LEANDER — After four years of wrangling with contractors over what they said were defective roofs at two schools, Leander school district officials have agreed to a mediated settlement with the companies.

The contractors have agreed to fix the coating on peeling, cracking roofs at Giddens and Steiner Ranch elementaries for an estimated $500,000. In addition, one contractor is paying the district another $7,500 to resolve its part in the case.

School officials said it was important to make contractors foot the bill for recoating and repainting the roofs, which the district said started to peel and chip about four years after they were completed, despite warranties for 20 years. Otherwise, the officials said, taxpayers would pay for the roofs twice.

But the district is not recouping the $225,000 in legal fees it spent to get the issue settled.

Both schools opened in 1996. After two years of trying to get one or more of the contractors to redo the work, district officials filed the original lawsuit in 2003 against various contractors, including Carlisle Engineered Metals Inc., A.D. Willis, Cloud Construction Company Inc. and, later, Precoat Metals and PPG Industries Inc.

"It has been a bit of an eyesore," said Bob Medlyn, principal at Steiner Ranch Elementary, who recalls the paint peeling three years after the school opened. "Aesthetically, it was horrible."

Medlyn also fielded calls over the years from parents or residents concerned that the chipped paint was hazardous to children. It was not, he said.

Many times, parents offered to help pay for the work or questioned whether they could use PTA money or school bonds to pay for the repairs.

"It would have been much easier for the board to say to just fix it," said Pam Waggoner, a school board trustee. "Because we have to build so much, it was important for the contractors and builders . . . to know that we expect quality work and are willing to stand up for that."

Cloud Construction was the district's primary contractor for Giddens, and Diamond Construction Inc., which no longer is in business, was the primary contractor on Steiner. Carlisle Engineered Metals, a closed subsidiary of Carlisle SynTec of Pennsylvania, supplied metal roofing panels for both schools. The district said Precoat Metals of Missouri coated the roofing panels' metal coils, and PPG Industries, also of Pennsylvania, provided primer and paint for those coils, but both companies disputed that.

As part of the settlement, Precoat Metals is contracting with Midwest Refinishing Inc. to refinish the roofs. Midwest is providing materials for the project. Precoat will provide a 10-year warranty on the panels. Carlisle and Cloud will pay Precoat for labor. PPG will pay for the primer and topcoat paint and will provide Midwest metal retaining panels. A.D. Willis is paying the $7,500.

"We are glad that the situation is going to be resolved satisfactorily to the school district," said Perry Cloud, president of Cloud Construction.

Cloud said the district did not tell the company of any problems until it filed a lawsuit in 2003 and therefore the company was "never given an opportunity to provide any relief to them." Representatives from the other companies could not be reached or declined to comment.