends on which side of the city line you sit on, not just your mailing address.

• Inside city limits (most of 34748): City of Leesburg Building Division, 501 W Meadow St, (352) 728-9700, Monday through Friday 8:00 to 4:30. Permits run through the city's online portal, and the contractor has to be registered with the city before applying.
• Unincorporated Lake County (most of 34788, Haines Creek, Scottish Highlands, and the US 27 South 55+ corridor outside the city line): Lake County Office of Building Services, 315 W Main St, Tavares, (352) 343-9653. Residential re-roofs are auto-issued online once the paperwork is complete.

Either way, the package is the same job for you: we file the application with the property record card, the re-roof scope of work form, the Florida Product Approval numbers for shingles or panels, underlayment, drip edge and vents, and we record a Notice of Commencement when the contract exceeds $5,000 (F.S. 713.135) before the first inspection. Lake County also wants progress photos with a ruler in frame and a notarized re-roof affidavit at final; the city schedules a final roofing inspection. You sign the Notice of Commencement and the contract. We handle the rest, and we tell you which office your house falls under before you sign anything.

Two requirements catch Leesburg homeowners off guard, mostly because their neighbor's 2015 re-roof did not include them.

Sheathing re-nail. For a detached single-family home built before March 1, 2002, the existing roof deck has to be re-nailed with 8d nails at 6 inches on center before the new underlayment goes down (FBC-EB 706.7.1; it is item one on Lake County's re-roof checklist). That covers Scottish Highlands (1983 to 1992), Pennbrooke Fairways' site-built phases (1980 to 2004), most of the Plantation at Leesburg, all of Highland Lakes, Palmora Park, Silver Lake and that 1978 ranch off CR 44. We budget the labor in the base price, photograph the nailing pattern for the inspector, and it is never an add-on.

Secondary water barrier. F.S. 553.844(3) and FBC-EB 706.7.2 require a secondary water barrier on every roof replacement, regardless of the home's age. On a shingle roof that is a self-adhered membrane over the deck seams or over the full deck; on a metal roof it is a full peel-and-stick underlayment. It is the layer that keeps a lost shingle from becoming a wet ceiling, and it is part of every estimate we write.

What Lake County does not require is worth knowing too. The county is not a high-velocity hurricane zone and is not inside the wind-borne debris region, so the roof-to-wall strap retrofit that coastal homeowners get quoted is generally not triggered here. If a contractor from Orlando or Daytona adds it to your Leesburg estimate, ask why.

Most single-story Leesburg homes are torn off and dried in on day one and finished on day two. Larger hip roofs in the Plantation or two-story homes in Arlington Ridge can run a third day. Here is the sequence so nothing on the day is a surprise.

1. Before the crew arrives. Materials are delivered to the driveway, the dumpster is placed where it will not crack the drive, and we walk the yard with you to note the AC unit, pool screen, satellite dish and plantings we will tarp or cover.
2. Tear-off. Old shingles, felt, flashing and drip edge come off down to bare wood. Shingles over a lanai or screen room are stripped by hand rather than thrown.
3. Deck inspection and re-nail. We walk every sheet, mark soft or delaminated plywood, photograph it, and re-nail the deck on pre-2002 homes. This is the moment the one common change order is decided, with you on the phone, not after the fact.
4. Dry-in. Secondary water barrier, underlayment, new drip edge, new pipe boots and flashing. From this point the house is weather-tight even if afternoon storms roll in.
5. Shingles or panels. Starter strip, field shingles nailed to the approved pattern, valleys, ridge vent and cap. Metal gets clips or the fastener schedule from its product approval.
6. Clean-up. Gutters cleared, the yard and driveway swept with a rolling magnet for nails, dumpster pulled.
7. Final inspection. We schedule it with the city or county and send you the closed permit.

Timing around weather matters more here than crews from drier states expect. June is Leesburg's wettest month (6.98 inches on average out of 43.78 for the year), so summer tear-offs start at first light and we never open more roof than we can dry in before the 3 p.m. cell builds.

