Roofing in New Mexico is often a flat roof with a parapet and a canal, and the rest of the state should not be forced into that picture. Adobe and pueblo-style houses drain through canales that clog, dump water down a wall, or let a pond sit until the membrane gives up. Pitched shingle roofs in newer towns and mountain houses take sun, wind, and, in the north, snow and ice at the eaves. The eastern plains add hail. The south adds heat that bakes whatever covering you have. Monsoon wind drives rain under edges that looked fine in the dry months.
From the ground, look at the canales and where they discharge. Look for staining down the stucco, blisters on a flat roof you can see from a ladder height, and granules or cracked tiles in the yard. In the north, look for ice at the eaves after a storm and stains after the thaw. Do not climb a parapet to prove bravery. Say whether the leak appears only after wind-driven rain, only when snow melts, or whenever the cooler on the roof runs. A cooler curb is a hole with a vibration, and it fools people into calling every stain a field failure.
Ask what the work includes: membrane or underlayment, flashing at the parapet, new canales, boots, and a plan if the deck is soft. A coating on a dirty, ponding roof is not a replacement. A shingle tear-off in a snow town needs eaves protection and ventilation so ice does not repeat. Ask who repairs stucco when a parapet is opened. Ask who pulls the permit and who hauls debris. Get the scope written before anyone strips a roof that is also the ceiling structure in an old house.
Name the town and the shape of the roof. A Taos snow roof and a southern flat roof are not interchangeable, and an Albuquerque parapet is its own craft. Call the number on this page.