A playhouse in a Creve Coeur backyard looks like a yard fixture until the roof crew starts stripping the house. Kit playhouses and wood forts often sit within a few feet of the house wall, usually on the side where the eave is lowest, and that is exactly where tear-off debris lands. A bid that promises a full tear-off and haul-away but says nothing about the structure in the yard leaves the homeowner to find out on the day the first bundle comes off the truck.
Town roofing
Many Creve Coeur lots have side yards narrow enough that a playhouse ends up inside the zone where the crew works. The crew stands on ladders at the eave, throws old shingles and underlayment down the slope, and stacks bundles on the lawn while they work. Nails fall, tear-off debris slides off the lower edge, and a full bundle is heavy enough to dent a light roof or crack a thin panel. A playhouse roof is far lighter than a house roof, so it takes that impact more easily, and its shingles or panels may already show hail marks from earlier storms that nobody photographed.
The freeze and thaw cycle matters here too. A wood playhouse on blocks or short posts is often close enough to the ground that its floor takes splash and runoff from the house gutter. If a downspout empties near the playhouse, the floor sees that water all winter, and wood that stays wet through a St. Louis freeze can heave, split or rot at the sill. Moving the playhouse for the job, or covering it while the house roof is open, gives the crew room and keeps the structure dry through the weeks when the roof is bare.
Hail season adds a second question. A playhouse roof is its own small roof, with its own covering and its own flashing where it meets the wall, and hail that hits the house also hits the playhouse. Photograph the playhouse separately, with the same care you give the house, and do not assume the house photos cover it. Keys documents damage on the house roof and on any other roof on the property, and puts a written scope with photos and measurements in the homeowner's hands. Whether a playhouse is covered under the homeowner's policy depends on the policy wording, and that conversation happens between the homeowner and the insurer. A roofer can document the structure, but a roofer cannot argue the claim for you, because Missouri law bars a roofing contractor from representing or negotiating a homeowner's insurance claim.
What it costs
The playhouse rarely shows up as its own line in a roof bid, which is why the number is so often missing. There are three ways to handle it, and each one carries a different cost. The first is to leave the playhouse where it is and cover it, with a tarp or plywood over the roof and a drop cloth on the walls. That is a protection line, and it depends on how much of the playhouse falls inside the drop zone. The second is to move the playhouse off the drop zone for the length of the job, which means disassembly, a temporary spot on the lawn, and reassembly on the same footing. The third is to relocate it permanently, which is a separate job with its own footing, its own site work and possibly its own permit question with the municipality.
Ask which of those three the bid assumes. A bid that says protect the yard without naming a structure has not priced anything. The line should name the playhouse, say who moves it, say who reassembles it, and say whether reassembly uses the old footing or needs a new one. If the playhouse needs anything beyond the same footing, that belongs in writing before a start date is set, because a footing added after the roof is open pushes the schedule and the crew's time.
Ask also whether any general yard protection number in the bid is meant to cover a structure. Some proposals put a lump figure for protecting the yard inside overhead, and that figure may or may not stretch to a playhouse. A number buried in overhead is hard to check against another bid. A separate line with a name on it is easier to compare, and easier to hold a roofer to when the day comes.
What to ask
Start with location. Ask each roofer where the playhouse falls in the drop zone, and ask them to mark it on the site walk. A roofer who has walked the lot will know which side the ladder runs on, where the bundles will sit, and which direction the debris will fall. A roofer who has not walked the lot will answer in general terms, and general terms are not a plan for your yard.
Next, ask who moves the playhouse and who sets it back. The answer should name a person or a crew, not a department or a we will handle it. If the homeowner is expected to move it, the bid should say so in writing, and the homeowner can decide whether that works for the family, the weather and the schedule. Children who use the playhouse should be kept out of the yard on the day the crew is working, and the bid should say how the crew will keep the play area clear.
Ask whether the crew will enter the playhouse, and whether the roofer will stage anything inside it or on its roof. Ask who is responsible if debris, a dropped bundle or a dropped ladder damages the structure, and ask whether that answer is written into the contract or only said on the phone. A spoken promise is not part of the quote, and a roofer who will not put the answer on paper has told you something about the answer.
Ask for the photo log to include the playhouse before and after the work. Photos of the house roof do not show the playhouse condition. Ask for the playhouse roof and its walls in the same set of photos, taken from the same spot each time, so that the before and after pictures can be compared directly. Keep the set in a folder with the date on each file, because the folder is what you will show anyone who asks what condition the playhouse was in on the day the roof started.
Finally, ask for the answer in writing before you agree to a start date. Keys Roofing runs this Creve Coeur site and can be reached at (314) 220-2333. Ask what the playhouse line says on the proposal, and do not sign a proposal that leaves the structure in the yard unnamed. If the playhouse is not on the page, it is not in the price, and that is the time to fix it.