Our Price-Is-the-Price guarantee is simple: the number on your contract is the number you pay. The only common change order on a roof replacement is rotten decking, because nobody can see through shingles. So we handle it the only honest way we know:

• The per-sheet price for replacing a 4x8 sheet of decking is written into the contract before we start, not negotiated on the roof.
• Every sheet we replace is photographed in place, before and after, and the photos go in your closeout folder.
• Any other hidden-condition work, such as a cracked truss or a rotten fascia run, needs your written approval before we touch it. You can say no.

Where rot hides on Leesburg roofs: under old pipe boots that were caulked instead of replaced, along valleys on the 1980s Plantation hips, at the eaves where gutters overflowed for years, under skylights added in the 1990s, and over the soffit line above screened lanais where the roof edge sits low. On most roofs the count is zero to a handful of sheets. On a 1960s Silver Lake home with the original decking it can be more, and we tell you that risk at the estimate stage, not on the day.

A re-roof is the cheapest moment to fix the things that quietly shorten a roof's life in a Leesburg attic. We go through this list at the estimate so none of it becomes a mid-job conversation.

• Attic ventilation. Many 1980s and 1990s Lake County homes were built with a few turbine or gable vents and almost no soffit intake. A continuous ridge vent paired with cleared soffit intake moves the hot, humid air out instead of letting it cook the underside of the shingles. Off-ridge vents are the fallback on hip roofs with short ridges, which describes most of the Plantation.
• Pipe boots and vent stacks. Rubber boots from the original build are the single most frequent leak source we find; every one is replaced, never reused or caulked over.
• Flashing. Step flashing where a lanai roof meets a wall, kick-out flashing at the bottom of that run, a cricket behind any wide chimney, and new counter-flashing at stucco. Galvanized, aluminum or painted to match.
• Skylights. A twenty-year-old acrylic bubble skylight should be swapped on the day, because reflashing an aging unit is money spent twice.
• Gutters and drip edge. New drip edge is code; seamless aluminum gutters are optional, and the lanai eave is usually the one place they pay for themselves.
• Satellite dishes and solar attic fans. Removed, then remounted and flashed properly, or retired if you no longer use them.

Landlords with rentals off CR 44 or near Lake Square Mall get the same walkthrough with one addition: we coordinate the tenant notice, the dumpster placement and the quietest start time so the tenancy is not disrupted, and the closeout folder is organized the way a property manager or a future buyer will want to see it.

Every roof replacement from Pro Specialty Services carries a written 10-year workmanship warranty on replacements paid cash or financed. Our Leak-Free Promise sits on top of it: if our work leaks, we are on site within 48 hours and fix it at no cost to you. Call or text the owner; there are no claim forms, no service fee and no trip charge. If it is not safe to work on the roof within 48 hours, we tarp or dry it in first and complete the repair as soon as conditions allow.

The warranty is transferable once, which matters in a market where 55+ homes change hands regularly, with written notice within 30 days of the sale. Manufacturer material warranties on shingles, underlayment and metal finishes are separate documents, and we register them for you. Storm damage, another contractor's later work and owner alterations are not workmanship. Repairs carry a 2-year workmanship warranty on the repaired area, and insurance-funded projects carry 2 years as well. The full wording is on the about page.

Financing is available for qualified homeowners through a third-party lender and is offered with every estimate. The financing page explains how it works and where to apply.

Many Leesburg homes also fit the state's My Safe Florida Home program. As of this writing it accepts applications from owners of homestead single-family homes with a permit applied for before January 1, 2008 and an insured value up to $700,000, and it pays $2 for every $1 the homeowner spends, up to $10,000, on qualifying work that includes roof covering replacement and a secondary water barrier. Owners aged 60 and over with low or moderate income are first in the priority queue. On age alone, the Plantation at Leesburg, Royal Highlands, Scottish Highlands, Highland Lakes, Pennbrooke Fairways and the early phases of Legacy of Leesburg all qualify. Program terms and funding change from year to year, so confirm the current rules and apply at mysafeflhome.com before signing a contract; the program inspection comes first, then the work. We do not tie any discount or gift to an insurance claim or inspection, and we are roofing contractors, not public adjusters.

Ready for a number? Book a free inspection or go straight to the contact page. Estimates are written within 48 hours.