A designer shingle on a new build in Ocean Springs

This one came through a general contractor. A builder we do most of our work for on the Gulfport side passed our number to a builder in Ocean Springs, who brought us onto a new home.

The homeowners arrived with a shingle already in mind: a designer shingle rather than the 30-year architectural that covers most of the coast. Designer shingles are thicker and heavier — four bundles to the square instead of three — with a deeper shadow line, a Class 3 impact rating, and metal valleys as part of the specification. It is not a common choice here, and it is not a small one, but on a new build with an open mind it stands out from the street.

New construction changes the job. On a replacement we are the only trade on site; on a new build we are one of a dozen. We asked the builder for one thing before we started — fascia on and painted — so no painter would be touching up above a brand-new roof.

• Designer shingles carry a lead time; materials were staged between September 24 and October 8.
• Roof installed October 11–14, with black valley metal in every valley, as the shingle requires.
• Charcoal Black shingle against black drip edge and valley metal, so the details read as one system.

Then a change. Shortly after Christmas the owners decided they did not like a low-pitch detail beside the front door — a valley that exists because they kept their interior ceiling height — and had the builder raise the whole front of the house by two feet. That meant re-roofing the front: new shingles against the same lead time, the interior kept dried in while we waited (the sheetrock was already finished), and flashing the crew will tell you was the hardest they cut that year.

The front elevation was re-roofed in mid-January. The owners’ words were that they should have done it from the beginning.

The builder who brought us in has since sent us another project.