Roofing in Denver is hail first and freeze-thaw right behind it. A storm can bruise a composition roof, crack pipe boots, and dent every gutter while the ceiling stays dry until the next wind-driven rain or the next thaw works the bruises open. Chimneys and wall flashings on brick bungalows take the same ice. West and south slopes age faster in the high sun between storms. Alleys hide the back slope you never see from the porch. Flat roofs on additions and porch roofs hold snow that the main roof sheds. Tile and metal show up and dent or crack in their own ways. Say what is actually on the house.
From the yard and the alley, look for granule loss in patches, cracked plastics on vents, and shingles in the grass. Do not climb to settle it. Say whether the leak started after a hail day, after a chinook thaw, or at one boot in ordinary weather. A single boot is not a tear-off. A whole field of bruises may be. Ask for a written account of slopes and materials before anything is stripped, because once the evidence is in a dumpster the claim and the scope both get harder.
Ask what the work includes: underlayment, flashing at brick walls and chimneys, ventilation, and the deck if it is soft. Ask who pulls the permit and who hauls debris through an alley that may be tight. Ask how the fastening treats wind, and how a lower roof will take snow from an upper one. Clay movement can rack a chimney and open a flashing that hail did not touch. Mention cracks you already see so that joint is in the scope.
The alley slope is part of the house even when guests never see it. Say if that side took the hail or if the porch roof is the one holding snow. Those two surfaces fail differently from the street facade, and the scope should name them.
Bring the last storm and the roof shape. Call the number on this page.