There are three reasons for my good experience:
First, I'm one of those characters who doesn't like working with five or six people at a time on a project. I like having one belly button I can push. The owner came out to give an estimate first, and I said, "If I hire you do the job, and there's different guys doing this and that, I'm not calling them if I have a problem, I'm calling you." He looked at me and said he'd be mad if I didn't. I thought that was great.
Second, I don't know if it's right or wrong to expect, but it seems like crews usually just do work to get the job done. This is the first crew I have seen in an awful long time where they were actually smiling. I suppose it might be going too far to say they really enjoy roofing. They may. I don't know, but they clearly felt like they were doing good work, doing it right, and being compensated appropriately for it. A happy crew does good work, and sure enough, I have found zero, underscore ZERO, issues with the work. I haven't seen so much as an upturned corner of a shingle.
Third, there weren't any hidden fees. The number they gave me initially is real, real close to the number they gave me at the end. There were a few extra charges for plywood, and the owner told me that might be the case and what would bring it about. But it was real, real close to the estimate he gave me, and the overage or excess was not a surprise.
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