Roofer in Bridgewater, MA

In the same 2020-2024 data, 6,876 of Bridgewater's 9,100 occupied homes are owner occupied, and 2,224 are rented. That is about 75.6 percent owner occupied.

Not every home is a single-family house. The estimate also counts 711 housing units in attached one-unit structures and 526 in two-unit structures. Tell us what you have when you call.

The Census Bureau estimates the median value of an owner-occupied home in Bridgewater at $533,100. Whatever the house is worth, get a written estimate you understand before you sign anything. Landlords are welcome to call too.

Here is what we can say from the town's own pages. The town's Building Department says contractors and homeowners must apply for permits online through the town's electronic permitting system. It also says a permit card must be in hand before any work begins, and that failure to comply may result in a triple permit fee penalty.

• Fee Schedule. The town's residential building permit fee schedule lists Roofing at 1% of value with a $100 minimum. Confirm the current fee with the Building Department.
• Starting Early. The schedule says the permit fee is doubled where work requiring a permit has commenced prior to permitting, and its fee table also lists "Start Work Without a Permit" at "Triple Permit Fee". The Building Department page mentions a triple fee penalty. The sources do not agree with each other, so ask the department which applies.
• Paper Applications. Bridgewater accepts paper permit applications, but an additional $50 administrative fee applies.

Neither page says who may pull a roofing permit, and we are not going to guess. Rules differ from town to town, and from address to address. We check the rules for your address first, so you know what applies before the work is quoted.

Bridgewater has a historic district. The town's 2022 master plan says the Bridgewater Center Historic District dates to 1986 and that the Historic District Committee regulates the external features of buildings, structures, signs and other settings within it. The town's zoning ordinance says properties located within the Historic District must comply with the rules and regulations of the Historic District Commission.

We could not read those rules. The Historic District Commission's rules and regulations are posted as a scanned PDF with no readable text, so we cannot tell you whether they say anything about roofing materials or roof work. If your house is in or near the Center district, give us your address and we will check with the town before we quote.

Separately, the master plan describes a demolition delay ordinance. A Historic Commission hearing decides whether a structure built in 1920 or earlier is eligible for a 60-day delay before a permit is issued. The plan counts 987 residential structures built in or before 1920. That ordinance is about demolition. It is not a roofing rule, and we are not suggesting it applies to a re-roof.

Bridgewater's 2022 Hazard Mitigation Plan says structures built before the building code incorporated wind-load provisions are particularly vulnerable in high windstorms. It also records that after the February 2015 nor'easter, the weight of snow on top of earlier snowfall resulted in several roofs collapsing across southern New England. The plan does not say which roofs, or where in Bridgewater.

The plan also lists, as a wildfire-risk measure, that the Town requires fireproof roofing shingles. We did not find that requirement on the permit pages we read, so ask the Building Department what it means for your roof.

For storm and winter questions, see our storm damage and insurance claims page and our ice dam guide.

We take roofing calls across the town, which uses ZIP codes 02324 and 02325 and covers 28.2 square miles, of which 27.5 square miles is land. Wikipedia lists Stanley, Scotland Park, Pratt Town, Paper Mill Village and South Bridgewater among its neighborhoods.

Bridgewater is bordered by West Bridgewater, East Bridgewater, Halifax, Middleborough and Raynham. This page is about the town of Bridgewater, not East or West Bridgewater, which have their own building departments and rules.

Not sure whether the rules above apply to your address? Call (401) 593-1512 and we will check before we quote.

We go up on the roof, and into the attic when it matters, before we tell you anything. You get a plain read on what we found, whether it is a repair, maintenance or a replacement, and what the town will want to see. Request an estimate or call (401) 593-1512.