Which trade do you actually need?
Stucco and roofing are separate licences and often separate companies, but on a parapet house they meet at the same junction. Getting this wrong costs you a callout, so it's worth deciding before you dial.
Cracking, patching, colour and texture on a wall that isn't leaking. This is a stucco job, and the hard part is matching, not waterproofing.
Stucco contractors → Water inside, crack on a parapetThe junction is the problem. Get at least one bid from a contractor who carries both trades, so one company owns the junction and nobody gets to blame the other trade later.
Ask for both → Water inside, no crack you can findStart on the roof side and diagnose before anyone quotes a repair.
Roof repair → You're mid-re-roof and the parapets came upNormal — parapet stucco is usually disturbed by roof work. Confirm in writing whose scope it lands in.
Comparing roofers →Know what's on your house first
“Stucco” covers more than one system, and they don't all behave the same way or repair the same way. Traditional cement stucco and synthetic systems have different failure modes, and a contractor who works mainly in one may not be the right choice for the other. Before you collect bids, ask each contractor to tell you what they think is currently on the wall and how they know.
It matters most on older adobe and pueblo-style homes, where the wall assembly underneath may need to breathe — and where sealing it with the wrong product traps moisture in the wall instead of keeping it out.
Questions worth asking
- “What system is on my house, and what are you proposing to put on it?”
- “Is my wall assembly one that needs to breathe?” Especially on older adobe construction.
- “How will you handle colour and texture matching?” And where will the transition land.
- “Are the parapets included?” If a roof leak is any part of why you're calling, the parapet is the part that matters.
- “Which license classification are you holding for this work?”
Ask which classification they hold for each part of the job. Stucco is GS-30, roofing is GS-21, and a contractor offering both should be able to say which licence covers which half. GS-30 is not the only one that authorises stucco: a residential GB-2 licence “includes all work described by the GS specialty classifications” on a house, and general building GB-98 includes the GS classifications outright — so a contractor without GS-30 specifically is not automatically disqualified. What matters is that they can name the classification they hold and say why it covers your job. Look any of them up, then see what else is public about them.
Before you sign
Three checks you can run from the ground in five minutes, and what the count means.
Stucco repair → The roof is the bigger half of the jobThe bid worksheet and the questions that separate a cheap roofing quote from a comparable one.
Comparing roofers → Verify the classification they gave youNumber, classification, active status — and which jurisdiction your property is actually in.
Permits & licensing →