Here’s a number that surprises most homeowners: the average roof leak we trace back in Southern NH started doing damage two to three years before anyone noticed a stain on the ceiling. Water is patient. It soaks decking, rots rafter tails, and mats down insulation quietly — and by the time it announces itself, a $300 fix has become a $3,000 one. That’s the whole argument for a professional roof inspection in NH, and it’s why we’re writing this guide.

Below we’ll walk through exactly what a proper inspection includes (roof, attic, and ground — all three), what inspections cost in 2026, how often your roof actually needs one, and how to spot the difference between a real inspection and a guy squinting at your roof from his truck window. We do this every day across the Seacoast and Lakes Region, so we’ll tell you what we look for and why.

What Does a Professional Roof Inspection Include?

We break ours into three passes, and honestly, the attic pass is where we find the problems that matter most.

On the roof

• Shingle condition — granule loss, cracking, cupping, and blistering. We’ll lift a tab or two by hand to check whether the self-seal strip is still bonded. Unsealed tabs are the first thing to go in a nor’easter.
• Flashing — step flashing along walls, chimney flashing, and kickout flashing where roof meets siding. Flashing failures cause more leaks than shingle failures. That’s not close, either.
• Penetrations — pipe boots, bath fan caps, skylights. A cracked neoprene pipe boot is the single most common leak source we repair, and it’s a $150–$400 fix if you catch it dry.
• Valleys and ridge — valleys carry the most water on the roof, so they wear first. At the ridge we check the vent for crushing, gaps, and whether it’s actually cut open underneath (you’d be amazed how often it isn’t).
• Nail pops and fastener issues — backed-out nails telegraph through shingles and pinhole the surface.
• Soft spots — we feel for spongy decking underfoot as we walk. This one matters, and there’s no substitute for boots on shingles. More on that below.

In the attic

• Decking underside — dark staining, delamination, or mold on the plywood tells the history of the roof better than the surface does.
• Daylight check — with the lights off, daylight showing anywhere except vents is a problem.
• Ventilation — are the soffit vents actually open, or buried under insulation? Is intake balanced with exhaust? Poor ventilation cooks shingles from below and voids manufacturer warranties. We’ve written a whole post on it.
• Frost and moisture — in cold months, frost on nail tips means warm moist house air is reaching the attic. That’s an air-sealing problem that will shorten the roof’s life.
• Insulation depth — not strictly a roofing item, but it’s connected to everything above, so we note it.

From the ground

• Soffit and fascia — peeling paint, rot, and staining at the eaves usually point to ice dam history or drip edge problems.
• Drip edge lines — is it present, continuous, and lapped correctly? Plenty of older roofs around here never got drip edge at all.
• Sight lines — sagging ridge or wavy plane visible from the street means structural questions worth answering.

Last fall we inspected a 1990s colonial in Newmarket where the roof looked fine from the driveway — decent color, no missing shingles. In the attic, the north-side decking was black with mold from a ventilation problem and two pipe boots had split. The homeowner had no idea. Total fix was under $900 because we caught it before winter. That’s the value of doing all three passes.

How Much Does a Roof Inspection Cost in NH in 2026?

The pricing breaks down by what you actually need:

Why do contractors inspect for free? Simple — it’s how we earn work. Some inspections turn into a repair quote, some turn into “your roof’s fine, see you in a couple years,” and both outcomes are fine with us. A homeowner in Gilford we told to wait three years ago called us this spring when her roof was actually ready. That’s the long game, and it’s the only game worth playing in a market this small.

How Often Should You Have Your Roof Inspected?

New England is rough on roofs. Our freeze-thaw cycles — sometimes a dozen swings through 32°F in a single month — work at every seam, sealant bead, and fastener on the roof. Coastal homes from Rye to York add salt air, which is quietly corrosive to exposed metal flashing and fasteners. So the inspection schedule that works in Virginia doesn’t apply here.

Our rule of thumb:

• Years 0–15: every 2–3 years. Young roofs fail at penetrations and flashing, not in the field of shingles.
• Years 15+: annually. This is when granule loss accelerates and seal strips let go.
• After significant wind: any storm that drops limbs in your yard earned your roof a look. Lifted tabs reseal poorly on an older roof.
• Before buying a home: always. A general home inspector gives the roof ten minutes, often from a ladder at the eave. We’ve walked pre-purchase roofs in Durham and Haverhill that “passed” a home inspection and needed full replacement within eighteen months.

Why We Climb Every Roof — No Drones, No Drive-Bys

We’ll be blunt about this because it’s become an industry-wide shortcut: a lot of companies now “inspect” roofs with a drone from the driveway, or worse, with satellite imagery from a desk. It’s faster and cheaper for them. It’s also not an inspection.

Here’s what a camera physically cannot do:

• Feel spongy decking. We’ve walked roofs in Stratham where the sheathing flexed like a trampoline near the eaves — soaked from years of slow ice dam seepage — under shingles that photographed perfectly.
• Check seal-strip bond. You find unsealed tabs by lifting them gently by hand. From the air, a sealed roof and an unsealed roof look identical — right up until a February gale strips one of them.
• Test flashing and boots. A pipe boot that’s cracked on the uphill side, a step flashing piece that’s slipped — these are found by touch and close eyes, not from 40 feet up.
• See the attic. Half the inspection happens under the roof. A drone never sees it.

Every Compass inspection is a person on your roof and in your attic, taking photos of what we find so you can see exactly what we saw. If a section is genuinely unsafe to walk — slate, brittle cedar, a steep 12/12 in the wet — we’ll say so and use other means for that section. That’s the exception, not the method.

What Should You Get at the End of an Inspection?

The deliverable matters as much as the inspection. Whoever inspects your roof should hand you:

• Photos from your roof — of every issue they flag. This is your protection against invented problems. If someone tells you your flashing is shot and can’t show you a picture of your flashing, walk away.
• A triage, not just a list — what needs fixing this season, what to watch, and what’s cosmetic. An honest inspector will tell you when the answer is “do nothing.”
• Written pricing — if repairs are recommended, line-item pricing you can sit with. No same-day-only discounts, no “my manager can knock off 20% if you sign now.” That pressure tactic is the biggest red flag in this business, and we covered it at length in our contractor-selection guide.

One more thing worth saying: fall is prime season for out-of-town crews canvassing neighborhoods with free-inspection offers that somehow always end in an urgent, expensive discovery. A free inspection from an established local company with a physical address, local references, and photo documentation is normal. A stranger at your door who “noticed something” from the street deserves your skepticism.

Frequently Asked Questions